‘Putin doesn’t want peace; he wants all of Ukraine’

Russian forces have stepped up their aggression in a frantic land grab that has left Ukrainians with little choice but to flee west. Harry Stourton reports from front-line Dobropillia

- By Harry Stourton

A customer in the Winston Churchill Cafe and cigar shop - the unlikely refuge on Dobropillia's leafy Shevchenka Avenue describes the mood with a sobering clarity: "Everyone respects Churchill here; he is a symbol of resistance. If he were alive now, the war probably wouldn't have happened." Two weeks of Russian military escalation have hollowed out this frontline town, and Dobropillia's mayor has issued a mandatory evacuation order as indiscriminate attacks intensify.

Earlier this week, Putin's forces breached the nearby Ukrainian defence line, pushing roughly 10 miles north-east of the town to within six miles of its perimeter. The grinding advance has sown panic amongst those still remaining.

The Churchill Cafe stands, for now, as one of the last vestiges of normal life. Outside, the streets are empty or thinning; inside, the atmosphere is tense, the chatter hushed, as patrons scroll their devices for updates.

Most of Dobropillia's 28,000 residents have fled westwards.

Vehicles laden with belongings race past, a desperate bid to outrun drones that may scour the skies.

"Three weeks ago, this was a normal, thriving town," says a customer, surrounded by photographs of Britain's wartime eadership. People are fearful and no one agrees to share their name.