Trenches around Pokrovsk, being prepared in case of withdrawal from the town.
Marshal Moskalenko, one of the city's main streets during the evening curfew.
The refugee point set up in the Pentecostal church orphanage building led by pastor Serhyi is one of the last places to have a hot meal.
Remains of the bombed-out ‘Druzhba’ hotel in the city center.
Larissa runs what is probably the last hairdressing salon in town. She declares that things are still normal in the town and doesn't want to leave - ‘Someone has to cut the hair of all those soldiers in the area’.
The supply of grocery shops is getting worse and worse, with only a handful now opening for four hours a day in the city.
Juriy fled with his family from Wuhledar. As long as the days are warm they sleep in the backyard of one of the houses abandoned by the previous inhabitants. He says they have lost everything and now have nowhere to go. It is likely that they will soon be forced to leave again.
Residents of the Internally Displaced People point at the Pentecostal church Orphanage share multifloral honey.
Pastor Serhyi leads evening prayer for displaced people at the orphanage.
Preparing a meal on a traditional oven for the orphanage's guests. There is a shortage of water, electricity and gas in the town which makes cooking difficult.
Polina Bobnieva (29) came from Budapest with a mission to rescue stray animals in Pokrovsk.
Searching the basement for stray baby cats.
Halina Melnikova (84) has been a poet for 50 years. She escaped to Pokrovsk from Avdiivka. Her family stayed in the DNR and there is no one in Ukraine she can go to.
Oksana, one of the closer associated believers helping at the Orphanage looks after the goats.
A lone elderly woman sitting in the city center during a curfew.
Oksana says goodbye to her neighbors as she leaves Pokrovsk. Perhaps she is leaving her flat forever.
Oksana hugs her friend goodbye at the train station.
Oksana turns one last time saying goodbye to her friend and the town.
No long-distance trains have been running in Pokrovsk since the half of August. The last suburban train to Dnipro leaves the city every day at 15:40. Oksana leaves for the unknown, with nowhere planned to stay.
Nela does not hide her tears as she discusses the fate of the city, the people and the animals.

Enemy at the gates

Pokrovsk, an Ukrainian town of 60 000, is gradually being depopulated – just as Bakhmut and Severodonetsk were – as the frontline of Russian invasion is crawling about 9 km from its borders. However, the worst is yet to come for the citizens. Most of them have nowhere to go, so they choose to stay in the city. Official communiques say that the evacuation organized by the government is going well. However, it is the volunteers who encourage and evacuate people, it is to them that locals turn for help, while the town itself is shelled every hour. The town faces a real test over the next few months. We look at the last signs of regular Pokrovsk life, which take place from 11am to 3pm due to the curfew imposed by the Ukrainian authorities.

How do you watch a city that will soon cease to exist? It’s a strange feeling. You wander the empty streets, there are still recently thrown away cups in the trash bins of a popular café in the centre. Probably nobody will drink coffee here anymore. Dogs still gather under the pet shop – they surely used to get food here. Defenceless animals unaware of the danger. A train leaves the town once a day. Only a handful of people get on – most of those who were supposed to evacuate have left, and those who hope for the best persist in the town. Often they simply have no choice, they are more afraid to leave than to stay. All those people are losing their reality. It’s all pointless, it’s just about making a horror to the others. War is to shatter reality, to destroy the status quo. To burn the land and occupy the ruins of what was once Pokrovsk. This will be called a victory.

Trenches around Pokrovsk, being prepared in case of withdrawal from the town.

Marshal Moskalenko, one of the city's main streets during the evening curfew.

The refugee point set up in the Pentecostal church orphanage building led by pastor Serhyi is one of the last places to have a hot meal.

Remains of the bombed-out ‘Druzhba’ hotel in the city center.

Larissa runs what is probably the last hairdressing salon in town. She declares that things are still normal in the town and doesn't want to leave - ‘Someone has to cut the hair of all those soldiers in the area’.

The supply of grocery shops is getting worse and worse, with only a handful now opening for four hours a day in the city.

Juriy fled with his family from Wuhledar. As long as the days are warm they sleep in the backyard of one of the houses abandoned by the previous inhabitants. He says they have lost everything and now have nowhere to go. It is likely that they will soon be forced to leave again.

Residents of the Internally Displaced People point at the Pentecostal church Orphanage share multifloral honey.

Pastor Serhyi leads evening prayer for displaced people at the orphanage.

Preparing a meal on a traditional oven for the orphanage's guests. There is a shortage of water, electricity and gas in the town which makes cooking difficult.

Polina Bobnieva (29) came from Budapest with a mission to rescue stray animals in Pokrovsk.

Searching the basement for stray baby cats.

Halina Melnikova (84) has been a poet for 50 years. She escaped to Pokrovsk from Avdiivka. Her family stayed in the DNR and there is no one in Ukraine she can go to.

Oksana, one of the closer associated believers helping at the Orphanage looks after the goats.

A lone elderly woman sitting in the city center during a curfew.

Oksana says goodbye to her neighbors as she leaves Pokrovsk. Perhaps she is leaving her flat forever.

Oksana hugs her friend goodbye at the train station.

Oksana turns one last time saying goodbye to her friend and the town.

No long-distance trains have been running in Pokrovsk since the half of August. The last suburban train to Dnipro leaves the city every day at 15:40. Oksana leaves for the unknown, with nowhere planned to stay.

Nela does not hide her tears as she discusses the fate of the city, the people and the animals.

Enemy at the gates