A heavy silence reigned in the dark corridors of the Pokrovsk maternity hospital. "It's getting harder and harder," warned the director, Ivan Tsyganok, as he entered his office on Sunday, August 18. "There are rumors we might have to leave," said midwife Svitlana Pidshenko a few days earlier. "We might evacuate by the end of the month." The director of the facility, located on the outskirts of a medium-sized town in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, isn't so sure. Here and there, behind the doors and in the stairwells, incubators for premature babies and packed medical equipment hint at preparations for departure.

"We might leave in a week," commented Tsyganok in his deep, warm voice, before mentioning the nearby town of Pavlohrad, some 100 kilometers away, as a potential relocation site.

The staff at the Pokrovsk maternity hospital have no choice but to prepare for departure as the sounds of battle draw nearer. In village after village, Russian forces have been advancing steadily in recent weeks towards Pokrovsk, a logistics hub they have been trying to seize for months. According to the DeepState website, which has ties to the Ukrainian army, Russian soldiers are now only 10 kilometers from the city center. Bombings are becoming increasingly frequent.

Six months ago, "we were only bombed once or twice a month," recalled Pidshenko, a 53-year-old midwife who has worked at the maternity hospital for 33 years. "Then, it became once or twice a week. Now, it's several times a day."

'Within enemy range'

While the Ukrainian army hoped to ease Russian pressure on the Donbas front by launching an offensive in the Russian region of Kursk on August 6, Moscow's forces still seemed determined to pursue their conquest of the Donetsk region. Despite Kyiv's new front on the northeastern border, their enemy continues to advance on Ukrainian territory. In recent days, local authorities have repeatedly sounded the alarm. Then, on Monday, August 19, the governor of the oblast, Vadym Filashkin, ordered the evacuation of families with children living in and around Pokrovsk.

"When our cities are within range of virtually all enemy weapons, the decision to evacuate is necessary and unavoidable," he explained on social media, pointing out that 53,000 residents, including 4,000 children, still live there (compared with over 60,000 before the war). They have "a week or two, no more," he told Radio Liberty's Ukrainian-language service when asked about the evacuation timeframe.

On Sunday, the day before the announcement, the city's population seemed in no hurry to leave. With the exception of a few motorists with overloaded trunks and roofs, Pokrovsk seemed calm, despite the distant sounds of artillery fire. Many stores remained open and flowerbeds were still tended. In this region of the Donbas, which has been at war for almost 10 years, the maternity hospital continues to operate. "For the time being, we're working as long as there are births," explained Nadiya Uhnivenko, a 42-year-old midwife. "People don't stop having children, whether there's a war or a plague."

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