Those who remained in the Kramatorsk zone

Leaving Kramatorsk, Iván heads northeast, and six days a week he takes bread to the villages within earshot of the front line and evacuates those who ask for it as necessary. There are few of them. People in these villages have been listening to the cannons roaring at the border since 2014, those who could have fled here a long time ago. Those who stayed are taking care of their elderly parents and cannot afford to pay for housing anywhere.

A glide bomb or a drone

“I have elderly parents, they live in the neighboring village, and as their daughter I have a duty to take care of them,” says Viktoria, a former teacher at the local school. There is no electricity in the village, water is drawn from a well, and volunteers bring it to them once a week in balloon cans. Food is what they grow for themselves in the garden and what Iván delivers to them. In the trunk of the volunteer’s white van, 120 kilograms of bread are about to be distributed by noon.

Approaching the villages, the dirt road is unexpectedly replaced by fresh asphalt. From the rare road renovation in Ukraine, Iván concludes that the Ukrainians or the Russians are preparing for something. In the near future, it will probably be vitally important that trucks and pickups carrying soldiers and equipment can move forward as quickly as possible.

The trunks of the trees in the surrounding forests burned black up to a height of two meters due to the constant forest fires caused by the impacting shells. Not a house is untouched, with at least a few bullet holes in every tin fence. Iván’s arrival is not only a daily staple for the locals, but also indicates the passage of time and gives a sense of permanence, security, and predictability.