And outside the drones are everywhere. We were afraid to leave.
But when my mother died I was scared to stay on my own."
Some Donbas towns and cities, including Pokrovsk and Bakhmut, have already fallen amid bloody sieges. Others have teetered on the brink.
But in May, for the first time since another Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023, Kyiv took back more territory than Russia captured.
There are signs that the tide may at last be tipping in Ukraine's favour.
Ukrainian drone attacks have increasingly decimated Moscow's supply lines in the Donbas and to Crimea.
A tenacious defence of the fortress belt has absorbed vast amounts of Russian lives and efforts.
The belt is part of the 10% of the Donbas not under Russian control, which Russia has demanded as part of any peace deal—a scenario Ukraine fears would leave cities to the west, including Dnipro and Kyiv, vulnerable to future invasion.
Tactical Shifts and the Realities on the Ground
The fortress belt was identified for its potential strengths after Russia seized Crimea in 2014.
The strategy foresaw a defensive line based around four large cities in Donetsk oblast and their satellite settlements, running 30 miles north to south along the H-20 Kostyantynivka-Sloviansk main road.
The area consists of dense urban centres, sprawling industrial facilities, and a complex geography of rivers, woods, and rising terrain that favours defenders.
In an April paper, the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War described the belt as "optimised for defence across nearly every possible topographical and geographical characteristic."
