DW reports that about 20,000 residents remain in the eastern Ukrainian city, where suspended transport, low incomes and care obligations make daily life and evacuation harder.
About 20,000 of Sloviansk’s 100,000 residents remain as Russian attacks damage homes and disrupt essential services, DW reported on October 22. Most are elderly people unable to leave, while residents describe relocation costs, care obligations and concerns about leaving pets behind as obstacles to evacuation.
Along with neighboring Kramatorsk, Sloviansk is one of the last major towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control. DW says the city has been a combat zone since summer.
DW describes three Russian aerial bombs striking a residential neighborhood a few days before its report. One hit a five-story apartment building, injuring seven people. A subsequent attack struck a building housing a state-run emergency assistance center and the Red Cross, injuring eight people, DW reported.
Public transport in Sloviansk has been suspended since an attack on two buses in Kramatorsk killed 30 people, according to DW. Natalja, a pensioner who cares for her twin sister, described walking home before dark from an area nearly four kilometers from the city center.
Shops and a few stalls remain at the burned-out market, but bread is not available every day, DW reported. Natalja said she could bring her sister only crispbread that day. In the neighborhood of another pensioner, Tetjana, electricity and water were still available, but the gas supply had been cut off.
Tetjana had been offered evacuation but told DW she did not know where she could afford to live. The monthly amounts described in her account show why rent would be beyond her means.
Ukraine is awaiting US confirmation of the proposed Abu Dhabi meeting, where Zelenskyy wants ceasefires and humanitarian issues discussed.
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| Item | Monthly amount |
|---|---|
| Rent | Up to €400 |
| Tetjana’s pension | Equivalent to €67 |
| Relocation assistance | About €40 |
Natalja’s sister can no longer get around, and Natalja said she could not leave her behind. She had tried to persuade her sister to leave, envisaging a nursing home for herself and a hospital for her sister. Natalja also said pets were not allowed during evacuation; both sisters have dogs, and her sister’s dog is sick.
Closed kindergartens have also changed working parents’ daily lives. Market trader Valeriya brings her five-year-old daughter to work. DW reported that their neighborhood was not yet subject to mandatory evacuation for families with children.
Valeriya said her family evacuated in 2022, later returned and is waiting to evacuate again. Another market trader has begun sending her belongings to the Dnipropetrovsk region while the post office remains open, hoping to start a new life there.
Britain’s government sets out £7 billion in economic support over three years and £3 billion in export-finance capacity, prioritising military support through the latter.
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The October 23 agreement envisages humanitarian deliveries and repatriation efforts across Kherson communities after the immediate Oleshky mission, with Melania Trump helping coordinate.
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