Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the population of the small eastern Donbas city of Avdiyivka dropped from 30,000 to roughly 1,600 residents. Many of those who chose to stay behind are elderly residents who refuse to evacuate.
Less than 100 citizens, mostly old and poor, are risking serious injury or death to stay in the shattered frontline town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine. Residents there have to endure indiscriminate shelling and the constant threat of being captured by Russian forces.