Russia-Ukraine war: Civilians in Kramatorsk city defy calls to evacuate

In the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's embattled Donetsk province, Valerii Ilchenko sits under the shade of the trees, working on a crossword puzzle. The 70-year-old widower now has difficulty walking, and this daily ritual in the fresh air gets him through the day.

Just last week, the governor of Donetsk province urged the region's remaining residents to move to safer places in western Ukraine. But like many other civilians who have come under fire in the nearly 5-month-old war, Ilchenko has no intention of leaving - no matter how close the fighting gets.

"I don't have anywhere to go and don't want to either. What would I do there?," he told The Associated Press in an interview in his one-room apartment where he lives alone. "Here at least I can sit on the bench, I can watch TV."

Moscow and Kyiv are battling for control of the Donbas, a fertile and industrial region in eastern Ukraine where a conflict with Russia-backed separatists has raged since 2014.

In recent weeks, Russia has made significant gains including the capture of the city of Lysychansk, the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk province which along with Donetsk province makes up the Donbas region.

Attacks on key cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk have increased dramatically, killing and wounding scores of civilians weekly. Although he is still somewhat self-sufficient, Ilchenko is nearly immobile. Volunteers make sure he gets regular deliveries of bread, water and cigarettes; neighbours call in from time to time.

The windows of his apartment were blown out in an earlier attack. "Where would I run to when the sirens start? I have no basement, so where? In this building, we all stay right here," he said.

In urging the evacuation of the region, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said it would allow the Ukrainian army to better defend towns. Observers say Sloviansk and Kramatorsk could end up like Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, cities now under Russian control after bombardment so ferocious that they are practically uninhabitable.

Yet for many, the urge to stay is strong, because they are retirees or have incomes so low that they fear they cannot support themselves away from what Kyrylenko said was their "comfort zone."

Others worry they won't be welcome in western Ukraine -– a concern based on a perception that some of their countrymen resent the predominantly Russian-speaking easterners and blame them for the war. Still, others don't believe their lives will change significantly under a Russian or Ukrainian flag.

Like Ilchenko, Maria Savon has no plans to leave Kramatorsk. Waiting in line for food under a blinding sun, the 85-year-old is a stooped and fragile figure. When she speaks, however, her high voice rings out across the square.

"If you were born here, you should die here," she said. "We were born here and we will die here." Still, as Russian troops march west, a steady flow of people are leaving towns caught in the crosshairs of war. 

Hundreds depart daily on a train from Pokrovsk. "There is war everywhere," said one mother, who gave her name as Nataliia, as she held her child on board one of the trains. "I don't want my children to be killed."