Ted: Hi! Welcome back to Babbel News – English Only. I’m Ted, English expert here at Babbel.

We’re back with another news story in English, sourced from Reuters – a great way to stay informed and improve your English skills at the same time. As usual, I’ll briefly introduce the topic of the story and go over some important vocab before you hear the clip.

If you’d like to read along while you listen, you can find the transcript for this episode by following the link in the episode description.

Today we’re off to Ukraine, where you’ll hear a complex story involving the war, summer holidays, and damage to nature. Let’s get started!

Ready to go over some of the important words and phrases from today’s story? First off, “to seek respite” means to take a short break or pause from a difficult and unpleasant situation. Next, “to flock” means to move in large numbers, the way birds travel in groups, for example. A “habitat” is the place where a particular animal or plant normally lives. After that, there’s the adjective “chaotic”, which means messy and without order. Then we have the term “vegetation cover” or the part of the ground that has green plants growing on it. That brings us to the expression “two sides to a coin”, which is used when there are two different and often opposite ways of looking at the same situation. The next phrase is “garbage disposal”, which is a system for collecting and throwing away waste or trash. As for “to soak up sunshine” – that’s an expression that means to enjoy relaxing in the sun. And finally, the “front line” is where the fighting in a war takes place.

Now let’s head to Ukraine and hear how the war has affected not only holiday habits, but the natural world as well.

Reuters: With most of Ukraine's Black Sea coast either occupied by Russian troops or in their line of fire, families seeking respite from a life in a war zone are flocking here to the inland shores of the Tylihul. But authorities and some residents worry that the crowds could damage an important natural habitat.

Inna Tymchenko is the deputy head of the Mykolaiv regional department of the National Institute of Ecology.

“The main problem here is not tourists themselves, but their cars and tents. They are placed in chaotic order. Tourists don’t know where it is alright to leave a car and where it is not, so they park wherever they want. That’s how vegetation cover is being destroyed."

Local resident Petro Kalinchuk has been coming to the river with his family for nearly 50 years. He said he used to see birds nesting and brooding eggs on the beach. Now, with the larger crowds, he says all the birds are gone.

“There are two sides to a coin. On one hand, we understand that there is no access to the sea and people want to relax somewhere. On the other hand, we know that the estuary won't survive such an amount of people. First of all, garbage disposal wasn't organized, and there are no toilets here.”

Families soak up the sunshine – with the front line only a few hours' drive away.

Ted: That’s the end of this episode. How did you find the news clip we picked out for you?

Remember that you can always replay the episode to make sure you understood everything. And if this is your first time listening to Babbel News - English Only, make sure to check out the first season for more English news content!

Join us again next week, when we bring you more global news stories to help you improve your English listening skills. Take care!