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BBC/HANNA CHORNOUS Kostyantynivka's train station, once a major front-line hub, was hit by a Russian missile in February |
In eastern Ukraine, the war has escalated rapidly, with Russia capturing strategic towns like Avdiivka and taking several villages. Ukraine's forces are "holding on," but Russian troops are attacking in five areas along the 1,100km (700 mile) front line. The Donetsk region, including Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka, and Kramatorsk, is facing a fast-approaching front line and even occupation.
Mariya and her mother Tetyana are finding life increasingly difficult as the Russians advance closer. Their city is littered with signs of the approaching threat 30km away, and almost every street has a damaged building. 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, which is what is feared the most here.
The Donetsk region, along with four others, is a battlefield, with dense forests and expansive, rugged terrain making it feel like you're approaching the coal face of this conflict. Heavy fire from as far as 40 km away, and the distant sound of artillery is constant. Russia is using its size, air superiority, and deeper ammunition reserves to keep pushing, at a time when Western military aid to Ukraine is running low or being held up by domestic politics.
Ukraine says that a wide valley with several reservoirs will allow its forces to "stabilize" the front line. Ukrainian generals are willing to temporarily concede territory in the hope it can be liberated in the long term. A small minority of people labelled as "Zhdun" by the Ukrainians, referring to those who are pro-Russian and waiting to be occupied, are labelled as "Zhdun" by the Ukrainians.
Evacuation from front-line settlements is compulsory for families with children, but 15 children still remain in Toretsk. Anton Pron from the White Angels police evacuation squad tells us that the situation is worsening every day due to constant shelling and artillery. The train station in the nearby city of Kramatorsk is the last stop for arriving troops and increasingly, departing civilians laden with bags.
At least 61 people were killed by one missile strike in 2022, and shrapnel marks are still scorched onto the pavement. Ukraine hopes its eastern lands will one day be somewhere safe to live again, but right now, it's unclear what these departing passengers will be returning to. If Russian invaders gain more momentum in the Donetsk region, the question of where they will stop will be increasingly difficult to answer.
