As Russian forces tighten their grip on the strategic Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, its residents face an agonizing choice: flee or endure the escalating violence. For Maria Honcharenko, a 69-year-old who has lived in Pokrovsk her entire life, the decision has finally been made. With just a small bag and her two kittens, she boards an evacuation bus, her heart heavy with fear as the sound of nearby explosions reverberates in the distance.
“My heart stops when I hear a bang,” she says tearfully, clutching an old phone with her emergency contacts. Volunteers help her on board as the town, now just 8 km from the front lines, is bombarded with missiles, artillery, and guided bombs.
Pokrovsk, once a bustling transportation hub, is now Moscow’s prime target. Its capture would sever key supply routes and push Ukrainian forces back, potentially leading to the loss of most of the Donetsk region. With Russian attacks intensifying, half of the city’s 48,000 residents have already fled, leaving behind a once-vibrant downtown now eerily quiet.
While Ukrainian forces have managed to stabilize the northern flank, heavy battles rage on the southern front. Soldiers like Dmytro, a commander with the 15th Brigade of the National Guard, fight relentlessly, firing hundreds of rounds daily to fend off Russian assaults. “The enemy attacks in groups of up to 60 people,” he says, describing the relentless nature of the conflict.
As the evacuation bus, filled with the last remnants of hope, takes a detour to avoid a destroyed bridge, Maria and her fellow passengers wave goodbye to the life they once knew, uncertain of what awaits them but hopeful for safety beyond the war-torn horizon.