KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine — A few desperate residents of Kostyantynivka huddle around a fire in a neighborhood littered with the rubble of damaged buildings and burned-out cars.
Gas and power lines have been severed by Russian attacks on this frontline city, so the open fire is their only means of cooking a meal.
One woman comments on the constant threat of a drone attack. “They’re flying all the time. Big ones, little ones, all kinds of drones,” she says.
When an RFE/RL reporter asks if she’s afraid to be outside, she answers, “I have no choice.”
Once home to nearly 70,000 people, Kostyantynivka now has a population far smaller, but a handful of civilians, many of them elderly, remain here despite efforts to evacuate the city.
Many, like the woman cooking on the open fire, say they have nowhere to go.
“There’s nothing I can do,” said another resident cooking soup. “My nephew had an apartment in Kharkiv. I was going to go there because he left for Germany. But it was destroyed, too. I have nowhere to go.”
She told RFE/RL that the shop where she used to work was also destroyed in an attack. Hearing the buzz of a nearby drone, she said calmly, “We’re used to it.”
Ukrainian forces stationed in and around the city have kept Russian forces from advancing into Kostyantynivka, a critical stronghold in the Donetsk region and one of the war’s most active battlegrounds.
As Russian drones swarm overhead, soldiers of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade use their own fleet of drones to ward off attacks. The Ukrainian drones also provide one of the few supply lines for badly needed provisions.
“There are five [drone] flights in the morning to bring [supplies] to the infantry: food, water, power banks, ammo, thermal underwear, blankets,” a soldier named Oleksandr explains. “We haven’t brought in pillows yet, but we might. The guys get sick, they need bandages. We sent them an IV line yesterday.”
While Russian efforts to advance into Kostyantynivka appear stalled for now, aerial attacks on civilian sites occur continually.
Another resident of a shattered apartment block cries as she describes how quickly the damage occurred. “It only took them three weeks to destroy the city,” she says.
