Set on Ukraine’s eastern front, Kurakhove is surrounded on three sides, with Russian forces just under 3 km from the devastated city centre.
Yet between 700 and 1,000 local residents remain, most of them living in the basements of apartment buildings, without running water, heating, or electricity. The only place to charge phones is in the basement of the building now housing the city administration.
The exact number of people is impossible to determine because, since mid-October, no humanitarian volunteers have come to Kurakhove.
Under persistent Russian attack, Kurakhove has become the new Bakhmut, as Moscow continues its drive westward to capture all of the Donbas region. On Friday (November 8, 2024), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation in Kurakhove, as well as the key city of Pokrovsk, “the most challenging.”
The hospital, schools, water treatment plant, refugee centre, post office, and cultural centre have all been destroyed. Smoke hangs in the air as bombed-out apartment buildings burn against a backdrop of artillery fire and drones.
Artillerymen of the 33rd Brigade say they are firing around 50 shells per day on the Kurakhove front, indicating critical activity in the Russian Army’s offensive operations and the brigade’s desperate attempts to stop Russian forces from encircling the city.
Local authorities remain in the city, as well as representatives of the police and local Territorial Defense Forces.
‘Road of death’
For Artem Shchus, head of police in Kurakhove, there is little hope of defending the city if it becomes surrounded.
“I do not think it is possible, considering the reality of modern war technologies,” he says.
He calls the road to Kurakhove, which is lined with burned-out civilian vehicles, the “road of death,” due to persistent Russian drone attacks. Five civilians have been killed while trying to leave.
Published – November 11, 2024 08:37 am IST
