Kramatorsk – Druzhkivka | EastSoS

Druzhkivka is 15 minutes south of Kramatorsk. Another 15 km south, Konstantynivka, where FPV drones fill the air like locusts some of the front’s most hellish fighting is raging.

The war is that close. Churning slowly, kilometer by kilometer, cities that were once bustling hubs of industry and civilian life ground into rubble under intense and indiscriminate aerial assault.

FPVs were already stalking the streets of Druzhkivka. Our driver constantly scanned his drone monitor as we entered the city. As the evac driver explained, Kramatorsk was “little danger,” Druzhkivka was “big danger.” Big danger was still reachable and EastSos was in a constant race to evacuate before the situation worsened — as it inevitably would. 

We left Kramatorsk under long stretches of thick drone netting. Convoys of military vehicles moved in both directions. Soviet-era trucks and modern Western-supplied MRAPs, Humvees, Maxx Pros — fitted with hulking metal cages, porcupine-like burrs covering nearly every inch of their hulls. Mad Max. The machinery of Ukraine’s defense was resilient and adaptive, but stretched thin.

The first day, the skies were quiet; the second, the drone monitor beeped constantly and explosions (thankfully distant) punctuated the air. The organized process of evacuation masked the darkness of what was happening — civilians ripped from their homes, leaving everything they had worked toward and known their entire lives. 

Since 2022 East SoS has evacuated over 95,000 individuals — 15,000+ with limited mobility. A comprehensive system that begins with fielding requests and ends with permanent housing support, including finding new homes for people with disabilities and those unable to travel independently.

In those two days, 15 were evacuated: bedridden elderly who had to be carried down nine flights of stairs, young adults who had reached their threshold. In every case, neighbors remained behind — the evacuation driver handing them info cards and urging them to go as soon as they could.

The evacuees were stoic as they gathered their belongings and helped neighbors down the stairs. Polite and thankful. But at the end, when they looked one last time at the place they had called home, the stoicism cracked. For a moment, their eyes went red. Then they swallowed the tears and set out on the road west.