The last inhabitants of the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk entrench themselves against the advance of Russia

The Ukrainian pensioner Oleksandr Sopov He barely reacts to the roar of artillery on the outskirts of Pokrovsk, the eastern city where fierce fighting is taking place between Russian and Ukrainian forces: “What should I be afraid of?”

Sopov is one of the thousands of residents who remain in the strategic city before the advance of Russian troops, part of their tough march through the industrial region of Donbass. Moscow is advancing at its fastest pace on the battlefield since 2022, capturing town after town as both sides compete for the advantage ahead of peace efforts planned for next year.

Ukrainian officials have said that Kremlin troops are only 3 km (2 miles) from Pokrovsk However, more than 10,000 residents of the city’s pre-war population of 60,000 remain, authorities and rescuers say.

The supply of electricity, water and heating is practically cut off. Some buildings have been severely damaged by the fighting, and a bridge has partially collapsed. On the mostly empty streets, locals go about their lives, riding bicycles and selling Christmas items amid the near-constant roar of artillery duels.

Many of those interviewed by Reuters said they refused to leave because they had nowhere to go and few financial resources. Some, like shopkeeper Oksana Yarova, said they had returned after a brief evacuation early in the war: ““I don’t want to go anywhere,” said this 44-year-old woman. Among its clients are the miners still working in Ukraine’s only coking coal mine, about 10 km west of Pokrovsk. It currently operates at 50% of its capacity, industry sources told Reuters.

Sopov, the pensioner, said living costs elsewhere are at least double residents’ monthly pensions, which are around $100, making evacuation impossible for many. “And that’s just for housing. You still have to eat,” he added.

In the area around Pokrovsk alone, Russia has thrown some 70,000 soldiers into battle, a Ukrainian military spokesman said this week. It is one of several sectors along a 1,000 km front line in which the Ukrainian army, outnumbered and outgunned, has struggled to defend itself from incessant Russian assaults.

Emil Kastehelmi, an intelligence analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, said a rapid collapse of the city was unlikely and that multiple fortifications remained standing. “But some defensive points, which in theory should have remained in Ukrainian hands longer, have fallen surprisingly quickly,” he told Reuters in written comments.

About 40 km to the south, the Russians have stormed the town of Kurajove and are threatening to encircle a wide area around it, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian group that maps the fighting. Far from the trenches, Moscow is carrying out a airstrike campaign against critical infrastructure that is weighing down Ukraine’s fragile energy grid as winter takes hold.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his desire to reach peace through diplomatic means next year, but only if Ukraine receives security guarantees from its Western partners that prevent further attacks by Russia. Some frontline troops said they do not see an opportunity for peace talks at this time. “I believe that Ukraine will achieve victory when an understanding is reached on the possibility of defending our country and preventing a repetition of the tragedies that have occurred,” declared a drone pilot from the 21st Special Forces Battalion, known by its military callsign ‘ Brain’.

He spoke near the besieged eastern city of Toretsk, in an area where Russian forces advance towards the Kostiantynivka regional logistics center, which links to several key cities further north. Although casualties have increased on both sides, Ukraine says it is less willing than Russia to waste soldier lives. Zelensky said this month that around 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Western estimates of the toll are higher, and much higher still for Russia.

Khrystyna Siomova, a medic with Ukraine’s 5th Separate Assault Brigade, stationed west of Chasiv Yar, another scene of intense fighting, said the weight of those losses is what keeps her comrades in arms going: “Every step we take we take is not only ours, but a collective step together with those we have lost.”

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