Inside Avdiivka: The Ukrainian town on the frontline

International monitors say fighting in eastern Ukraine has abated, but in the frontline town of Avdiivka the effects of recent violence are being felt as strongly as ever.

Some of the fiercest fighting in the last week or so has centred on the government-held town.

Shellfire, sporadic for the last two-and-a-half years, has suddenly become intense.

Residents there feel abandoned, stuck in the middle of a deadly game of brinkmanship between their own government in Kiev and Moscow.

Soldiers serve hot food at tea to anyone who needs it.
Power and water has recently been cut off and locals are cold and hungry.

A huge bombardment of artillery cut off the town's power and water for days. And with temperatures plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the cold could prove every bit as deadly as the weaponry they face.

Crouching over drawing a picture on his living room floor, one seven-year-old boy whose family we filmed with in Avdiivka seemed happy enough. But on closer inspection, you realise how the artillery has affected him: his picture is of violence. It is all he draws, his mother said.

Last week, more than 30 people including civilians were killed and several dozen injured in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine - the worst violence in the region since a 2015 peace deal, which envisaged a cease-fire and a pullback of heavy weapons.

A little boy draws a picture on his living room floor.
His mother says all he draws is violence.

Alexander Hug, deputy head of the monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said on Monday that "the fighting has now subsided somewhat". But he added that OSCE monitors have registered more than 1,300 cease-fire violations over the past 24 hours.

He also warned that a continuing deployment of heavy weapons near the front line raises the threat of a "renewed flare-up".

The conflict in Ukraine has killed around 10,000 people since April 2014.

  • Tom Bradby explains the timeline of the Ukraine conflict

France and Germany, who helped negotiate the Minsk peace deal with Russia and Ukraine, told an EU ministers' meeting on Monday it was crucial to ensure any discussion of sanctions remained directly linked to the conflict.

Fourteen EU countries including the UK, Sweden and Denmark have called for renewed backing for Kiev in a joint statement presented at the meeting.

It would include approving visa-free travel for Ukrainians in the EU and full implementation of the EU-Ukraine free-trade agreement, which still needs to win the backing of the Dutch parliament.

In these heated tents, people swap news and charge their phones.
The congregation is always large here, where there are several services a day.
A woman weeps at a church service in the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka.