The journey from Kostyantynivka to Bakhmut is like falling off the cliff of civilization.
The “pops” of outgoing tank fire tell you that you are approaching one of the most active parts of the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
They also show that the 36-hour ceasefire announced by Russia is in name only.
“They promised there would be one, but we don’t see or feel it,” says Oleksandr, a Ukrainian soldier.
The constant barrage of incoming artillery reinforces his point. Then a shell falls 50 meters from where we are speaking.
I jump. Oleksandr does not hesitate. “What’s all this for?” he asks. A perfectly reasonable question while standing in the nearly destroyed central square.
“Everything is falling apart. Civilians are being killed, soldiers are being killed, our people are dying.”
Russian forces are located about a mile away on the eastern edge of the city. They threw everything they could at trying to push Bakhmut further west from the summer, but the city did not fall.
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin announced a ceasefire that he said his troops would observe on the front lines.
It will run from Friday afternoon to Saturday midnight. He claimed it was so that Orthodox Christians could celebrate Christmas.
Ukraine rejected it almost immediately. It sure doesn’t look like a day to those left in Bakhmut.
As he puts leaves in a bin, Sergi – a civilian – proves me wrong.
“You wouldn’t wish it on your enemy, but we celebrated Christmas as usual,” he says.
“We had a Christmas tree and decorations, but it was in the basement.”
