Less than 100 citizens, mostly old and poor, are risking serious injury or death to stay in the shattered frontline town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine. Residents there have to endure indiscriminate shelling and the constant threat of being captured by Russian forces.
Living Amid The Ruins: Defiant Residents Of A Ukrainian Frontline Town Refuse To Flee
An effigy of Russian President Vladmir Putin hangs in the central square in the frontline town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region on July 16. The small mining town, which had a pre-invasion population of some 14,000, is now a burned-out shell where approximately 100 citizens remain with no electricity, water, or functioning infrastructure.
Svitlana, 73, walks on a street near shattered apartments in Vuhledar on July 16.
Many of the residents who remain in the city are elderly. Kyiv has been imploring people to leave but many of the old and poor remain behind.
Vuhledar is located some 55 kilometers southwest of the city of Donetsk and continues to be targeted with artillery and rockets as Moscow's forces struggle to capture it.
Svitlana, whose own home was destroyed, walks through the burned-out interior of her neighbor's home. Many of Vuhledar's residents live in their basements with no heat or electricity and have resorted to collecting rainwater for drinking.
Several Ukrainian soldiers from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade walk past a shell crater in Vuhledar.
A three-week confrontation near the town resulted in what Ukrainian officials say was the biggest tank battle of the war so far, with the Kremlin's forces reportedly taking heavy losses as Kyiv claimed it destroyed 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers.
The impromptu grave of a local resident lies in a field near damaged apartment buildings.
The proximity of the town to the front line has resulted in the deaths of some 60 citizens, including three children.
Valentyna, 72, walks in the basement of the apartment block where she lives. Despite the hardships she refuses to leave.
An icon damaged by shelling inside a church in Vuhledar. The deputy mayor of Vuhledar said earlier this year that the town was destroyed, with "one hundred percent of the buildings damaged."
Natalya, 90, stands at the entrance to her apartment block. Life is especially difficult for older residents as they risk serious injury or death when venturing out.
Natalya is comforted by a Ukrainian soldier.
Svitlana walks along the shattered landscape of her community, which has been devastated by Moscow's invasion.