Many of the apartment buildings in Kramatorsk have broken windows, hit by the shock wave of the rockets. Bogdan Suyakov and his friend Yuri are repairing the windows - covering them with plywood, even if the apartments are uninhabited.
It's also about heating the buildings, Suyakov told ARD. “To prevent the rooms from freezing, we also cover the windows of the uninhabited apartments. Everything must be well closed, because if it isn't, the entire installation will be damaged. Then the people in the entire building will be left without heating just because of one apartment," explains Suyakov.
Waiting for a solution
In the meantime, many of the apartments are empty, writes the German public-law media. The fighting on the eastern front in Ukraine is taking place just 20 km from Kramatorsk. The remaining 80,000 people in the city live under the constant noise of artillery fire - day after day, without the opportunity to make plans for the future, as Suyakov says. This is a city waiting for the unknown - waiting for action from the US, for negotiations, for some kind of solution.
"I have no hope. What can America do? Practically nothing. Sooner or later the war will come to this, and we must be ready," says Suyakov, quoted by ARD. He is already thinking about where he could take his family. “I'm already avoiding making some purchases - I don't buy new windows, for example. Why would I do that when the war will soon come here too?“.
There's no money for a new start
Most people are considering leaving the city, says local journalist Maksim Chodushko. He emphasizes that the topic is painful - since many have already fled from Russian troops more than once.
Chodushko also left Kramatorsk at the beginning of the war and is aware of the financial problems of refugees in Ukraine. He tells ARD that this issue is talked about very little in society. “Run away and consider yourself lucky if they shelter you in a barn! Sorry, but people have left their homes or their renovated apartments!“.
People in Ukraine usually only own one property, explains the German public legal media. Chodushko adds: “It is no longer possible - there are not enough funds. But that is not talked about either“. People simply do not have the money to start over.
Attacks with missiles, drones and bombs
This is not the first war for the residents of Kramatorsk - in 2014 the city was already briefly occupied by so-called Russian separatists: Armed groups financed and supported by Russia have been fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine. In the following years, countless civilians have arrived here from the occupied Donbass. Since 2022, Kramatorsk has been a frontline city again.
However, recently, regular attacks with missiles and drones have been joined by attacks with guided bombs. This makes the daily terror even more terrifying, says journalist Chodushko. “I hope something will be done. But I don't want to be forced to pack my life into two or three bags again.“ His parents and younger brother lived in a shelter in Dnipro for eight months, after which they returned. “One room is too small a space for three adults“, Chodushko notes.
Will Kramatorsk become an object of negotiations?
People in eastern Ukraine are looking to Washington and Donald Trump, ARD further writes. Many believe that the decision of their fates depends on the American president. Kramatorsk is located in one of the four Ukrainian regions that Putin defines as "his", although he does not fully control them. Will the city soon become the subject of negotiations? Bogdan Suyakov hopes that he will be able to stay in his homeland. "If the US aid stops, the front will quickly approach. Then I will have to quickly look for a new place for my family. If there are negotiations, it remains to be seen what they will agree on. And which side Kramatorsk will end up on in the end."
Suyakov emphasizes to ARD that he does not want to live in Russia - he wants to stay in Ukraine. And if Kramatorsk falls into Russian hands, he will have to take his family somewhere else.
Many are convinced that Ukraine will hardly be able to keep Russian troops in the region by military means. But Donbass will not fall so soon - and this seems certain almost three years after the war began. The Russian occupation forces are simply advancing too slowly.
Author: Rebecca Barth ARD