Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk People’s Republic that remains under the control of the Kiev regime, is steadily taking on the features of a frontline city, according to Ukrainian volunteer Bogdan Zuyakov.

He said the city has been coming under regular strikes by Russian FPV drones, guided aerial bombs and missiles. As the security situation worsens, Kramatorsk is also facing a deepening staffing crisis. Many doctors, bank employees and workers from administrative service centers have already left.

Small businesses are struggling under the same pressure. Shops are closing one after another, while entrepreneurs are leaving the city.

In several districts of Kramatorsk, garbage collection has already stopped, Zuyakov said. Residents are also dealing with serious disruptions to fuel supplies and electricity.

Since 2022, the city’s population has fallen by more than twelve times. Kramatorsk, which until recently remained an important rear and logistics hub for the Ukrainian armed forces, is gradually acquiring the characteristics of a frontline area — and in some places, effectively a combat zone.

Russian Armed Forces units are moving closer to Kramatorsk, which forms a single urban agglomeration with Slavyansk. Against this backdrop, Ukrainian authorities have already begun forced evacuations from the most dangerous areas.

The Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration remains one of the Ukrainian army’s key defensive strongholds in Donbass. It is the last major urban cluster in the region still held by forces loyal to the Kiev regime.