Two men across the road take down a supermarket sign. The grocery store shut a couple of weeks ago. Less than a kilometre away an evacuation train waits to depart. People crowd at the station, preparing to flee.
Pokrovsk, a mining city in eastern Ukraine, is packing up fast. The Russians are 11km away, after a remorseless advance that has taken the invaders close to a place that had been considered safe. Fearing the worst, Ukrainian officials have given people two weeks to leave.
Maryna, 33, waits outside the station with her three children. Their destination is Rivne, far off in western Ukraine. She said she had little choice but to abandon the place where she and her family grew up. "Our neighbours' house was hit - and that's when I realised how dangerous it is," she said.
"I just feel pain," she said - and she worries that many other local people have not decided to quit. "Still a lot of people are staying, and they do not understand they could die. It is too dangerous, especially if you have children." It is not clear what life awaits them in Rivne, where they will be received as displaced people.
Denne historien er fra August 30, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra August 30, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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