#Bakhmut #Ukraine #war
Lyubov Mozhayeva does not flinch at the sound of distant artillery fire as she comes to pick up a humanitarian food package in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
At first glance, the city is quiet, with sunlight flooding the square in front of City Hall and locals quietly walking by.
But the roar of artillery fire and the wail of air raid sirens remain a stark reminder that the front line of war with Russia is not far away.
“You can’t run away from war and you never know where it will find you,” says Mozhayeva, a 60-year-old agronomist.
“You never get used to war, it’s terrible and scary,” the dark-haired woman with blue eyes told the AFP news agency.
Bakhmut is southeast of Kramatorsk, a major city and administrative center of Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine that Russia is seeking full control of.
Bakhmut and Kramatorsk are among the few remaining cities under Ukrainian control in the region.
With the front line only a few kilometers away, Bakhmut has been under heavy shelling in recent weeks and Kyiv expects the fighting to intensify further.
Taking Bakhmut would give Russia control of a strategic highway and supply route, and open the road to Kramatorsk.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, many residents of Bakhmut left the city, known as a leading producer of table salt and sparkling wine.
More than a third of the city’s 73,000 residents have fled, says Dmytro Podkuyidko, an official in charge of evacuations.
– Evacuations made more difficult –
Behind a large community building, about 30 people prepare to board two buses bound for the central Ukraine city of Dnipro, about a four-hour drive away.
But evacuations are becoming increasingly difficult as intense shelling makes the roads more dangerous, according to one of the drivers, Dima.
“If it gets worse, I’ll end up leaving too,” says Podkuyidko.
Eight-year-old Sofia watches the departing buses with her plush tiger on the town square.
“I would also like to evacuate, but my parents don’t want to. Everyone’s gone, there’s only one kid my age in the neighborhood,” she says, playing around with her beaded bracelet.
Her mother, a former real estate agent, confirms that they want to stay: “We’re not going away. We have a place to stay.”
However, most families with children have left Bakhmut, while many of the remaining residents are either elderly or have nowhere to go.
Others see no reason to leave.
“It’s sad, before we were fine and now it’s very unstable and I don’t even know who to support: the Russians or the Ukrainians?” Valery Pashchenko wonders.
“Maybe the Russians will come and give me access to natural gas,” adds the former construction worker, who is in a wheelchair after a leg amputation.
Nearby, 86-year-old Svetlana Pergat nods in agreement.
“I’m not afraid of anything or anyone, but I want it to stop. I didn’t think war was possible,” says the woman, who witnessed the Nazi occupation of Bachmut between 1941 and 1943.
The city also saw an outbreak of heavy fighting after a 2014 war broke out between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government.
The separatists briefly seized control of Bakhmut before it was recaptured by Ukrainian forces just over two months later.
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