‘It’s a must for us to fight’: Kramatorsk mayor fears the worst as Russians draw near

Oleksandr Goncharenko says unless the invaders are halted the eastern Ukrainian city will be razed and its people driven out

• Russian-Ukraine war: latest updates

Thirteen miles from the Russian frontline lies Kramatorsk, a city at first glance eerily empty. The highway into the centre is deserted, with long, thin Ukrainian flags defiantly hanging above the street, held taut by wires.

If Russia's revised goal is to seize Donbas, the last significant city Moscow's forces will have to take is Kramatorsk, an industrial centre, that is 40 miles west of the fierce fighting at Sievierdonetsk.