By Emmanuel Grynszpan Published today at 11:06 a.m., updated at 12:08 p.m. Reserved for our subscribers ReportageDespite the intensification of strikes on the villages of this region in eastern Ukraine, residents, mostly elderly , remain on the spot, deprived of water, gas and electricity. The Russian jaw closes on the Donbass and deploys its firepower on dozens of villages in the north of the Donbass. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed this on Monday April 18: “We can now say that Russian troops have started the battle for Donbass. A very large part of the Russian army is now devoted to this offensive, ”he said in a speech broadcast on Telegram. “The second phase of the war has begun,” also declared his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. An intensification of attacks also confirmed by Russia, which claimed on Tuesday to have carried out dozens of strikes during the night. Read also: Live: “The accumulation of images (videos, photos or satellite) taken on the Ukrainian ground constitute bundles of evidence” In the villages of the region at the heart of the Russian offensive, residents nevertheless choose to stay put, as if flabbergasted by this terrifying spectacle. In Yatskivka, rue de la Paix, an elderly couple, seated on a bench, watch a car speeding off towards the exit of the village, in the opposite direction from the advanced Russian positions. At the end of the Sunday afternoon, from the splendid and soothing pine forest surrounding the village, a series of terrible explosions rang out, deafening and threatening. Hidden in the woods at an indeterminate distance, Ukrainian artillery was unleashed against the Russian invader, descending from the Kharkiv region to enter the Donbass. Logically, the reply of the Russian artillery is not long in coming. The couple remains frozen on their bench. No expression is readable on the faces, no emotion in their empty gazes, fixed on the street, which slopes very gently and spans a single railway line. From this point, rue de la Paix becomes rue de la Liberté, and leads to a reservoir on the Oskil river. The other bank, 3 kilometers away, is already occupied by the Russian army. The village of Yatskivka (Donbass, Ukraine), April 17, 2022. It was heavily bombed by Russian aircraft. LAURENCE GEAI / MYOP FOR “THE WORLD” Alla, in Yatskivka (Donbass, Ukraine), April 17, 2022. She sleeps in this shelter with her husband. LAURENCE GEAI / MYOP FOR “THE WORLD” The house of Alla and her husband was bombed. They now live in their neighbour’s basement. LAURENCE GEAI /MYOP FOR “THE WORLD” On both sides of the street reigns a spectacle of desolation. The area has been regularly bombarded for a month. All the houses seem uninhabitable: gutted, collapsed, when they are not reduced to piles of bricks. The railroad track is severed by a crater, and the two rails twist skyward. “I had two years left until retirement,” sobs Lioudmila, looking at the cabin commanding the level crossing, demolished by the blast of the explosion. Twenty-eight years that I have worked for the railways. There have always been Russian trains passing here, even two months ago…” His house, below the railway line, no longer has a frame. “Two missiles fell here last night. We slept in the cellar, like every night since the start of the war,” continues Lioudmila. Leaving is out of the question: “My dog and my cats… I can’t abandon them. And I only have my vegetable garden to survive,” she moans. You have 67.07% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.