The Struggles of Kurakhove: A City Under Siege

Despite the ongoing chaos, between 700 and 1,000 local residents remain in Kurakhove, many of whom are forced to live in the basements of apartment buildings. They grapple with the dire reality of lacking running water, heating, and electricity. The only place available for charging phones is in the basement of the building currently housing the city administration.

The exact number of residents is difficult to ascertain. Since mid-October, humanitarian volunteers have ceased their activities in Kurakhove, leaving the community isolated. Under relentless bombardment from artillery, multiple rocket launchers, aerial bombs, and drones, Kurakhove has emerged as a new battleground akin to Bakhmut, with Russian forces continuing their aggressive advance westward to seize control of the entire Donbas region.

On a recent Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation in Kurakhove, along with the critical city of Pokrovsk, as “the most challenging.” The scale of destruction is staggering: hospitals, schools, kindergartens, a water treatment facility, a refugee center, the post office, a technical school, and a cultural center have all been obliterated. A pall of smoke hangs in the air as the remnants of bombed-out apartment buildings continue to smolder against a backdrop of ongoing artillery fire and drone activity.

A multi-story building burns after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kurakhove, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton Shtuka)

Artillery troops from the 33rd Brigade report that they are firing approximately 50 shells daily along the Kurakhove front, signaling the critical intensity of the Russian army’s offensive operations. The brigade is desperately trying to halt the encroachment of Russian forces around the city.

Local authorities remain steadfast in their commitment to the city, alongside representatives from the police and local Territorial Defence Forces. For Artem Shchus, the head of police in Kurakhove, the prospect of defending the city seems grim if it becomes fully surrounded. He states, “I don’t think it is possible, considering the reality of modern war and modern technologies. In that case, logistics could only be performed by drones.”

Shchus refers to the road to Kurakhove, which is lined with charred civilian vehicles, as the “road of death,” a testament to the unrelenting Russian drone assaults. Tragically, five civilians have lost their lives while attempting to flee. The only lifeline for supplies entering the city is the “White Angels” evacuation group, comprised of local police officers and volunteers. They provide first aid to the injured and retrieve the bodies of those killed in the relentless shelling, all while managing the city’s sole functioning grocery store.

The White Angels navigate perilous conditions in an armored vehicle equipped with electronic warfare capabilities—the only viable means of entering the city. However, this journey remains fraught with danger. Local women assist in unloading food supplies from a minivan into the last operational shop in Kurakhove on Nov. 7, 2024.

“Without REB (jammers), it is just a lottery. With it, you might still have a chance to survive,” Shchus explains, highlighting the precariousness of their situation.

The only route out of the city is through the White Angels. Each day, they risk their lives to evacuate between six to twelve individuals from various parts of the city and surrounding villages. Although there are mandates for children to be evacuated, many parents choose to hide them, shielding them from both the bombs and law enforcement personnel. A crucial mission for the White Angels is to locate children and encourage their parents to evacuate.

When families are successfully persuaded to leave their underground shelters, many children are taken aback by the devastation surrounding them, indicating they have been hidden away for an extended period. One such child, Katia, 11, sits with her grandmother and mother in an armored minivan during an evacuation orchestrated by the “White Angels” in Kurakhove on Nov. 4, 2024.

After outfitting the children in bulletproof vests and helmets, the White Angels transport them to the nearby city of Kostyantynopil, where other volunteers assist in transferring them to refugee registration points in regional centers such as Dnipro or Zaporizhzhia. “We evacuate people every day without stopping. We just dropped people off in Kostyantynopil, and we still have addresses to go through today,” Shchus elaborates.

When questioned about adjusting to such harrowing and dangerous working conditions, the police chief expresses concern for the psychological impact on his team. “I think everyone has already adapted. I wouldn’t even call it ‘adaptation.’ It’s more like an unhealthy state of mind. I don’t know how this will influence them socially in the future,” he reflects. “These people are living in inhumane conditions, and they’re surviving on adrenaline. The war is their life. These are hard conditions to work in, but everyone is working.”