It was already the third alert in two hours. A crackling, automated voice echoed through the corridors and offices with their shuttered windows. "KAB alert," confirmed a firefighter. KABs, the Russian air-launched glide bombs guided to their targets and loaded with hundreds of kilos of explosives, can destroy an entire building. The men in the station took the threat seriously, grumbling as they put out their cigarettes before heading down to the basement. Some were already dozing. Others chatted, sitting or leaning against the bunk beds. Saturday, June 14, was just another workday for the firefighters of Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donbas where Russian forces have been escalating their attacks in recent weeks, aiming to form a pincer movement from the North, East and South. The front line is now only about 10 kilometers away.

For these firefighters, it is difficult to say when exactly the situation worsened. Before being stationed here, most of them worked in towns now occupied by the Russian Federation, such as Bakhmut, about 20 kilometers away, which fell after a long and bloody battle in the spring of 2023.

The short-haired, dirty dog weaving between their legs was also one of the evacuees from the Bakhmut station, joked Roman Gontcha, a stocky man in his 50s with sad eyes. He himself had worked until then in another Donbas city; he did not specify its name, simply remarking that "a different flag flies there today."

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