APOSTOLOVE

Apostolove is an agricultural town in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast between the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih (the longest city in Europe) and the regional center of Dnipro.  13,000 people call Apostolove home and there is also 2500 IDPs who have found shelter here. The city was founded in 1793 and named after the Cossack leader Danilo Apostol.  The building of a railway station and subsequent rock quarry and cement factory created a boom in the early 20^th century. 

The second Russian invasion in 2022 almost reached the city with the Russian army within two miles of the town at one point and for a brief time the town suffered daily shelling by Russian troops.  As a result, all educational institutions were destroyed, and now the community is focused on rebuilding their schools while the children have resorted to substandard online education.  Although the frontlines have been pushed back 20 miles, the war is still close enough that artillery fire and bomb explosions can still be heard in the distance every day creating much trauma among the population.  The town is also struggling to find clean drinking water after Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Dam draining the reservoir that once supplied the city with clean water.