Kramatorsk, one of the most important Ukrainian cities of the Donetsk region, lives daily under the pressure of air attacks and under the threat of possible ground attacks in the event of the fall of Bakhmut, reports the correspondent of Agerpres in a report from the scene.

The city, which had more than 200,000 inhabitants, is now depopulated. It became the headquarters of the Ukrainian army on the eastern border, and several supermarkets, which are still operating, sell their goods specifically for the military. All the hotels and restaurants are closed and the neighborhoods, many of which were damaged by the explosions, are almost empty.

“My neighbors are either outside the city or at the front,” a 60-year-old man told Agerpres, who, although he was not drafted into the army, decided to stay in Kramatorsk, located only 50 kilometers from the front line.

The alarms go off several times a day and the images are bleak. Whether it’s sirens or silence, the streets are almost empty. Only military vehicles, tanks and army trucks make the city not seem deserted.

“We are thinking of going where we can see”

Volodya is 65 years old and was not sent to the front. He remained in the city, from where he sadly observes the desolation and from where he feels with fear the threat of a Russian attack.

“I was born in Kramatorsk. It’s much worse now. It was good before the war, but now there is a lack of work in the world. People, as many as there are, are trying to cope. How to say – they started to get used to it. It’s still hard. Very difficult. We are thinking of going wherever we can see,” the man admits.

A local resident walks through the ultra-central district of the city of Kramatorsk, reflecting on pre-war life. She remembers how all the alleys were filled with young people and children, cheerful and optimistic people. The attacks after February 24, 2022 turned everything upside down.

“Before the war, it was a bright, prosperous city. People walked along the paths in the park, there was always a crowd. Deliberately went to the market to see how it was there. Once upon a time there were only mothers with children, a city full of life lives on the tiles. Now this city is near the front line. You can see it, you can feel it,” says a woman who closed her business and went to Kyiv for a while.

After the liberation of the city in 2014, Kramatorsk became the temporary administrative center of Donetsk region.

Kramatorsk, which became the de facto capital of the region after the capture of the city of Donetsk by the Russians, was an important industrial center of Ukraine. It was one of the largest heavy-duty depots in Ukraine and an important transport hub, with a main railway connecting the cities of the south and east of the Donetsk Basin with the north and west of the region.

Between May 12 and July 5, 2014, the city was occupied by Russian-backed separatist forces of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”. During the fighting, some factories were partially destroyed, 50 people died. After the liberation of the city in October 2014, Kramatorsk became the temporary administrative center of Donetsk region. On February 10, 2015, the city was fired upon by Russian “Smerch” missiles fired from occupied Horlivka, as a result of which 17 people were killed and 64 were injured.

April 8, 2022 Kramatorsk railway station, which was used to evacuate civilians, was hit by two missiles from the Russian army, killing more than 50 people, including five children. At least 98 people were injured.

• Read also: What the Ukrainians who fought in Bakhmut say: “There is nothing left, the whole earth is burning” / “If there is hell on earth, then it is”

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