Cycling on the frontline: The Ukrainians defying danger in the Donetsk war zone
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Toretsk is on the frontline of Ukraine’s war with Russia, yet all around you can see cyclists pedalling around the streets, going about their daily business as if defying the surrounding danger.
Oleksandr is a former miner. “How am I supposed to drive?” he says. “Petrol is expensive, I have nothing to drive. And I need to get around.”
It’s a similar picture in Kramatorsk. Those who remain are not oblivious of the risks, they’ve accepted them.
“I would prefer, if anything happens, to die immediately,” says Volodymyr. “So that you don’t become disabled afterwards.”
It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have chosen to remain in the threatened regions of Donetsk, despite government orders to evacuate.
Watch the report in the video player above.