Thousands of Kharkiv residents hide from the war in metro stations. They hope to return to their homes soon. There is not much free space at the large Heroiv Pratsi (Heroes of Labor) metro station. About eight hundred people take refuge here. The policemen who keep order say that at its peak there were over two thousand. According to 33-year-old Marina, it was hardly possible to get in …

  After weeks of uncertainty, the inhabitants of the Ukrainian capital are slowly coming out onto the streets. They are seeking the life that the Russian offensive tried to destroy. The 31st of March. One of the first warm days in Kyiv this year. For more than a month, the threat of a Russian attack has been hanging over the 3-million-strong capital of Ukraine. But the situation around …

  At least 10 million Ukrainians had to leave their places of residence. They dream of seeing them again. Two days before the Russian attack, Maria and Dmytro nervously paced the apartment, smoking cigarettes one after another and changing their minds every half hour: whether to leave Kharkiv or stay? They bought tickets for a train to Lviv just in case. They chaotically slipped things into suitcases and …

  The situation in the Donbas is worsening. The authorities are appealing to the inhabitants to leave for safer regions of Ukraine. Over a thousand people wait for evacuation trains at the station in Kramatorsk. Among them, women, children and the elderly. Men of draft age only come to escort their families, help them with their luggage and depart after giving them a hug. Families stand in line. …

  Not everyone wants to leave the Donbas, which is threatened by war. Some residents are ready to stand up for it. Like Julia, a 34-year-old Information Technology lecturer who volunteered for the territorial defense after the attack on Kramatorsk. It was another day of evacuations from Kramatorsk, a city of 150,000 residents, in eastern Ukraine. 34-year-old IT lecturer Julia Dovinova wanted to help somehow. All her volunteer …

  The Russians are preparing for a major offensive in the Donbas. Missiles and rockets fall on front-line towns every day. Shot-up and burnt-out buildings, broken windows, rubble scattered all over, the thunder of cannons and the whistle of missiles have already become part of the landscape of Severodonetsk, the temporary capital of the Luhansk oblast. Until recently, over 100,000 people lived in the city. Now less than …

  The Russians are shelling Kramatorsk. During one of the nighttime attacks, 25 civilians were injured. It was after three o’clock when two loud explosions rang out. Viktoria, 54, went outside to smoke. She quickly finished her cigarette because it was chilly out and went back to bed, covering herself with a duvet. A moment passed. There was a flash, a boom, and dirt, glass and rubble pelted …

  Paweł Pieniążek form Kyiv – 03/02/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. DISPATCH FROM UKRAINE | The trains are still running, there has been no information about casualties. Kateryna, Nina and Nora are safe on the train to Lviv. From there they will go to Warsaw. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion the railway station in Kyiv has been exceptionally crowded. There are families with children, couples, …

  Paweł Pieniążek form Kyiv – 03/05/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. PAWEŁ PIENIĄŻEK FROM UKRAINE | Irpin, a city in the suburbs of Kyiv, is cut off from the rest of the world. An evacuation is underway. The choices are: one road, one train or crossing a broken bridge. People have been crowding the entrances to the train station platforms for the past two hours. They are …