Residents of the Donetsk region like Mariya realise they must flee the approaching Russian forces
Residents of the Donetsk region like Mariya realise they must flee the approaching Russian forces

Ukraine war: Eastern residents brace for Russian advance

In eastern Ukraine, the tide of this war hasn't just changed - it's coming in fast.

 

"We know what's coming," says Mariya as she packs up the TV in her flat in Kostyantynivka. She's having it delivered to Kyiv before making the journey there with her son.

"We're tired all day [and suffer] moods and panic attacks. It's constantly depressing, and we're scared."

In February, Russia captured the strategic town of Avdiivka. Since then, the invaders have advanced further west, and taken several villages.

Ukraine says its forces are "holding on". But Russian troops are now attacking in five areas along the 1,100km (700 mile) front line.

And it's here in the eastern Donetsk region that Ukraine's defenders are being tested the most.

People in cities like Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Kramatorsk are now facing a fast-approaching front line, and even occupation.

Mariya and her mother Tetyana are finding life increasingly difficult as the Russians advance closer.

Tetyana is refusing to leave Kostyantynivka. "I've already left twice, what's the point?" she says

Their city is littered with signs of the approaching threat 30km (19 miles) away.

Almost every street has a damaged building. Workers replace gold panels on a church after they were blown off by a missile strike on the neighbouring train station, now destroyed.

Anxiety fills the cold air in this town, once part of the industrial heartland of the former Soviet Union. Russia slowly destroys Ukraine's cities as it tries to take them. That's what is feared the most here.

Mariya explains that her mother Tetyana is staying, but she's confident she'll follow her eventually.

"I've already left twice, what's the point?" says a defiant Tetyana from her apartment around the corner. She gives us slippers to wear around her home, which explains why it's spotless.

"It's scary everywhere. The whole country is on fire."

Her eyes moisten. It's one thing to stay in your home for as long as you can, it's another to risk death or Russian occupation.

While the whole of Ukraine is a war zone, the Donetsk region - along with four others - is a battlefield. When you weave through its dense forest and expansive, rugged terrain, you always feel like you're approaching the coal face of this conflict.

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