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Celebrities Accused Of 'Yachting' In Hollywood — And What Being A 'Yacht Girl' Really Means

Rumors suggest some women are paid to play..

• Micki Spollen

Written on Jan 11, 2022

It’s easy to be envious when seeing the Instagram photos of young, carefree celebrity women seemingly having the time of their lives on yachts floating in exotic waters and in the VIP sections of the most exclusive clubs.

However, rumor has it there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to these ‘yacht girls’ and their extravagant lifestyles.

What is a yacht girl?

According to Urban Dictionary , a yacht girl is “an attractive young woman who finds ways to get access to luxurious surroundings by being available to wealthy men.”

For example, you may follow a woman or two on Instagram who always seems to be partying or vacationing somewhere expensive (notably without ever showing who she’s actually with). This is a person you could potentially describe as being a yacht girl.

And it’s not just those Instagram models and wannabe stars that are considered yacht girls. As you work up the wealth chain, you may be surprised to recognize some celebrity names synonymous with yachting.

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What is 'yachting' in Hollywood?

In Hollywood, the term yacht girl essentially means a woman who works as an escort for high-end clientele , not just on yachts but for any social event.

While the practice has only somewhat recently gained mainstream notoriety, if you think back on the many tabloid photos of models and actresses on yachts from years past, it appears to be something that's gone on in Hollywood “for 60 years,” according to Elie Nahas, who ran a Beirut-based modeling agency before being arrested on charges of running a prostitution ring in 2007.

In 2013, "The Hollywood Reporter" ran a feature describing this so-called yachting during the Cannes Film Festival.

“Every year during the festival there are 30 or 40 luxury yachts in the bay at Cannes, and every boat belongs to a very rich person. Every boat has about 10 girls on it; they are usually models, and they are usually nude or half nude,” Nahas told THR.

At the end of the night, each woman would receive a “gift,” a generous amount of money that the client would put in an envelope for her.

And while many of these women were self-proclaimed local prostitutes and escorts, the Cannes Film Festival is, of course, known for its celebrity attendees — and it’s rumored that celebrity women trying to fast-track a name for themselves in Hollywood become yacht girls, too.

“Women installed on yachts in Cannes during the film festival are called ‘yacht girls,’ and the line between professional prostitutes and B- or C-list Hollywood actresses and models who accept payment for sex with rich older men is sometimes very blurred, explains one film industry veteran,” Dana Kennedy wrote for THR.

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Some women in Hollywood have accused their celebrity peers of being yacht girls.

A 2017 blind item (celebrity gossip that doesn’t outwardly name the celebrity) allegedly written by a struggling actress describes being lured by another actress into the world of yachting :

“The actress I was talking to made it sound super easy and that she only had [sex] a few times with guys while yachting and that it was mostly partying and being arm candy,” she writes, explaining that eventually she agreed to try it for $25,000 upfront, but admitting that the experience was less than glamorous.

Blind item readers guessed that Canadian actress Vanessa Lengies wrote the blind item and further surmised that it may be one of the Glee actresses Naya Rivera or Heather Morris that introduced her to yachting. None of these claims have ever been substantiated.

If you believe the rumors, it would seem that yachting is a rite of passage for women hoping to “make it” in Hollywood, and even some celebrities we now consider A-List are thought to be former yacht girls.

In an excerpt from her 2021 memoir , “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski details being paid $25,000 at the start of her career to go to the Superbowl with now-disgraced Malaysian financier Jho Low, who "‘just liked to have famous men and women around,’” she explains her manager told her at the time.

She writes about attending the star-studded Coachella on someone else’s dime, having drinks paid for at clubs, and attending afterparties with Oscar-winning actors before actually becoming a celebrity herself.

One could infer from this recollection that, in order to be able to tell these stories, Ratajkowski was herself a yacht girl. “My Body” suggests as much, and in it, she subtly gives away the identity of another celebrity woman who yachted alongside her.

Ratajkowski describes watching as Low gave shots to a Victoria’s Secret model. While she doesn’t name drop, Ratajkowski gives just enough information for readers to figure who that model likely was.

