DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — From a bunker in eastern Ukraine, the 33-year-old soldier asks her comrade to fly a reconnaissance drone over her childhood home, hoping for a final glimpse before it becomes just another city pulverized by years of fighting.

The soldier took up arms a decade ago to defend her home region, Donetsk, where Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed forces since 2014. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the region has become synonymous with Ukraine’s fight for survival. Battlefield developments in Donetsk are considered a gauge of each side’s fortunes in the war.

In over 10 years of fighting, Ukraine has lost control of around 70% of the region.

“I watched my school destroyed, the community center where I once took dance lessons reduced to rubble,” Fox

See Full Page