00:00Everyone here has left it as late as they possibly could to leave.
00:04In many cases, the only way out was on foot or by bike.
00:08It's been almost a year now since analysts first expected the Russian army to occupy
00:12Pokrovsk.
00:13And yet, against all the odds, it's still in Ukrainian hands.
00:17Things are now so bad that even the most experienced evacuation teams won't go in.
00:22We've stopped going into Pokrovsk.
00:25I have to explain to people that the situation is so bad that no one's gonna come to them.
00:31We tell them which way to go and where to meet us.
00:35We meet Oleg, who's just escaped Pokrovsk alone.
00:39Thank God I got out.
00:40I was so lucky.
00:41The road out is covered in bikes, they've all been hit by drones.
00:45If anyone is still trying to sit it out, to wait for things to get better, my advice for
00:49you is to get out while you still can.
00:52I held onto this icon the whole way.
00:55I made it.
00:56Oleg was trying to stay put, trying to look after his home.
01:02He'd sent his wife and daughter out to safety over a year ago, but that all changed when
01:06his brother was killed and he himself was hit by a drone.
01:10We buried my brother under a fence at the market.
01:12He'd just turned 59.
01:13There are so many people buried all across town, in flower beds, in people's gardens.
01:19One of the small Russian drones was flying around outside.
01:21I opened the door and there was an explosion right away.
01:24I got knocked backwards into the house.
01:26I had burns and I thought my eyes were gone.
01:31Natalia got out of nearby Dopropylia.
01:36Glide bombs have levelled lots of buildings.
01:39It's not just the occasional drone.
01:41Thankfully, the residents were already gone.
01:43It feels like everyone in the town just decided to pack up and go.
01:48An hour's drive away in Kramatorsk, the mood is very different.
01:52Russian troops are, for now, still more than 20 kilometres away.
01:55We asked the locals what they make of Russian demands, echoed by some in Washington, to hand
02:00over their town without a fight.
02:02No one is going to give up our region to that terrorist.
02:09Period.
02:10Putin is a terrorist.
02:12Today, he says he wants the next region.
02:15Tomorrow, it'll be Lviv.
02:17Next week, it'll be Kyiv.
02:19It's never-ending.
02:22We're Ukrainian.
02:24Putin's got no business here.
02:26He should stay in Russia.
02:29I was born here in the Donetsk region.
02:34Of course, I'm against them taking Donetsk and Luhansk.
02:41But not everyone's so sure.
02:44Vassil just escaped Russian-occupied territory.
02:47Why should we hold on to this region if so many people are getting killed?
02:52Have you been to the front line?
02:54I just got out a week ago.
02:55Everything I had was destroyed.
02:57There's nothing left.
02:59I don't trust Putin.
03:00He's always lying.
03:02I don't know what the world can do to stop him.
03:09With Vladimir Putin showing no sign he's interested in a deal,
03:12or Donald Trump's diplomatic efforts going nowhere,
03:14most people here in Ukraine can't realistically see an end to the fighting anytime soon.
03:19Um, and there anyone else in
03:28He was, he was thinking eve of aååØå°.
03:30That's all, uh.
03:31Coming back at NĆ³s.
03:32We'reģ¦ lobbyists,
03:35OL v columnists.
03:36I'm coming back's red.
03:37Yeah, he answered all the lines from us.
03:39He waited until she dismissed this game last week,
03:40and I'll end up late now soon.
03:41I feel like this is their son.
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