“Now she kept her eyes locked on him as he took his shot, throwing her head back dramatically as he did, only to quickly toss the alcohol over her shoulder,” Ratajkowski writes. “When he faced her again, her eyes sparkled and the famous dimples appeared on her cheeks.”

Low has since become a fugitive wanted for allegedly running an international money laundering scheme, and in 2017, Reuters reported that model Miranda Kerr — known for her dimples — was being ordered to return “diamond pendants, earrings and other jewelry worth about $8 million” that Low allegedly gifted her to government agents.

In 2017, Ratajkowski also posted a video on Instagram potentially outing Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber as yacht girls as they danced aboard a yacht during that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

          View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata)

Many people have also accused Meghan Markle of yachting (but then again, what haven't people accused Markle of at this point).

People have pointed to an old photo of Markle on a yacht as proof that she’s a former yacht girl.

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Another old blind item also suggested the former actress was available to “rent.”

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to ‘rent’ for a weekend of ‘yachting,’” the tweet says, including a photo of Markle in a swimsuit.

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to “rent” for a weekend of “yachting”. Typically worth $30K for the “party” - Meghan Markle @3Days3Nights https://t.co/E3WfMjnVL9 pic.twitter.com/QFv476GL0b — yacht girl (@yachtgirlmm) November 27, 2019

Markle’s close friendship pre-Harry with actress Priyanka Chopra has naturally led some to guess that Chopra once yachted as well.

Another actress that faces endless rumors of yachting is Russian actress Irina Shayk , which according to THR, is par for the course as the outlet writes that yachting your way to stardom happens with “disturbing frequency,” particularly when it comes to foreign-born actresses.

According to THR, who claims to know “of at least one now-prominent actress who made her first connections on a Cannes yacht and quickly landed her debut role in a U.S.-shot movie,” such as with Shayk’s 2014 film “Hercules,” it’s “a red flag any time you see a foreign-born actress with no credits suddenly make her way into a U.S.-shot movie.”

Of course, when it comes to yachting in Hollywood, all of these claims appear to be unfounded.

These rumors make for good gossip, whether you’re talking about low-level social media influencers or high-profile celebrity actresses.

However, nothing is proven, leaving us to wonder any time we see a photo of women on a yacht.

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Micki Spollen is an editor, writer, and traveler focused on relationships, news, and pop culture. Follow her on Instagram .

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5 Things to Know About Markus Anderson, Meghan Markle's Close Friend

The Soho House Consultant joined Meghan on her trip to New York City.

While on her whirlwind trip to New York City this week, Meghan Markle was spotted out with her friend Markus Anderson. After her baby shower yesterday, the Duchess reportedly went out to dinner with him, Serena Williams, and Jessica Mulroney at Ralph Lauren's restaurant The Polo Bar. Unsure of who Anderson is? He and Meghan have been close for years. Here's everything you need to know to catch you up to speed on their relationship.

He works for Soho House.

Anderson is a consultant for Soho House, a members-only club with locations all over the world from New York and London to Toronto, Istanbul, and Mumbai.

"When the Soho House decides to open in a new city, I'm one of the first people sent out to get to know the city, the creatives that live there, and determine who we want to involve in the House," he said, describing his job in an interview with Coveteur .

He was born in Canada.

While his career has taken him all over the globe, Anderson was born in Canada, and apparently his upbringing has influenced his taste in beverages.

"Although I’m prone to drink almost anything, I’m partial to either champagne or beer," he told the Coveteur. "I grew up in Ontario, after all."

He and Meghan are very close.

Back when Meghan's social media profiles were public, they revealed a timeline of their relationship. Not only have they taken vacations together, but she regularly sang his praises on her Instagram account."What would I do without you, my loving, supportive, and endlessly fun friend??" she said about Anderson in a now-deleted post. "I know what....I would be bored, and life would be infinitely less interesting. I love you SO much. Happiest of days for you now and always. Love you xx"

Anderson is reportedly responsible for Meghan and Harry's royal romance.

While some rumors point to designer Misha Nonoo as the matchmaker (Markle's close friend, Nonoo was, until recently, married to Alexander Gilkes, a friend of Princes William and Harry), it has also been reported that Anderson, who apparently knows the Prince socially, set the pair up in May of 2016.

