On Ukraine's front in Donetsk, people face uncertain future

A small room in an inconspicuous church in Dobropillya is almost full, mostly of older people. The walls are covered in paintings with Christian motifs by famous artists such as Rembrandt and Titian. It's Sunday, and the service has begun.

Volodymyr, the commander of a drone unit of the 59th Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian army, arrived late and was not able to find a seat. He stands to listen to the sermon, which ends with words of peace.

"I believe that we'll get the whole of Ukraine back," he said afterwards. "I won't accept anything else."

The soldier is from the Russian-occupied city of Khartsyzk in the east of Donetsk region. "When I joined the army, I gave myself three months to live, but here I am now," he added with a smile.

At the same time, people are unpacking aid parcels and filling jugs with clean water before going home. The mining town once had 43,000 inhabitants, but that has now dropped to about 35,000. A third of these are internally displaced people from other parts of Ukraine.

"We pray first for our victory and then for peace," said Ihor, a military chaplain and pastor who was once a firefighter. He told DW about how the small town has taken in internally displaced people, and how his congregation has been helping them. "It's a town that serves the people," he said. After Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, it became a place of refuge, and since Russia occupied the strategic town of Avdiivka in February 2024, it has been considered a front-line town.

The congregation has set up a laundry room and a shower for military personnel on its premises. At the entrance, two soldiers sit under a poster with the words "Glory to Jesus Christ and the Armed Forces of Ukraine," as they wait for their clothes to be washed.

There's a shortage of tap water at the moment — it's not safe to drink — so the community has had its own pump installed, with water purification system.

'We pray'

Ihor isn't optimistic about peace negotiations. "For three years, we've seen that the enemy doesn't want them. But we pray," he said. "As long as the soldiers are with us, people say that everything is fine. But when residents themselves leave the city, people start to worry." He added that more people fled after a massive missile, artillery and drone attack on March 7, in which 11 people were killed and 49 injured.

Snowdrops are blossoming in between shards of glass at the site of the attack, which destroyed several buildings. In one burned-out apartment, two roses tied together with black ribbons have been left on the frame of a children's bed.

Amid an oppressive emptiness, only a few people can be seen carrying shards and debris out of those apartments that are still standing. Larysa, a pensioner who has a plaster cast on her hand, is also cleaning her apartment. She was at home with her husband during the attack, and they were both knocked over by the blast.

"We were in shock, and I started clearing away the glass because we couldn't get out. Then one of the rescue workers arrived and said: 'Are you crazy? Pack your things quickly, we'll pull you out through the window,'" she said.

They were only seen to by doctors the next day as the hospital was overcrowded. "A lot of people died," said Larysa — including a young couple from the city of Pokrovsk who had sought refuge in Dobropillya, and were burned to death.

'I don't have a single souvenir'

Another woman told DW that her home was completely destroyed. "I don't have a single souvenir, no photo of my child growing up, nothing at all. My hands are still shaking. There were five dead bodies in the hallway of our building that night," she said.

She added that she was alone in the apartment because her student daughter was in Kyiv and her husband was not yet home from his shift at the mine. "I called him and was screaming. He arrived quickly but then there was a cluster bomb attack. Another drone arrived as people were trying to leave the building. People covered in blood were being carried away. It was terrible. There's never been anything like that in Dobropillya."

The Russian attacks on Dobropillya have intensified ever since the front line approached the city of Pokrovsk last September. There are destroyed buildings in almost every neighborhood, and people fetching water from a well at all times of the day. When asked what they think of a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, they mostly say they want peace.

"Many of my friends are dead," said a young woman named Daria from the Pokrovsk region. A tipsy man on a bench with his head down said that his brother was made prisoner.

"Personally, I don't think [US President] Donald Trump can do anything," said Tetyana, a pensioner. "He talks to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin as if they were brothers. He should stand by Ukraine and support its interests and not, it would seem, those of Russia."

She said it will only be a fair peace if Ukraine does not lose any of its territory. "Our partners must ensure that we have enough to fight by supplying us with weapons and ammunition, but also so that we can defend ourselves if Putin lies and attacks us again," she added.

'The land never belonged to him'

"The land never belonged to him," shouted another pensioner called Oleksiy, who is also from Pokrovsk.

"They should give us back what they took from us," said Olena, a young woman with a child. But Karina, an internally displaced person from Myrnohrad, who goes back there regularly to help out as a volunteer, said the Russians should just stop shooting. "Let them take what they've captured but leave people alone."

"Of course, I would want the entire Donetsk region to return to Ukrainian control. This is my home, but not all wishes come true," said 17-year-old Oleksandra, who works in a cafe in the center of Dobropillya. She said she wants to go abroad with her boyfriend as soon as he is allowed to leave the country legally. Conscripted men have been banned from leaving Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Two 13-year-old girls, on the other hand, said they want to stay in Ukraine, but not in Dobropillya, as it is too dangerous.

Most people in the town believe the peace talks have not made a positive difference. "On the contrary, the shelling has increased," complained Tetyana.

'Nobody will come to an agreement with Putin'

Russian drones attacked Dobropillya again on March 22, but this time there were no casualties.

"The windows flew out, the roof blew up," said one of several men clearing up near a damaged residential building. "The door of my car was damaged," said Denys, who uses his vehicle to bring humanitarian aid to residents of villages near the front line and to evacuate them if need be.

His brother Oleksandr is a pensioner, after being a miner for many years. He thinks Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could come to an agreement regarding peace negotiations. "But nobody will come to an agreement with Putin, that's impossible. Yesterday, my three little grandchildren were sitting in my basement while Shahed drones flew directly overhead. The children are scared, and we have nowhere to go," he said. He would like it all to come to an end but points out: "So many have fallen fighting for our Donbas. It can't just be given up."

The men have finished up their work securing the building and boarding up the windows. There is a shell crater in front of the building, and Oleksandr points out that a Russian drone was recovered there and handed over to the Ukrainian military. "It will go back to the Russians," he said with a smile.

This article was originally written in Ukrainian.