Anadolu Agency team reaches flashpoint Ukrainian city

BAKHMUT, Ukraine

An Anadolu Agency team has entered Ukraine’s city of Bakhmut bordering Donetsk, a flashpoint in Russia’s war now in its ninth month.

The city has been abandoned by its residents as Russian strikes destroy infrastructure and disrupt essential services such as gas, electricity and water.

Those who were left behind avoid going outdoors and stay put in bomb shelters.

After a key bridge in the town center was destroyed in the bombing, residents who traveled to neighboring villages to buy water, food and other daily use items have been stranded.

Some people are forced to travel long distances on bicycles in search of food and water, while others walk over a precarious pipeline in the middle of a river.

Before the war, the city was home to 80,000 people. Now, 90% of the residents have been evacuated to safer areas.

Anatoliy, 56, has been living in the basement of his apartment for months.

He said his wife and children have moved to a safe location, but he decided to continue living at his house.

“I used to stay at home at the beginning of the war, but now that warplanes and heavy weapons are being used, I go down to the basement and I stay there all the time. Other people live this way too.

“We hear loud explosions day and night,” he said.

Natalya Romenskaya, 64, distributes humanitarian aid to residents of Bakhmut from the basement of her house.

She also lets people stay in the basement.

“Our living conditions are getting worse as war continues,” she said.

• Bakhmut
• Ukraine