As winter approaches, Russia continues its assault on Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast while striking the power grid and communications networks that civilians across Ukraine depend on.
In an interview with BBC News, Sahaidachnyi Security Center Associate Fellow Polina Istomina explains why Kramatorsk matters so much for Ukraine’s defence and how Russian attacks are reshaping everyday life in the east of the country.
Kramatorsk lies within one of the best-fortified areas in Europe, with defences built up well before 2022. The city also stands on high ground, a clear military advantage. If Ukraine lost it, Russia would gain access to hundreds of kilometres of territory that is far easier to advance through, which explains why Russian forces are attacking it so persistently.
The war has emptied the city. According to Polina Istomina, of the roughly 200,000 people who once lived in Kramatorsk, fewer than 60,000 remain.
Polina Istomina also points out that the disruption extends far beyond the front-line cities. Some trains from Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro towards western Ukraine are being cancelled, while others are regularly stopped for hours as passengers are evacuated. For people in the east, travelling across the country is becoming close to impossible.
Asked about US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that diplomacy has reached a dead end, and Volodymyr Zelensky’s response that the US should help Ukraine gain air superiority and increase pressure on Putin, Polina Istomina emphasised:
“Not a single day since February 24, Ukraine had a proper ceasefire where everything stopped and people had a break. I think that fact is pretty telling.”