"He asked Markus if he could set up, not a date, but an opportunity for them to meet and that happened in one of the private rooms of Soho House," Nicholls alleges.

"There were about seven or eight of them altogether and it was a perfect opportunity for Harry and Meghan to come together in a really informal environment and actually talk."

Apparently, the rest is history.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are hardly his only famous friends.

While Anderson has been called Markle's "best friend," he is known to associate with the likes of designers like Nonoo, Christopher Kane, and the late Alexander McQueen, model Alexa Chung, and actor Jamie Dornan.

As the digital director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers culture, entertainment, and a range of other subjects 

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Title: The Controversy Surrounding Meghan Markle’s Alleged Yacht Girl Past

In recent news, a Toronto native has come forward with compelling evidence suggesting that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was once involved in the world of yacht girls.

This revelation has reignited long-standing rumors about Markle’s connections to Prince Andrew and the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Let’s delve into the murky details and explore the blurred lines between luxury and scandal.

According to Urban Dictionary, a yacht girl is an attractive young woman who gains access to opulent surroundings by being available to wealthy men, particularly in Hollywood.

This term encompasses women who work as escorts for high-end clients, not only on yachts but also at various social events.

The concept of yachting gained attention during the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where women aboard yachts were referred to as yacht goals.

The distinction between professional prostitutes and Hollywood actresses and models who accept payment for companionship with older affluent men can often be indistinct, as explained by a veteran of the film industry.

Numerous individuals have accused Meghan Markle of being involved in yachting.

One piece of evidence frequently cited is an old photograph of Markle aboard a yacht, which some claim proves her past as a yacht girl.

Additionally, a blind item insinuated that the former actress was available for hire.

The tweet suggested that when B-list actresses post revealing photos on social media, it can serve as an indication of their availability for weekend yachting adventures.

The tweet included a photo of Markle in a swimsuit, further fueling speculation.

Markle’s close friendship with actress Priyanka Chopra before meeting Prince Harry has also led to speculation that Chopra may have been involved in yachting as well.

In 2016, a Toronto native named Adam Hahn invited Markle to join him and his friends for Yacht Week in Croatia.

The invitation, whether genuine or not, raises concerns about potential involvement in trafficking.

However, Markle never responded to the invitation, and it was later discovered that she had visited Croatia two years prior to the tweet.

Recently, author Kirby Summers, known for her unauthorized biography on Ghislaine Maxwell, released a 35-minute podcast on YouTube discussing the connections between Meghan Markle, Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, and Maxwell.

Summers suggests that Marcus Anderson of Soho House played a pivotal role as a connector as far back as 2001.

Some argue that mainstream media possesses a photo of Markle on a yacht in Phuket, Thailand, allegedly with Prince Andrew at the request of the now-deceased Epstein.

Summers concludes on Twitter by stating that the Duchess of Sussex is controlled by the same forces that controlled Epstein.

In response to these revelations, one Royal Watcher commented on the possibility of Markle being a yacht girl.

Christopher Jones, who himself claims to have been a yacht boy, asserts that there are photos of Markle and Andrew together on the web, although many have been strategically deleted by the Markle’s legal team.

Jones also points out that Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s lawyers sought to subpoena Markle as a witness, further adding weight to the speculation surrounding her alleged involvement.

While it is important to note that some believe the Roth family paid Roberts Giuffre out of court to prevent further scandal involving Markle’s past, this remains a matter of opinion.

However, evidence suggests that Roberts Giuffre’s lawyers were interested in subpoenaing Markle, raising questions about her potential connection to Epstein’s yacht during the same period as Prince Andrew.

The controversy surrounding Meghan Markle’s alleged yacht girl past continues to captivate public attention.

As more information emerges, the lines between fact and speculation become increasingly blurred.

Only time will tell if the truth behind these allegations will ever come to light.

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Resurfaced snap shows Meghan Markle and Eddie Redmayne at Soho House Istanbul years before they partied at the club’s Amsterdam launch (by which time the Duchess had another Old Etonian in tow!)

