Dodging a constant assault of Russian missiles – the war-weary keep fighting in Ukraine’s blood-soaked east

There is plenty of pride in the cities around the frontline in managing to keep Putin’s forces at bay, writes Kim Sengupta from Druzhkivka. But it has come at the cost of crushing loss

A rescuer searches for survivors in a partially destroyed residential building after Russian shelling in Slovyansk (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

The missile aimed at the mayor’s office took an estimated 64 seconds to fly 55 miles and detonate in shrapnel and flames after being fired by Russian forces.

Thankfully for Oleksandr Goncharenko, the mayor of Kramatorsk – near the frontline in east Ukraine – it missed the target by 200 metres, hitting a garden square.

The municipal headquarters was swiftly moved to another building for safety. But that building was bombed as well, resulting in a move to yet another location, dodging the missiles coming from the city of Horlivka, which has been captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces.