As international efforts to kickstart Russia-Ukraine peace talks continue, increasing numbers of Ukrainian residents living near the front lines are fleeing to safety to escape ongoing Russian drone attacks. Numbers are currently so high they threaten to overwhelm transit centres that help evacuees find temporary accommodation, workers said.

Donbas

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Residents of Mezovo, a village near the front lines in Ukraine's Donbas region, are evacuating due to persistent Russian drone strikes. Many are forced to leave with only essential belongings, seeking safety in nearby transit centers such as the one in Pavlorod. 

The influx of displaced people, sometimes reaching up to 450 arrivals daily, is straining the capacity of these centers. Volunteers are working to find temporary housing, including shelters and private homes, for those affected. Since its opening in the summer of 2024, the Pavlorod transit hub has assisted around 23,000 people, reflecting the ongoing advance of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainians flee front line amid Russian drone strikes

In the village of Mezovo, just 15 kilometers from the front lines, residents board a van that will take them to safety, carrying with them only the bare essentials and their faithful companions after being driven from their homes by relentless Russian attacks. There were more than 30 strikes, mostly drones. One woman was walking to work, and a drone started following her. She hid under a kiosk, and it flew over and exploded. Many of the evacuees end up at transit centers like this one in nearby Pavlorod. The city of roughly 100,000 people lies just next to Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, part of the Donbass region claimed by Vladimir Putin as Russian by annexation. Recently, up to 450 people have been arriving at the center daily. Volunteers try to find free temporary housing for the displaced. Coordinators say the influx is overloading the center's limited capacity. The transit center is overcrowded, but we're working on relocating people across Ukraine. We help them find places in temporary shelters or in geriatric and psychiatric care facilities or rehabilitation centers. If it's, for example, a large family or people with many pets, we look for private homes that can host them free of charge. Some 23,000 people have passed through the transit hub since it opened in the summer of 2024. The last time it was overloaded was last fall, during the evacuation of the town of Pokrovsk, some 40 kilometers to the east of Mezhovo, a testament to the slow but steady advance of Russia's forces in eastern Ukraine.

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Ukrainians flee front line amid Russian drone strikes

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