After stubbornly staying on in the east Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, the 69-year-old is now heeding advice and preparing to leave. “My heart stops when I hear a bang,” she tell

Russian forces are advancing in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to take the whole of the Donbas, a region as big as half of Ohio.

As Russian forces push deeper into eastern Ukraine in their bid to seize the entire Donetsk region, RFE/RL photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko captures the intense efforts of an artillery unit defending the strategic city of Pokrovsk.

Russia announced Sunday the capture of Novohrodivka, a town located 7 miles from the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. This

Russia said on Sunday its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as they advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the Ukrainian defensive front lines.

Reinforced Ukrainian defenders in a key location on the front have halted what had been relentless Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, according to soldiers and battlefield maps. But Russia continued to advance elsewhere,