While Ukraine is entering its fourth year of war since the start of the Russian invasion, fighting is raging like never on the front line in the east of the country.
While the soldiers throw their last forces on the battlefield, exhausted civilians are doing so much in ever more difficult living conditions.
Euronews International Correspondent Valérie Gauriat went to the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, to document the situation in the area surrounding the city of Pokrovsk, at the heart of one of the most battles crucial war.
In the heat of the action on the Pokrovsk forehead
This report takes you to the heart of the action on the Pokrovsk front line, with an artillery unit, and in an operational command post of the Ukrainian army.
In one of the military “stabilization points”, emergency care centers for injured soldiers, discover the poignant testimony of Sasha, 22, who is good despite the daily horror.
Not far from there, in the city of Pokrovsk devastated by the incessant Russian bombings, the few remaining inhabitants refuse to evacuate, despite the danger.
“They leave nothing behind them only ruins”
“The retirees, unfortunately, do not want to leave, nor those who expect what they call” Russian peace “, sighs Maksym, civil-military cooperation officer of the Ukrainian army, who guides us through the rubble. “They believe in a replacement of the former USSR by today Russia, who will repair everything. The reality is that nothing is repaired. They do not leave anything behind them, apart from ruins. »»
The route continues in the industrial zone of Western Donbass, a potential target for the Russian forces.
This is where most coal mines in the country are located, which provide a crucial resource for the country’s energy network.
In the oldest coal mine in the region, our reporter leaves to meet underground soldiers who hold the Energy Front line in Ukraine.
Underground fighters in coal mines
Among them, more and more women who came to replace the mobilized men or tombs on the battlefield. Forbidden to work in mine wells before the war, by virtue of a law dating from the Soviet era, women today represent 5 % of the underground workforce of this mine.
Many of them were moved by war, like Oksana. His life was broken by the bombing of his hometown of Bahmut, where his eldest son and his father were killed.
Have the strength to hold, until victory
She found comfort in the mine, ensuring her subsistence, and considers her work as a contribution to the war effort.
Choreographer before the war, Oksana gave dance lessons to teenagers after her day at the mine.
“What drives me is my love for children, who are our continuity, and for art. And also my faith in our victory, “she said, concluding:” I hope I will have enough strength to see her arrive. Our peace. »»