Avdiivka awaiting peace. The town and its main enterprise — the Avdiivka Coke Chemical Plant — have been in the combat zone for a fourth year now.
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| Avdiivka. The coke chemical plant — one of the largest producers of coke for metallurgy in Europe |
The plant has stopped several times; 320 shells have exploded on its grounds, and 12 of its workers have been killed.
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| AKHZ |
This continuous-cycle enterprise has been cut off from power more than 200 times. Now AKHZ is gradually building its capacity back up, and the management of Europe's largest coke-chemical giant is doing everything possible to restore Avdiivka.
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| The production buildings and workshops of AKHZ |
An empty electric train with no passengers brought me to the deserted Avdiivka station.
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| The suburban train Chaplyne-Avdiivka |
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| Avdiivka railway station |
This is the final stop for the only electric train, which runs 5 to 6 times a day on the Avdiivka-Pokrovsk-Chaplyne route and back.
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| Avdiivka. The railway station. The suburban train timetable |
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| A memorial sign. On 18 May 1884 the first train of the Katerynynska Railway passed through Avdiivka station |
Residents of the front-line town travel to Pokrovsk and neighbouring towns for work, study, and errands to banks, pharmacies and shops.
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| The suburban electric train Avdiivka-Pokrovsk-Chaplyne |
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| Avdiivka. The railway station |
At the next halt, No. 446, transport service has been suspended since 2014, and the railway heading south has managed to grow over with weeds.
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| Avdiivka. There is no service towards Donetsk and Yasynuvata. The terminus for electric trains |
The streets in the private sector in the eastern part of the town do not so much surprise as frighten with their emptiness and desolation.
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| Avdiivka. Lesia Ukrainka Street |
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| Lesia Ukrainka Street. An abandoned shop |
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| Lesia Ukrainka St. Vines of wild grape on the asphalt |
The impression is that everything has frozen, come to a standstill.
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| Avdiivka. Nezalezhnosti St. |
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| Avdiivka. Stepova St. |
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| Avdiivka. Princess Olha St. |
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| Avdiivka. Svitlyi Lane |
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| Avdiivka. Svitlyi Lane |
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| Avdiivka. Myru St. |
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| Avdiivka. Pershotravneva St. |
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| Avdiivka. Klubnyi Lane |
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| Avdiivka. Deserted streets |
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| Avdiivka. Ruined industrial buildings |
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| Avdiivka. Ruined industrial buildings |
There are many stray dogs and cats, waiting for their owners by the empty yards.
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| Avdiivka. Dogs by abandoned yards |
The windows of many houses abandoned by their residents are boarded up with plywood.
There are some taped over
crosswise, to reduce the vibration from exploding shells.
Lately the central part of the town has been put in order: the broken windows have been glazed, the rubbish cleared away.
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| Avdiivka. Tsentralnyi Avenue |
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| Avdiivka. Tsentralnyi Avenue. A public garden |
The ruined roof has been replaced with a new one.
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| Avdiivka. A building on Vorobiov St. |
In schools No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5, repair work was carried out before the school year, with the windows replaced with plastic ones.
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| Avdiivka. School No. 1 |
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| Avdiivka. School No. 4 |
With the start of the fighting, all of Avdiivka's pre-school institutions were damaged and ceased operating. Now the kindergartens have been repaired, and the little ones attend them.
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| Avdiivka. A playground at kindergarten No. 3 "Cheburashka" |
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| Avdiivka. Repairs at kindergarten No. 3 "Cheburashka" |
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| Avdiivka. An inscription on the wall at kindergarten No. 3 "Cheburashka" |
The utility services keep order, and the rubbish containers are not piled high with household waste.
