ERR in Ukraine: Former rear echelon town transformed into frontline zone in just weeks
Russia's advance in the Dnipropetrovsk area threatens Ukrainian defensive positions in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia oblast and in Donbas, to its north.
The small town of Pokrovske, just one affected location, has transformed into a frontline in weeks.
Pokrovske is not to be confused with Pokrovsk, Donetsk oblast, which has been in the headlines a lot recently as Ukrainian forces continue a stubborn stand against ongoing Russian pressure. There are even several towns in Ukraine called Pokrovske, though this one is in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
ERR's Anton Aleksejev and Tarmo Aarma were last in Pokrovske about a month ago, but the situation has changed drastically since then. Not only are Russian drones falling behind the bridge located here, but shells are too.
Behind the bridge lies the neighboring village of Oleksandrivka.
"When they started bombing the town center, people started to flee from here. Once they started bombing the bridges, almost everyone took off. Very few people stayed behind," one local resident, Sergii, told ERR.
Pokrovske lies at the convergence of the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblast borders. According to another local resident, Grigori, the Russians are advancing rapidly here. "In the direction of Zaporizhzhia from here are the villages of Vyshneve, the 65th horse farm, Novooleksandrivka. They are already there. Across the river from here is the village of Red LymanX, now renamed Dobropasovo. Rumor has it that reconnaissance groups have already been spotted there. And that's five or six kilometers from here," he said.
The town's pre-war population of around 10,000 has fallen dramatically, while Oleksandrivka is now home to just a handful of people.
"There are still people in Pokrovske, but in Oleksandrivka there are very few, maybe 20. But there used to be more than a thousand," Sergii noted.
A few hundred meters from the bridge, fresh traces of bombardment can be seen. Another resident, Igor, did not want to leave, only for a glide bomb dropped four days ago to destroy his car and also his neighbor's house.
"We're getting out, evacuating. How can you live here? It's impossible to live here," Igor said.
A month ago, the ERR team were able to sip coffee with the press pack on the market square, which was still bustling at the time.
Next to the market square stood an outlet of ATB, Ukraine's largest retail chain, but that was hit two weeks ago. At the same time, the town lost electricity, water and gas. The streets started to empty.
People do leave Pokrovske and return intermittently for short visits, too, if only to see what is left of the town. Local residents Tatiana and Grigori came back to their hometown for a single day.
"We're locals, we already left. We came back only for today, to see what had happened here. We already knew that glide bombs had fallen here and there. As we walked around, we could see that the music school is gone," Tatiana said.
The pair left two weeks ago, when Russian forces were about twenty kilometers from the town. "We stayed until the last moment. I was the last one left on our street. Then it was no longer viable to stay. We left, and today we came back because we left all our belongings here. We took only a pot and a bowl to cook with, found a quick rental flat in Dnipro and left."
The ERR crew's conversation with locals was a brief one. Walking around and chatting in a frontline town is not the best idea, and many locals were about to head off again, for instance to Dnipro, on the western bank of the river of the same name and away from the front lines.
"We're heading to Dnipro now. We wanted to stay here overnight, but it seems that won't work out," Tatiana added.
--
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Valner Väino
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