• Snap shows Meghan, 37, and Eddie, 36, with photographer Jason Bailey
• Jason shared picture on Twitter, with caption '[F]un times with this crew' 
• Meghan and Eddie are believed to have been in Turkey for Soho House opeing

By Emily Chan For Mailonline

Published: 10:58 EDT, 8 November 2018 | Updated: 12:45 EDT, 8 November 2018

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A photograph of Meghan and Eddie Redmayne at Soho House Istanbul has resurfaced online - years before they partied together at the club's Amsterdam launch this autumn.

The picture shows the smiling pair with London -based photographer Jason Bailey in Turkey in 2015, a year before the now Duchess of Sussex started dating Prince Harry .

Sharing the snap on Twitter , Jason wrote: 'Night in, watching movies and remember fun times with this crew ❤️ #EddieRedmayne @meghanmarkle #istanbul'

Meghan, 37, and Old Etonian Eddie, 36, were reunited this September, when they both attended the star-studded launch of the new Soho House in Istanbul.

A photograph of Meghan partying in Istanbul with Eddie Redmayne has resurfaced online. It shows the smiling pair with London-based photographer Jason Bailey (centre)

Photographer Jason shared the snap on Twitter in 2015, captioning it 'fun times with this crew'. They are believed to have been in Istanbul for the launch of a new Soho House 

In the photograph shared by Jason, Meghan is seen wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, with a leather jacket over the top.

Meanwhile, Eddie was also dressed down in a denim jacket and navy chinos while at the glitzy event in Istanbul.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were surprise guests at the three-day launch of the new Soho House in Amsterdam in September, where Fantastic Beasts star Eddie was also a guest. 

Harry and Meghan were said to have  spent a long time in conversation with the actor, who was accompanied by wife Hannah Bagshawe, at the launch.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured in Sydney last month) were surprise guests at the three-day launch of the new Soho House in Amsterdam in September

Meghan is known to be a big fan of the exclusive private members' club, with the Duchess sharing Instagram snaps of her and Millie Mackintosh at Soho Farmhouse back in 2016 (above), when her romance with Harry was beginning 

In fact, Eddie has another connection with the royal family, as he was in the same year as Prince William at Eton.

A host of other stars also attended the three-day party, including actor Douglas Booth, comedian Michael McIntyre and radio host Nick Grimshaw.   

Soho House is an exclusive private members' club that charges members £830 a year for admittance to one house and £1,500 for its 'houses' across the world.

Both Meghan and Harry are known to be a big fan of the chain, and are understood to have had their first date at Soho House's Dean Street Townhouse in London.

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex - who is close friends with owner Markus Anderson - has previously stayed at Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds, sharing Instagram snaps of her and Millie Mackintosh there back in 2016, when her romance with Harry was beginning.   

Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne has been in a relationship with wife Hannah Bagshawe (above in 2017) since 2012 

Share or comment on this article: Resurfaced snap shows Meghan Markle and Eddie Redmayne at Soho House Istanbul

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Royal Secrets

Meghan markle confirmed as a yacht girl: royal family rejects her.

Royal Family News

The world was shocked when news broke that Meghan Markle , the Duchess of Sussex, has been confirmed as a yacht girl.

This revelation has caused her to become estranged and rejected by Harry's family, who find her past actions unacceptable.

Andrew, a member of the royal family, confirmed that Megan is indeed a yacht girl, causing her to turn pale as tons of dirty pictures trended on Twitter.

According to Urban Dictionary, a yacht girl is an attractive young woman who finds ways to get access to luxurious surroundings by being available to wealthy men.

It's easy to be envious when seeing the Instagram photos of young carefree celebrity women seemingly having the time of their lives on yachts floating in exotic waters and in the VIP sections of the most exclusive clubs.

However, rumor has it there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to these yacht girls and their extravagant lifestyles.

In Hollywood, the term yacht girl essentially means a woman who works as an escort for high-end clientele, not just on yachts, but for any social event, really.

While the practice has only somewhat recently gained mainstream notoriety, if you think back on the many tabloid photos of models and actresses on yachts from years past, it appears to be something that's gone on in Hollywood for 60 years.

It's not just those Instagram models and wannabe stars that are considered yacht girls.

As you work up the wealth chain, you may be surprised to recognize some celebrity names synonymous with yachting.

According to Elie Naas, who ran a Beirut-based modeling agency before being arrested on charges of running a ring like that in 2007, human trafficking.

