DNIPROPETROVSK REGION, Ukraine -- As Russian forces push closer to Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, many families already displaced by war are being forced to flee once more.
With evacuations under way and the front line advancing, residents of villages bordering the Donetsk region don’t know if they’ll ever see their homes again.
Six-year-old Damir, from the war-torn Pokrovsk area, can’t hold back tears as his family leaves his grandparents’ home in Dnipropetrovsk.
“Why are you crying?” asks Mykola, Damir’s grandfather. “Your mom is going with you, your sisters are going, your brother is going… You’ll keep them all on their toes over there,” he adds, hoping to bring a smile to his grandson’s face.
Damir’s family left Pokrovsk a year ago, where they had built a house before the full-scale Russian invasion. Now, fleeing for the second time, the family has little hope it will ever see it again.
"I don’t even know if my apartment is still intact. I know that the ones nearby are completely burned out," Valentyna, Damir's grandmother told Current Time.
"The neighborhood where my children lived has been razed to the ground," she added.
This summer, the authorities in the Dnipropetrovsk region announced a mandatory evacuation of several border areas. Women and children are required to leave their homes.
In recent months, the region -- along with its major volunteer and refugee hub, the city of Dnipro -- became a frequent target of Russian drone and missile strikes.
Serhiy Lysak, head of the local military administration, says the region comes under Russian attack “almost daily,” with civilian infrastructure and residential areas under constant threat.
Attempting to capture the entirety of Donetsk region, Russian forces are pushing forward on the ground, assaulting some of its areas bordering Dnipropetrovsk.
"The war is getting closer and closer," Damir's teenage sister, Amelia, says. "You can already hear gunfire and explosions. We want to be far away from all that."
While women and children are being evacuated, men stay behind, hoping the situation will eventually stabilize and their families can return.
"I feel sorry for my grandkids and children, not for myself," Mykola says. "I’ll just grab my pitchfork and guard this place," he adds with a smile.
