A small line of weary residents queued for water from a local well, each holding a collection of plastic bottles because there is no running water or electricity.
They barely flinched as the burst of outgoing fire from the Ukrainian side echoed around them, followed by the crack of an incoming round landing deeper into the city.
“It’s scary,” said one woman, Vira, 72. “Of course we’re scared.”
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Image: Ukrainian forces are trying to retake Kupiansk
Ukrainian forces are trying to retake that city as part of a major counteroffensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv that has recaptured swathes of land from Russian control.
But unlike other recently liberated areas such as the city of Izyum and the large city of Balakliya, Russian forces are not giving up Kupiansk without a fight.
It has turned the city into a front line, with Russia shelling Ukrainian positions seemingly outside the eastern perimeter and Ukraine using return fire to push them further back.
Image: Villagers queue for water in Kupiansk, Ukraine
The center of Kupiansk looks and sounds like a war zone, with buildings burned and smashed, twisted metal and chunks of concrete littering the streets and the few locals wandering around forced to deal with the fairly regular pounding of incoming and outgoing fire.
Two women emerged from the basement of a building onto a collapsed street.
One of them agreed to speak. She was visibly angry and blamed the Ukrainian side for the disaster, without mentioning the role played by Russian forces – a sign perhaps of how not everyone in the city opposed Russia’s months-long occupation.
Image: Investigators collect DNA evidence in the police station’s interrogation room
“How are we living? Take a look. No jobs, no money, nothing,” she said, waving her hands in devastation.
“Nothing to eat, no electricity, no water, no gas. I haven’t washed my hair in two weeks.”
The woman added sarcastically: “How do we live? We used to dream of this life all our lives… It sucks.”
Image: Not everyone in this region supports Ukrainian forces
Ukraine’s operation to retake all parts of the Kharkiv region under Russian control officially began on September 6, targeting Russian positions in the occupied territories.
Kupiansk is a railway hub, with lines leading south-east to the Donbass – the focus of the Russian invasion – and also to Russia.
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Control of the city had given Russian forces the ability to more easily resupply frontline forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which include the Donbass.
It made the recovery of the place even more important, strategically, for the Ukrainians.
Residents in Kupiansk said the period from September 9 to 12 was particularly “loud and scary” in their town as the Ukrainians attacked.
Image: This woman was cut off from her family by the fighting
“There was a lot of shelling from the Ukrainian side, planes were flying,” said Olena Dmitrieva, 55, who lives in an apartment building on a grassy, elevated area on the edge of town but overlooking the center.
“I live on the fourth floor and these jets, the explosions, it was like hell. Our building was shaking… We thought it might collapse now.”
She said her children and grandchildren live on the eastern side of Kupyansk, closer to the Russian lines, and she has not been able to visit them.
“God, why are we being punished like this?” she asked, crying.
Image: Houses and buildings have been destroyed by the bombings
The governor of Kharkiv region said Russian shelling in Kupyansk on Wednesday had wounded five people, including a 13-year-old boy.
Despite the active fight, Ukrainian police and prosecutors are already on the ground in the city, gathering evidence of suspected Russian war crimes during the occupation.
Oleksandr Sirenko, deputy prosecutor of Kupiansk, visited the central police station on Wednesday.
A Russian flag was strewn on the ground next to the entrance, along with a broken Russian police sign – clues to who was using the building.
Inside, there was a sinister painting on a wall with the letter “Z” – an emblem of occupation.
Image: A torn Russian flag outside the central police station
Investigators dismantled a series of filthy cells where people appeared to be held in cramped, filthy conditions. There was also a room believed to have been used for interrogations where forensics collected DNA samples.
All the while, he had to be alert to the threat of Russian attacks.
We were told to take cover if we heard the buzz of a drone, as it could very well be Russian, looking for targets on the ground for artillery weapons to hit.
“It’s tough,” said the deputy prosecutor, about having to work in a war zone.
“But more difficult than being near the front line is being without electricity and lights. It complicates our investigation. But we are collecting evidence of how Russia treated people. There was aggression here.”