In 2013, the Hollywood Reporter ran a feature describing this so-called yachting during the Cannes Film Festival.

Every year during the festival, there are 30 or 40 luxury yachts in the bay at Cannes, and every boat belongs to a very rich person.

Every boat has about 10 girls on it.

They're usually models, and they're usually n^de or half-nude.

At the end of the night, each woman would receive a gift, a generous amount of money that the client would put in an envelope for her.

According to sources, Megan is putting herself in the same exact crowd as Andrew, with the same friends, and the same connections.

This is why they shouldn't have ever said anything about Andrew.

The connections are going to be made, and whether Megan is innocent or not won't matter.

After stepping back from royal duties, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with Prince Andrew , will not be amongst the guests at the state event, which is being hosted by King Charles.

Megan tries to side with Andrew; however, her efforts were in vain because Andrew was currently siding with Charles.

So he'll have to reveal Megan's horrible truths to get the pension from King Charles.

On the late Queen's funeral, Prince Harry and Megan joined King Charles and other senior members of the royal family at the procession of the late monarch's coffin to Westminster Hall, where Her Majesty is laying in state ahead of the funeral.

Thousands of mourners flocked to see the moving sight of the Queen departing the official residence where she spent so much of her working life at the heart of the nation, with viewing areas declared full ahead of the procession starting.

Notably, in January of 2020, following a tip from a renowned journalist from a national newspaper, a press asked, did the then- Meghan Markle meet Prince Andrew before she met Prince Harry , or did she meet the friend of the late Jeffrey Epstein first?

Mark Sanderson of Soho House, to be a connector going back as far as 2001, Summers argues the mainstream media may have a photo of her on a yacht in Phuket, Thailand cavorting with Prince Andrew.

In conclusion, the confirmation that Meghan Markle is a yacht girl has caused her to become estranged and rejected by Harry's family.

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Blast Shelters and Radar Jamming: A Russian City Adapts to War

While in Moscow the fighting feels far away, residents of Belgorod, 25 miles from the border with Ukraine, have learned to duck for cover when the sirens wail.

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By Valerie Hopkins

Photographs by Nanna Heitmann

Reporting from Belgorod, Russia

As Alina waited for the bus that would take her to her family’s weekend house outside Belgorod, she made sure to wait deep inside the concrete shelter built early this year around the stop.

It had been nearly six months since she and her 8-year-old brother, Artem, were almost injured in an attack on Belgorod’s central square, the day before New Year’s Eve, when Alina, 14, had taken him ice skating.

“We were lying down, covering our heads with our hands, opening our mouths slightly and just lying on the floor for a long time,” she said, describing how they hid on the kitchen floor of a restaurant just off the square.

“It was very scary, but I’m used to it by now,” she added. “And I know what to do in such situations.” In the months that followed, she had panic attacks and suffered from anxiety, said her mother, Nataliya, who like several others interviewed for this article asked not to be identified for fear of retribution from the authorities.

In Moscow, another summer has set in, and life is much the same there as it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But Belgorod, 25 miles from the border and once deeply tied to the Ukrainians on the other side, is different . That much is evident pulling into the city’s train station, where hulking concrete shelters like the ones at the bus station appear on the platforms.

Belgorod’s large central square now sits mostly empty, except for security forces guarding the concrete shelters at each corner. The city’s Soviet-era neoclassical theater is flanked with screens playing videos teaching first-aid techniques and instructing passers-by how to call for help if they become stranded in rubble.

The 340,000 residents, some of whom live in range of Ukrainian artillery, say they feel like they are under attack. Ukraine can fire its own weapons across the border but maintains that it aims at only military targets. Until last month, Washington banned Ukrainian forces from using American weapons to hit inside Russia, and then only military installations.

After the Dec. 30 shelling on the square, which killed at least 25 people and wounded about 100 more, the city erected the shelters near all bus stops. In March, during presidential elections, the shelling ramped up once more.

At least 190 people have died in the Belgorod region since the war started, according to the regional governor’s office. That number is small compared with the more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians the United Nations says have died during the war. Even so, Belgorod and its surrounding region hear air raid sirens and explosions multiple times daily, and while some residents are fatalistic, most locals take the risks seriously.

