Pierre Crom

  • Ukraine
    • Winter 2025, the betrayal
    • Year 11, the long war
    • Winter 2023-24
    • Zaporizhzhia
    • [TSE NASHE]
    • O.C. South
    • Russia invades Ukraine further
    • winter 2016
    • summer 2015
    • spring 2015
    • winter 2015
    • summer 2014
    • MH17
    • Donbas 2014
    • Crimea 2014
  • War in Ukraine
  • War in Ukraine on Google Maps
  • Subjectio
  • Subjectio on Google Maps
  • Amaranthine
  • Anticamera /antechamber/
  • R.S.
  • Contact
  • Biography
  • Aesthetics

Local residents gather near a field on fire on September 24, 2024 in Druzhkivka. © Pierre Crom

Russian invading forces have recently escalated their assault in the Donbas region, advancing at a rate not witnessed since 2022. Displaying a disturbing lack of regard for human life, these soldiers are participating in what has been termed “meat assaults,” initiating lethal offensives that further drain their own ranks. Frontline villages and cities are being relentlessly bombarded, forcing civilians to evacuate. Yet many choose to remain, risking their lives in a desperate situation with nowhere else to go.

Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Kostyantynivka, Dobropillya, Pokrovsk, and Myrnohrad are enduring escalating bombings from Russian KAB-guided munitions, resulting in the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure. Key facilities, including railways, bridges, residential buildings, schools, and administrative structures, are being devastated in this relentless onslaught. Increasing reports indicate the use of chemical gas canisters dropped by drones on Ukrainian troops, forcing them out of their trenches and making them vulnerable to Russian attacks.

A resident is evacuated from a bombed residential building on September 25, 2024 in Kramatorsk. © Pierre Crom

The Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region has only partially succeeded in diverting and slowing the advance of Russian troops in the Donbas. In response, President Zelensky has unveiled his "Victory Plan," calling for increased military aid from international partners. Meanwhile, the potential re-election of Donald Trump, who has shown a friendly disposition toward Moscow, raises concerns about an advantageous shift for Russia.

A Ukrainian soldier shoots on a lock to open a gate as two missiles fired by a Russian fighter jet struck an empty school building on September 28, 2024 in Pokrovsk. © Pierre Crom

Nadezhda, a local resident, is on the phone in her charred apartment that was bombed overnight by Russian invading forces on September 28, 2024 in Dobropillya. © Pierre Crom

A Ukrainian soldier of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade in a underground bunker at a frontline position on September 26, 2024 near Chasiv Yar. © Pierre Crom

Sergey, who assists in clearing the debris from a bombed student dormitory, gazes at the front lines through a shattered window on September 30, 2024 in Pokrovsk. © Pierre Crom

Mayors and district administrators from municipalities in the western Zakarpattia region of Ukraine are volunteering to construct trenches and fortifications for the Armed Forces of Ukraine outside Pokrovsk on September 30, 2024. © Pierre Crom

Ukrainian soldiers of the 21st Battalion, Separate Presidential Brigade, are awarded medals on Ukraine Defender Day for their outstanding courage and service on the frontline on October 01, 2024. © Pierre Crom

A local resident fills a bottle with water in a park amid ongoing artillery shelling and missile strikes on October 4, 2024 in Myrnohrad. © Pierre Crom

Lubov, the caretaker of a church, removes a religious icon from the wall, where marks shaped like the icons that once hung there have appeared on October 5, 2024 in Myrnohrad. © Pierre Crom

 Ukrainian servicemen examine the wreckage of a downed Russian aircraft, likely a Sukhoi S-70 "stealth" heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), which crashed in a residential area, setting a house on fire on October 5, 2024 in Kostyantynivka. © Pierre Crom

Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a fire at a factory following a missile strike on October 6, 2024 in Kramatorsk. © Pierre Crom

A security guard keeps watch over an ATM in a destroyed bank inside the bombed city hall following a bombing by Russian forces on October 7, 2024 in Kostyantynivka. © Pierre Crom

A Ukrainian soldier, wounded by shrapnel on the frontline in the Donetsk region, rests on a hospital bed at a field hospital on October 7, 2024 near Donetsk. © Pierre Crom