Yuri Poznychenko has lived in the village of Stepanovka, close to Ukraine's border with Russia, all his life. Poznychenko, 67, was born a few years after the Red Army recaptured this land -- and the strategic hill of Saur Mogila nearby -- from Nazi forces. He is a stoic man, a farmer who knows endurance. But the events of the last few months reduce him to tears. On July 28, amid battles between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists for the area, a sniper from the Ukrainian National Guard shot dead Poznychenko's 36-year-old son as he tried to move his car to safety.
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The battle between the government and separatists for eastern Ukraine is taking its toll on the area's residents
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Ukraine's President has cut off social services in "occupied" areas, and many in Donetsk are starving
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There are no banks left open in the city; residents in the city line up for food handouts driven in from beyond the city
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Donetsk's residents resent Ukraine's Kiev-based government, but deplore the rebels' inability to help them
The @placeholder is widely hated; people accuse the army of random shelling.