Once a Busy Market Town, Ukraine’s Kupyansk Is All But Empty Now — Five Miles From Russian Guns

Nearly every building is damaged or destroyed, yet some civilians refuse to leave the place they call home. ‘It really helps to not think about what’s happening,’ one resident says.

Clara Preve Durrieu/The New York Sun
Kupyansk's central market, which was destroyed by Russian forces. Clara Preve Durrieu/The New York Sun

KUPYANSK, UKRAINE— Once a busy market town for Ukrainians, Kupyansk— only five miles from Russian forces — now looks like a ghost town. Although Russian occupiers were expelled one year ago, today, nearly every building is damaged or destroyed, and about 80 percent of residents have left. Yet despite the constant Russian shelling, some civilians refuse to leave a place they call home. 

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