Kramatorsk and Slavyansk are the largest cities in the unoccupied part of Donbass in Ukraine. Currently, they have a total of about 100.000 inhabitants. Anti-drone nets have been placed on some of the roads, and those routes are primarily used by military vehicles.
Those two cities, as well as neighboring Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka, form the so-called "belt of fortresses" - an area that is considered the main line of defense of the Ukrainian army in the east. Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka have become practical in recent months war zone, but just 20 kilometers from that first front line, life in Kramatorsk and Slavjansk continues.
High demand for real estate on the front line
75302996_1004Kramatorsk, December 2025 / Photo: Anna Pshemyska/DW
Despite the fact that drones began to appear in both Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in the fall, shelling intensified, and passenger trains suspended since November, dozens of cafes and shops are still open, and the streets in those cities are crowded.
Real estate agent Vladislav Savchenko, whom the DW reporter met in Slavyansk, explains that the cities on the front line are largely economically dependent on the army. Traditional large industrial companies in the region have stopped working or moved production.
With the military forced to find and rent their own accommodation, there is a high demand for apartments and houses for rent near the front. According to Savchenko, renting a well-maintained two-room apartment in Slavjansk costs between 12.000 and 15.000 hryvnias per month (240-300 euros, excl. car), while an apartment of the same size, but slightly less well maintained, costs from 8.000 to 10.000 hryvnias. For the circumstances in Donbas, this is a significant sum.
"People who were forced to leave their homes come to Slavyansk, and you can't offer them anything. An apartment is offered for 10.000 hryvnias - but they don't expect it to cost that much. And there are no other options," Savchenko says, shrugging her shoulders.
Who buys real estate so close to the front?
And not only apartments and houses are rented. According to Vladislav Savchenko, real estate is actively being bought and sold. The agency where he works concluded ten transactions in October, eight in November, and by mid-December it already had five contracts for the purchase and sale of residential buildings.
75301219_906Buildings in Slavjanska destroyed by shelling / Photo: Anna Pshemyska/DW
According to Savchenko, real estate prices in Slavjansk have fallen by 50 to 60 percent compared to 2021. However, this is difficult for many owners to accept. The real estate agent shows us a two-room apartment in the city center, well renovated and with new appliances. It is currently for sale. "The owners are asking $24.000 to $25.000 for it, but its current market value is $15.000 to $16.000," he says. Most of the sellers who contact him are people who are moving.
Prices are often determined by the news, that is, the situation at the front: "Sometimes someone wants to sell an apartment for $15.000, and then sees that the news seems to be improving. Then he thinks that maybe there will be some kind of peace agreement and he will be able to sell the apartment for, say, $25.000," says Savchenko.
At the same time, most buyers view real estate near the front as an investment and expect to recoup their costs relatively quickly through rentals. There are also those who are looking for a new home after the shelling or lost their house due to the occupation and want to stay in their native Donbass or do not have enough money to live in other regions.
75303130_906Anti-drone nets on roads around Kramatorsk / Photo: Anna Pshemyska/DW
Real estate agent Vladislav Savchenko, his wife and daughter still live in Slovyansk - although in November there was, as he says, a "flyover" near their home. The windows of their apartment were broken by the explosion. "We are thinking of leaving. If nothing changes, I think we will have to. But we hope for the best," he says.
What do the residents of the unoccupied part of Donbass think about the negotiations?
"When the peace talks started, we had a very 'happy' week here - every day there was a 'flight' somewhere," says Savchenko when we ask him about his expectations from the peace talks, where, among other things, the fate of his native Donbass is being discussed.
He is concerned about the conditions under which a future peace agreement could be concluded, because Russia's demands include the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the entire Donetsk region. "Slavyansk is called 'the city of separatism', but I categorically disagree with that, because I know many people who do not want to be with that country," says Savchenko about Russia.
