A vehicle damaged by shrapnel and an explosive wave sits abandoned in the Oktyabrsky district in Donetsk, Ukraine. Ruined houses, shell craters and deserted streets - this is a typical scene in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk, the largest city of Ukraine's pro-Russian rebel region that bears the same name.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A child walks past a damaged building in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk. The self-styled Donetsk and next-door Luhansk "people's republics" broke away from central rule in 2014 after months of violent street protests in Kiev toppled Ukraine's Moscow-leaning president and propelled pro-Western nationalists to power.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A dog sits outside a damaged apartment block in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk. In this calm suburb of Donetsk, many people stood aloof of politics. But then fierce clashes broke out between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists for control over the nearby Donetsk Airport.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A shrapnel damaged wall of a former military unit barracks stands in Donetsk. A glistening air hub of steel and glass, specially built for the UEFA Euro 2012 of which Donetsk was a venue, the local airport was levelled to the ground, and many of the buildings in Oktyabrsky shared its fate.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

Disused furniture sits in an abandoned apartment inside a nine-storey block of flats in the Oktyabrsky district in Donetsk. Restored water and electricity supplies to local homes, with some households enjoying even gas supplies and heating, give a slight relief to some of the lucky locals as winter cold starts to bite.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A rooster stands inside a house owned by a local resident in the Oktyabrsky district in Donetsk. "I try to keep away from politics, I only care about my family," said Marina, aged 30. The woman, her husband and three children, one of whom is seriously ill, lost their house in 2014 when an artillery shell hit it. "With no money, we were left in the street, with absolutely nothing. Everything burned, nothing was left ... even spoons and forks were gone," she said.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

Disused kitchenware sits inside an abandoned house, which was damaged by shelling not far from Donetsk airport. Marina's family changed several apartments, moving from one friend to another, before deciding that they would restore their house, using the bricks that had remained intact to build new walls. But they fast ran out of cash to buy construction materials. The fragile ceasefire agreed in 2015 is often shattered by outbursts of gunfire and explosions of shells.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A woman displays her room in a residential house in Donetsk. More than 8,000 private homes and more than 2,000 apartment houses were badly damaged in Donetsk, according to data provided by its administration. Most of these homes are uninhabitable and cannot be rebuilt.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A resident smokes outside his house which was damaged in fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels, near Donetsk airport. A total of 64 temporary shelters for those who lost their homes in the war have been organised in various parts of Donetsk, a city of around one million residents.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

Residents who lost their homes sit in a dorm room where they have lived for the past 3 years in Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

Local resident Alexandra Nikolayevna, 68, sits in her house in Donetsk. Sometimes, student hostels accommodate the homeless. They include Alexandra Nikolayevna, 68, who survives with her several grandchildren at "University Hostel No.4" mainly due to handouts of humanitarian aid. The fourth year of this ordeal has failed to shatter her political views. "We must be only with Russia, we only hope for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to take us under his wing," she repeats. "Anyway, everyone says it's Russian land."

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

People walk near the "Yunost" (Youth) concert hall which was damaged by shelling in central Donetsk. The feeling of relative normalcy which prevails in most parts of Donetsk, dissipates when you realise the city centre is just slightly more than 10 km (6.3 miles) from the frontline.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A woman sits in front of the damaged building of a store near the airport in Donetsk. The war is felt in the volatile rates of several currencies circulating in the city, in low wages and poor quality of local food.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A local resident shows the damage done to his home near the airport in Donetsk. And it is felt in the families which lost loved ones in the war that has claimed a total of more than 10,000 lives so far.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A woman walks past a damaged building in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A local resident rebuilds his destroyed house near the airport in Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A woman sits in her house in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A residential house, damaged during fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels, stands amongst overgrown plants near Donetsk airport.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

The "Rabfakovskaya" bus stop with shrapnel-scars stands in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A damaged gas station stands by the side of a road in Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

A monument depicting an anti-aircraft missile system Krug (Circle) stands outside a damaged, former military unit near the airport in Donetsk.

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A building which was the former residence of local newspapers, and is now damaged by shelling, stands in Poligraficheskaya street in Donetsk.

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Damaged houses stand near the airport in Donetsk.

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Local residents sit inside their house in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

People fix the roof of a house, damaged in fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels, in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

The wall of a house covered in shrapnel scars is seen in Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 

Debris of a destroyed house is seen near the airport in Donetsk.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko