Despair and destruction: Civilians in Ukraine’s eastern strongholds struggle as Russia advances

By HANNA ARHIROVA DONETSK REGION Ukraine AP With the Russian advance deeper into the Donetsk region the air in Ukraine s last strongholds is thick with dread and the future for civilians who remain grows ever more uncertain In Kostiantynivka once home to people there is no steady supply of power water or gas Shelling intensifies drones fill the skies and the city has become unbearable driving out the last remaining civilians Kramatorsk by contrast still shows signs of life Just kilometers miles to the north the prewar population of has thinned but restaurants and cafes remain open The streets are mostly intact Though the city has endured multiple strikes and is now dominated by the military daily routines persist in procedures that are no longer practicable in nearby towns Once the industrial heart of Ukraine Donetsk is being steadily reduced to rubble Various residents fear its cities may never be rebuilt and if the war drags on Russia eventually will swallow what is left Donetsk region has been trampled torn apart turned into dust reported Natalia Ivanova a woman in her s who fled Kostiantynivka in early September after a missile struck near her home Russian President Vladimir Putin will go all the way I m sure of it I have no doubt more cities will be destroyed An armoured automobile drives on a road near Kostiantynivka Ukraine Tuesday Sept AP Photo Evgeniy Maloletka Olena Voronkova receives orders in his coffee shop in Kramatorsk Ukraine Saturday Sept AP Photo Hanna Arhirova A man walks past a central square in Kramatorsk Ukraine Friday Sept AP Photo Evgeniy Maloletka Police officers evacuate Maria Hodus from her house in Kostiantynivka Ukraine Tuesday Sept AP Photo Evgeniy Maloletka Show Caption of An armoured bicycle drives on a road near Kostiantynivka Ukraine Tuesday Sept AP Photo Evgeniy Maloletka Expand Despair and destruction Kostiantynivka now sits on a shrinking patch of Ukrainian-held territory wedged just west of Russian-occupied Bakhmut and nearly encircled on three sides by Moscow s forces They was constantly shooting Ivanova revealed You d be standing there and all you d hear was the whistle of shells She had two apartments One was destroyed and the other one damaged For months she watched buildings disappear in an instant while swarms of buzzing drones like beetles filled the sky she mentioned I never thought I d leave she added I was a stolid soldier holding on I m a pensioner and it the home was my comfort zone Related Articles Currently in History September CERN s Large Hadron Collider powered up In current times in History September Attica prison uprising begins Israel bombs another Gaza City high-rise as US advances a new ceasefire proposal At present in History September The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts In the current era in History September Anglican church elevates Bishop Desmond Tutu For years now Ivanova had watched the region s cities fall Bakhmut then Avdiivka and others But the war she reported still felt far away even as it closed in on her doorstep I felt for those people she stated But it wasn t enough to make me leave A blast near her building certainly forced her out The explosion bent her windows so badly she couldn t shut them before fleeing Her apartment remained wide open She left her whole life behind in Kostiantynivka the city where she was born Please stop it she pleaded directing her appeal to world leaders as she sat in an evacuation hub shortly after fleeing It s the poorest people who suffer the preponderance This war is senseless and stupid We re dying like animals by the dozens Living through it together Olena Voronkova decided to leave Kostiantynivka earlier in May when she could no longer run her two businesses a beauty salon and a cafe She and her family relocated to nearby Kramatorsk which is so close yet in numerous avenues far away as she is no longer able to enter her hometown It wasn t the first loss she had suffered since the war began In a rocket strike from a multiple-launch system severely damaged their house The move to Kramatorsk wasn t by choice she added but because the circumstances left us no other option First came the mandatory evacuation orders Then a curfew so strict they could only move around the city for four hours a day Then came the floods of remote-controlled drones We re used to life in Donetsk region We feel good here Kramatorsk is familiar A lot of people from our city moved here even local municipal workers Voronkova disclosed Not long after arriving in Kramatorsk she opened a cafe that is nearly identical to the one she left behind She disclosed the space just happened to look similar It has high white walls and ornate mirrors she brought from her beauty salon which is now in the combat zone The cafe has since become a refuge for others who also fled Kostiantynivka At first there was hope that maybe particular homes would survive that people might go back she announced Now we see it s unlikely anyone has anything left The city is turning into another Bakhmut Toretsk or Avdiivka Everything is being destroyed She described the mood as heavy because people are losing hope and it felt easier in Kramatorsk because everyone shared the same loss which created a sense of connection and mutual encouragement No one really knows where to go next Everyone sees that Russia isn t stopping And that s where the hopelessness begins No one has a direction anymore The uncertainty is everywhere she reported Seizing the day War is slowly draining the life out of Kramatorsk as if warning that it may be the next city to be reduced to rubble Daria Horlova still remembers it as a bustling place where at p m life in the central square was just getting started Now it s deserted at all hours and p m is when a strict curfew begins The city is regularly bombed thanks to its proximity to the front line about kilometers miles east It s still terrifying when something s flying overhead or strikes nearby especially when it hits the city the -year-old disclosed You want to cry but there are no emotions left No strength Horlova studies remotely at a local university that relocated to another region and works as a nail artist One day she hopes to open her own salon For now she and her boyfriend are stuck in limbo unsure of what to do next It s terrifying that the majority of the Donetsk region is occupied and that it was Russia who attacked she explained That s why it feels like everything could change at any moment Just look at Kostiantynivka not long ago life there was normal And now To distract herself from the anxiety and the laborious decision she might soon have to make to leave Horlova tries to focus on what brings her contentment in the moment She already was evacuated from Kramatorsk once earlier in the war and doesn t want to repeat it Instead of dwelling on what the future could hold she urged her boyfriend a tattoo artist to ink a large tattoo of a goat skull on her right leg something she has dreamed about for years I think you just have to do things and do them as soon as you can she declared Being here I know this tattoo will be a memory of Kramatorsk if I end up leaving Vasilisa Stepanenko and Yehor Konovalov contributed to this summary