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| Avdiivka. The utility services are at work restoring order |
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| Avdiivka. The rubbish bins are emptied on time |
Shops and pharmacies are open,
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| Avdiivka. Fresh bread was delivered in the morning |
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| Avdiivka. A hairdresser's on Tsentralnyi Avenue |
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| Avdiivka. A PrivatBank branch and an ATM |
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| Avdiivka. The Ukraina grocery store |
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| Avdiivka. A petrol station |
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| Avdiivka. A Nova Poshta branch |
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| Avdiivka. A grocery kiosk on Tsentralnyi Avenue |
but many retail outlets are still closed.
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| Avdiivka. Closed shops on Tsentralnyi Avenue |
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| Avdiivka. A closed shop on Tsentralnyi Avenue |
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| Avdiivka. A closed pharmacy |
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| Avdiivka. A closed pharmacy |
In the Khimik neighbourhood on Tsentralnyi Avenue there are few people about. After all, a third of the town's population has left Avdiivka and has not yet returned.
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| Avdiivka. Tsentralnyi Avenue. The Khimik neighbourhood |
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| Avdiivka. Molodizhna Street |
The hearths of culture have gone out,
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| Avdiivka. The Railwaymen's House of Culture |
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| Avdiivka. The Rubin cinema |
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| Avdiivka. The cinema in the Railwaymen's Park of Culture |
the parks are empty,
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| Avdiivka. The Railwaymen's Park of Culture |
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| Avdiivka. A public garden on Nezalezhnosti St. |
and there is no one on the sports grounds and playgrounds.
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| Avdiivka. A playground by School No. 1 |
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| Avdiivka. A sports ground by School No. 1 |
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| Avdiivka. A sports ground by School No. 5 |
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| Avdiivka. A playground in the Khimik neighbourhood |
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| Avdiivka. A playground on Tsentralnyi Avenue |
Tram traffic has been halted, and within the town one can travel only by minibus.
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| Avdiivka. A tram track without a tram |
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| Avdiivka. Tsentralnyi Avenue. The tram service in the town is closed |
From time to time the townspeople live without water, electricity and heating in their flats. A new power line has been laid from the direction of Ocheretyne. From there too the blue fuel will come, through a new gas pipeline. During the power outages at the filtration stations, residents drew water from the wells.
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| Avdiivka. A well |
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| Avdiivka. A well |
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| Avdiivka. The "Voda Donbasu" company is working in emergency mode |
The sale of bottled water has been arranged.
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| Avdiivka. The sale of clean water |
In no other town have I heard from residents such warm words about their town as in Avdiivka. How one must love one's town not to abandon it in the hardest and most terrible moments.
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| Avdiivka. A memorial sign made from the remains of shells |
It is very hard for the elderly, who lived through the calamities of the Second World War as children.
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| Avdiivka. A war memorial to the memory of the town's defenders in the Second World War |
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| Avdiivka. The war memorial. A MiG-19 aircraft. It is 5.3 kilometres to the runway of Donetsk airport |
The residents of long-suffering Avdiivka thank their compatriots from all over Ukraine for their humanitarian aid.
In the town there are three Orthodox churches, where parishioners pray for an end to the bloodshed.
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| Avdiivka. The Church of St Nicholas |
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| Avdiivka. The Church of St Nicholas. The bell tower |
The Church of St Nicholas and the Church of St Michael were damaged during the shelling.
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| Avdiivka. The Church of St Michael |
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| Avdiivka. The Church of St Michael. The bell tower |
The Church of St Mary Magdalene stands on the outskirts of the town, almost by the front line.
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| Avdiivka. The Church of St Mary Magdalene |
Here, too, a children's town was once built, with a fortress wall and cannons. The sculptures of fairy-tale characters are forgotten and abandoned.
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| Avdiivka. The children's town and fortress on the outskirts of the town |
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| Avdiivka. The children's town and fairy-tale characters |
There, beyond the misty haze, just 5.5 km away, is the ruined Donetsk airport named after Prokofiev.
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| Avdiivka. The children's town and fortress |
Avdiivka awaiting peace.
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| Avdiivka. The coke chemical plant |
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