"I'm not going to Russia," says Elena, whom the DW reporter met in the center of Kramatorsk. Her daughter left the country, but Elena stayed in Kramatorsk with her minor son, mother, aunt and three cats. She describes her wishes as follows: "I would like children to go to school, to have work and for Ukraine to exist."
"We are 'small', what can we do? Whatever the authorities decide, that's how it will be. Do we play a role," another Kramatorsk resident, who refused to identify herself, commented to DW on the politicians' diplomatic efforts. The most important thing, he says, is for people to stop dying in a war in which "we don't know who is to blame."
Nikolay, a man who should be retired based on his age, says of the negotiations that they are "behind the scenes games". And he doesn't have much hope: "Putin won't sign anything... Sanctions are needed, and we need weapons to be able to endure."
75302727_906The real estate market remains active even in cities on the front line / Photo: Anna Pshemyska/DW
"The sun of Ukraine rises in Donbass"
The center of Kramatorsk has been heavily damaged by shelling since the beginning of the invasion and does not seem "New Year's" at all. Still, on one of the quiet central streets that didn't suffer the destruction, the lights are on at a store called "Zaboj". It is a new and combined space - it sells clothes with symbols of the Donetsk region, and it is also a cafe. It seems rather like it is somewhere in Kiev, and not so close to the front line. Zaboj is a popular gathering place for volunteers, journalists, military personnel and their families.
The people running the shop are mostly Shakhtar Donetsk fans. They say that they are a "brand for the whole of Donbas" and that this is an ideological, not a business project. They are also the authors of the famous slogan "The sun of Ukraine rises in Donbas". "Since the 2000s, we have been inextricably linked with the idea that Donetsk is Ukraine," says Maksim Lysenko, the founder of Zaboy.
Lysenko is originally from Pokrovsk, and people from the "Zaboj" project - residents of Donbass - are particularly sensitive to the advance of the front in their region. Despite the risks, "Zaboj" moved from Dnieper to Kramatorsk in the summer of 2025: "We wanted to show the local population, all the people of Donetsk, that at a time when Kramatorsk is shelled daily by drones, ballistic missiles and so on - that we believe that Donbas will be free," he explains.
Recently, there have been fewer customers, mainly due to the cancellation of trains to Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, says the founder of Zaboja. His team plans to open a store in Kiev soon, and has an evacuation plan if it becomes too dangerous in Kramatorsk. For now, however, they have no plans to leave Donbass. "This is the region where we were born, which we are trying to develop and to which we devote almost our entire lives," says Lysenko.
Evacuation from the Donetsk region
Some other residents of the cities on the front, however, can no longer withstand the constant shelling. Buses of the humanitarian mission "Visibaba" (Snowdrop) provide free transportation to the nearest railway station - Barvenkovo in Kharkiv region. From there, evacuation trains run to Lviv, Kyiv and Kherson.
"Sometimes there are 30 to 50 people, so we make two tours," says Yulia Shevchenko, the representative of the mission. According to her, mostly older people travel, parents with children and those who have lost their jobs. "People who leave are those who think it's better to leave while it's still possible," concludes Shevchenko.
The DW reporter meets Lyudmila on the bus, who left Kramatorsk and went to Lviv in 2022. He returns home occasionally to finish some work, and dreams of staying forever. "It's nice away from home, but it's better at home. It's just that the situation doesn't allow it. Now it's become much worse," she says. Lyudmila is categorically against territorial concessions to Russia and against elections during the war.
Nadezhda also decided to leave Kramatorsk. "It's terrible, I can't go on like this anymore. I'm 70 years old, but I still want to live," he says. She is now going to visit her granddaughter in the Kiev region, having previously sent her things by mail. He says he fervently wants the peace talks to succeed.
At the train station in Slavyansk, where the bus stops to pick up passengers, Alexey sees off his wife and daughter. They travel to the west of Ukraine, to a relative, and he stays to work and take care of the house. "More people are leaving now than last summer. And they should leave," he says. "We all need peace. I don't know how, but we have to end all this. It doesn't matter how, the main thing is that it ends."
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