In the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiyivka, elderly residents risk serious injury or death to stay in their homes. Russian-backed separatists began shelling the city in 2014, and it continues to be targeted amid Moscow's full-scale invasion. The elderly make up nearly 60 percent of those who remain.
Russian Roulette: Elderly Residents Brave Shelling And Death In Ukraine's East
Viktor Grozdov, 77, sits in the bathroom of his damaged home on June 28 in the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiyivka. The bathroom has become his refuge when the artillery shells rain down.
A suburb of the city of Donetsk, Avdiyivka is shelled up to 30 times a day. "In the last four months or so, there hasn't been a day without aerial or rocket strikes," the head of the military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, told AFP.
Despite having no intact buildings or functioning utilities, the frontline town of Avdiyivka is home to 1,719 residents. "Around 60 percent are people aged 65 and over," Barabash said.
Grozdov is one of the residents who chose to remain in the burnt-out shell of the former town. AFP journalists first met him on April 4 (pictured) after they found him lying at the bottom of a crater. With his poor eyesight, he had fallen in while gathering food that had spilled out of his bag and was unable to climb out.
Journalists went back to Avdiyivka to check in on the pensioner. They found him living in his shattered apartment without windows. "My soul is at home; it's not trying to leave. I'm not anxious; I've become calm," Grozdov said.
With no electricity or water, Grozdov relies on a camping stove and supplies provided by volunteer to survive. He refuses to leave his home and the town where his wife and son are buried.
Grozdov's neighbor, 63-year-old Vitaliy Zemin, sits in the cellar, where he lives with his wife. He spends much of his time carving wooden animals while wearing a head torch.
"It distracts you from the thoughts a person has all the time: about people, about Ukraine, about why there isn't any peace," Zemin said.
A woman who did not wish to provide her name pets a dog in the cold, dark cellar where she lives.
Local residents gather next to a shelter run by volunteers where they receive food and hot drinks. The can also use the Internet, watch TV, and charge their devices. But the shelter's water supply, which was opened in March, has been fouled up with mud, meaning the washing machines and showers are no longer usable.
Despite the hardships, Grozdov refuses to leave his home. "Whatever happens, I won't go anywhere now," he said.