The Russians are closing in from three directions on Lysychansk’s sister city of Severodonetsk to the north.
The Ukrainians are fighting with all their might to keep the Russians from pushing south of a strategic river splitting the two cities.
This has left people such as coalminer Oleg Zaitsev worrying as much about the identity of the armed men whizzing around in battered cars as the shells randomly falling from the sky.
“I am mostly afraid that some stranger might drive up to me and ask for my papers. You never know these days whose side they are on,” the 53-year-old said on his way back to his basement.
“They could be the Russians, and who knows what happens to you then.”
URBAN CONFLICT
Residents said the Grad volley at the start of the week appeared to be aimed at a grade school on the opposite side of the yard that housed one of the Ukrainian units defending the city.
The controversial topic of military men occupying civilian buildings in times of urban conflict is every-present in the propaganda war being waged over Ukraine.
Some locals seethe at the idea. Others say Ukraine has no other choice because Russia was the one that brought war onto its cities.
Cellar dweller Yevghen Polchikha seemed less concerned about the morality of housing soldiers in schools than he was about the possibility of the Grad rocket still sticking out of the ground blowing up.
“It is just lying there,” the 58-year-old said. “Our kindergarten seems sturdy enough. But you just never know.”
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