Meet the volunteers bringing relief to the residents of embattled Bakhmut, Ukraine
Editor's note: Photographer Natalie Keyssar reported from Bakhmut, Ukraine, in December 2022. This is what she saw:
It's 8 a.m. and bitterly cold at the gas station in Kramatorsk. Ukrainian gas stations are oases of normalcy when they're open and have power. There's something comforting about the humming coffee machines and assortments of cookies and slowly rotating breakfast hot dogs shining in their glass cases. Especially after seeing so many stations that have been reduced to charred rubble or had their roofs blown off or windows blown out — the norm on the route from Kharkiv to Kramatorsk and so many other roads.
Men wait in line with circles under their eyes making dark jokes with flat facial expressions. The women behind the counter are patient with my useless language skills as I load up on snacks for the team, like packing the car full of candy will make it safer. The puddles in the parking lot are frozen to a sea glass texture but the sun is emerging from the clouds that have suffocated it for weeks. As we wait, it brightens and the bare trees start to look like cracks in the yellow horizon. It's a welcome sight, but in eastern Ukraine, clear days are perfect for flying drones and targeting rockets. Light days are louder. It's been relatively quiet in Kramatorsk lately — except for the attack on a school and the missile that grazed the side of our hotel, leaving only cosmetic damage, a day before we arrived. Still, the clear skies are a relief.
Roman and
