The Evacuation Train. Rescue and a Humanitarian Mission

The evacuation train carries you ever further from your home. Alongside the carriages, villages, fields and forests rush past and fly away. The views beyond the window bring no joy at all, as they would in peacetime on a journey. In the half-darkness of the compartment mothers lull their children to sleep; ahead lies the unknown, but with it a deep faith in Victory and a hope of a swift return.

 

Barvinkove. A weekend trip, or the secret landmarks

For a hike along unknown tourist trails, a single day off or a few hours is enough. In small towns and villages there are hidden, unusual finds that can stir up all sorts of emotions - from delight to regret. Unpopular places are always close at hand; it is worth looking at a map and plotting a route. Barvinkove - a small town in the south of Kharkiv region - will mark the 370th anniversary of its founding in 2023. A town with a rich history and a Ukrainian name deserves tourist recognition. The tour begins at the railway station, opened in 1869 on the initiative of the novelist H. P. Danylevsky, a native of the Barvinkove area.

 

Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. The railway station

Lozova. Three Hours in the Kharkiv Region's Second Town

In Ukraine there are hundreds of towns not marked on the tourist map that deserve travellers' attention. Each of them is wonderful, with exceptional architecture and unique monuments of nature and history. Life here flows differently and one breathes more easily than in the regional centres. That is why the residents of the big cities more and more often choose, for a day-off outing, trips to neighbouring provincial towns with rare highlights. Lozova in the Kharkiv region, with its convenient transport links, its natural landscape and its compactness, is very well suited for inclusion in weekend routes.

The Samara River. Who Is Harming a Tributary of the Dnipro?

The Samara River, one of the largest tributaries of the mighty Dnipro, begins near the village of Mariivka in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region. It covers a distance of 311 kilometres across three regions. From the Donetsk Ridge, this water artery of eastern Ukraine heads north-west to the Blyzniuky district of the Kharkiv region. Then it runs south-west and flows through the Dnipropetrovsk region, forming in its winding bed a multitude of lakes and oxbows.

 

The Samara River near the village of Dmytrivka, Dnipropetrovsk region

The Pokrovsk-Pavlohrad-Lozova Suburban Train

Suburban trains are not only a transport link between towns, but also a fascinating chance to travel to interesting places on a day off, to feel the union of nature and the steel highway. Trips by electric train have their own features: no crowds, no traffic jams, and the fare is cheaper. The Pokrovsk-Pavlohrad-Lozova suburban train links three regions - Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv.

 

Pokrovsk railway station. The Pokrovsk-Lozova suburban train

Lozova. The Druzhba Arboretum, a Green Friend

In modern towns, wholesale construction leaves less and less space for the green islands that produce oxygen and create saving shade. Ukraine has 57 arboretums, most of them created 20-40 years ago on the site of old forest parks. The Druzhba arboretum in the town of Lozova, Kharkiv region, was founded in the 1930s, and over its almost 100-year history it has changed its structure, its name, its status and its popularity.

 

Lozova, Kharkiv region.  The Druzhba arboretum

The Siverskyi Donets River

Rivers, like people, are born, grow and gather strength, find their path in life and their protecting banks, have their own character and interests, work and rest, feel care and suffer from pain. Their tributaries, like a person's friends, strive to meet, so as to overcome obstacles together. Sometimes abysses seize them, but after the whirlpools follow little islands of well-being and prosperity. The Siverskyi Donets is the largest river in the east of Ukraine and the seventh largest on the country's territory.

 

The Siverskyi Donets river. Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region.

Izium and Its Highlights

Izium is one of the oldest towns in Slobozhanshchyna and the third-largest in the Kharkiv region. The town's official date of birth is considered to be 1681, but the settlement arose much earlier. The town's coat of arms and flag depict bunches of grapes, and one version of the toponym's origin is linked to dried kishmish berries. But it is not vineyards, but expanses of pine forest, that frame Izium, the Oskil Reservoir and the blue ribbon of the Siverskyi Donets.

Izium. Kharkiv region. A view from Mount Kremenets

Izium. The Oldest Orthodox Churches of Slobozhanshchyna

Izium is a city in Kharkiv region with the oldest churches of Slobozhanshchyna preserved and still in use. Believers come to its sacred buildings, springs and relics from all regions of Ukraine to bow before the shrines and the miracle-working icons.

Izium. Kharkiv region. Holy Transfiguration Cathedral. 1684

Izium. Mount Kremenets. A Monument of Nature and History

Mount Kremenets in the town of Izium is one of the main tourist attractions of Kharkiv region. The hill, 220 metres above sea level, has the status of a geological natural monument and is the site of historical events dating back to the times of Kyivan Rus.

Izium. Kharkiv region. Mount Kremenets (Kremianets)