With a cigar in his mouth, Winston Churchill stares out at the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

In fact, while the city is increasingly deserted, there are more than a dozen Churchills still here, scowling over the ruins in the form of statues, portraits, and photographs.

As artillery booms nearby, Oleksiy Yudin, the proud owner of the recently-opened Churchill Store, looks nervously out of the window.

“To stop Putin’s little devil, we need Churchill back!” Mr Yudin cries out, before adapting a 1941 quote from the wartime prime minister:  “Give us the weapons, and we will do the dirty job!”

Behind him stands a full-length portrait of Churchill in a top hat and tails, emblazoned on the side of a drinks fridge and beaming with apparent approval.

There are fewer customers than Mr Yudin, 46, would like for his cafe venture, which opened in April.