When the sirens sound, people abandon their cars and file into the shelters, which can accommodate 15 to 20 people. Many complain about a lack of empathy from Moscow, where restaurants are packed and clubs host revelers deep into the night.

“I guess they live on another planet,” said another Belgorod resident, also named Nataliya, 71, referring to Muscovites as she wove nets of army camouflage with her friend Olga, 64.

Every resident has been touched by the war, whether in their own lives or through those of friends and relatives on the other side of the border, where Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, lies only 45 miles away.

“Most people know someone who was killed or injured,” said a 20-year-old lawyer who requested anonymity because of his antiwar stance. He said the regular attacks on the city, suppression of independent information and use of intensive propaganda had bolstered support for the war.

“Half of Belgorod residents are Ukrainians,” he said. “The more things escalated, and people were subjected to propaganda, they developed hatred. And now, of course, the majority is in favor of war.”

People like him, he said, now spend their days with a sense of “quiet horror.”

Tensions in the city have increased in the past month, with Russia’s new offensive toward Kharkiv . The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, has said that the main objective of the assault is to drive the Ukrainian forces far enough back to put Belgorod and its wider region out of range.

“We warned them against making incursions into our territory, shelling Belgorod and neighboring areas, or else we will be forced to create a security zone,” Mr. Putin said in late May during a news conference.

In the days after the Biden administration dropped its ban on using U.S.-made weapons to strike across the border, a deepfake video circulated showing a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, seeming to suggest that the city of Belgorod was a legitimate target. The video was a fabrication, but it amplified fears that attacks on the city could escalate.

A member of the territorial defense in Belgorod, a part of the military activated under martial law, showed a collection of Western munition casings he said he had collected around Belgorod’s border areas: the remnants of a Czech-made Vampire rocket; a Polish mine; and the spent casing from an 84-mm projectile for a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, among other things.

The member, who gave only his call sign, Fil, said he was in favor of creating the “sanitary zone” between Russia and Ukraine that Mr. Putin has called for. Fil seemed to think that, eventually, Ukrainians who came under Russian occupation would come around.

“Before, it was like the whole city of Belgorod was in Kharkiv every weekend,” said Fil of the regular contact between people from the two cities. “There was no difference between us and them.”

He said that, while it would “take some time for ordinary people to get used to it, everyone will live again as they used to.” Those who don’t want to, he added, “will just have to leave.”

Outside the city, farmers have adapted to the state of war. On a recent afternoon, as Andrei, 29, prepared to water a field planted with sunflowers, his tractor was decked out with netting meant to ward off drones. Radar jamming devices were appended to the top.

“A drone attacked a tractor in a nearby village,” he said, shrugging. “It’s just base cruelty.” He wasn’t sure the net could do anything, but it seemed worth trying. He said that once the Kharkiv offensive started, more and more Ukrainian drones were reaching the territory near the border.

Across the region, people are having to come to terms with the life-altering consequences of the war.

Dmitri Velichko recalled that he had been talking with his sister, Viktoriya Potryasayeva, about buying a house somewhere by the seaside. On Dec. 30, the day before the most important family holiday for most Russians, Viktoriya, 35, went out with her daughters, Nastya and Liza, to buy presents for her family, Mr. Velichko said. She got a fancy mixer for her mother, and was waiting for the bus to head home with her daughters when the shelling began.

She was hit by shrapnel and lost so much blood that she died. Liza, who at 8 months old was in a stroller, had to have her left leg amputated. Dmitri’s mother adopted Nastya, age 9, Mr. Velichko said, while he and his wife Olga adopted Liza. After months in the hospital being fed through an IV, Liza had forgotten how to swallow.

“She had to learn everything again,” Mr. Velichko, 38, said.

Liza has learned to crawl and soon she will get a small prosthetic leg so that she will be able to walk.

Back in the concrete shelter at the bus stop, Nataliya, who works in day care, worried about the long term effects of the war on children.

“The kids in day care are just learning to talk, and their first words are ‘Mama, threat of missile strike,’” she said. “We urgently need peace talks. This will not lead to anything good on either side, neither here nor there.”

She added, “We don’t need Kharkiv, why should we seize it?”

Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow. More about Valerie Hopkins