The BBC report from inside Donetsk reveals a region under relentless attack. Russia now controls about 70% of Donetsk and almost all of neighboring Luhansk. The slow but steady advance threatens Ukraine’s defensive belt, forcing civilians to flee and leaving towns on the edge of collapse.
Dobropillia, just five miles from Russian positions, shows the devastating impact of war. Its residents have no water, bombed buildings, and constant drone activity overhead. Only a handful of people remain, most too sick or elderly to leave on their own. Humanitarian volunteers race daily to evacuate families, dodging incoming strikes along the way.
Evacuations under fire
Two aid workers, Laarz, a German, and Varia, a young Ukrainian, carry out evacuations for the charity Universal Aid Ukraine. Their work takes them deep into abandoned towns under the shadow of Russian drones.
They drive armored cars fitted with drone-jamming gear, speeding down covered roads hidden from aerial surveillance. Every trip is risky. Residents gather their few belongings in plastic bags, often stepping out of homes already shattered by strikes.
Vitalii Kalinichenko, one evacuee, showed the crater left by a drone crash near his home. His windows had been blown out, his leg bandaged from shrapnel. As the team prepared to leave, fresh blasts echoed across the streets. Yet more families still needed rescuing.
Divided views on Donbas
For those fleeing, the question of Donbas’s future remains deeply personal. Anton, a 31-year-old evacuee, argued for peace through negotiations. “We need to resolve this conflict in a peaceful way. Without blood, without victims,” he said.
Varia disagreed. “We can never trust Russia. If we give them Donbas, it won’t stop anything. It will only give room for another attack,” she told reporters.
This split reflects Ukraine’s national struggle: whether to compromise for peace or fight on for every inch of territory.
The frontline hospitals
Further inside Donetsk, Ukrainian medics work through the night in field hospitals. At one base, the 14th Operational Brigade treated dozens of wounded soldiers from Pokrovsk, a city under partial siege. Injuries ranged from bullet wounds to limbs blown apart by drone strikes.
Surgeons stabilize the injured before sending them to larger hospitals. “It’s hard because I know I can do more, but I don’t have the time,” said Senior Lieutenant Dima, a 42-year-old military doctor.
The cost of holding the line is staggering. Casualties arrive nightly, with fighting described as the worst since the war began. While Russian losses are higher, Moscow can absorb more deaths than Ukraine.
Fortifications and future risks
Driving out of Donetsk, new trenches, barbed wire, and anti-tank defenses stretch across fields. Ukraine continues to fortify against further breaches, knowing Russia has more than 100,000 troops in reserve.
Despite exhaustion and heavy losses, Ukrainian forces refuse to abandon the fight. President Zelensky has dismissed predictions of Donetsk falling soon, though analysts warn the region’s fate may eventually be decided at the negotiating table.
For now, civilians stream out, soldiers hold on, and volunteers risk their lives to evacuate families. Life inside Donetsk is marked by fear, destruction, and resilience, with every day a battle for survival.
