Thousands of civilians living in the region around the city of Bakhmut - the site of a long, grueling battle in eastern Ukraine - are living in abject conditions with little access to basic necessities, according to international aid workers.
The fighting in and around Bakhmut has been the most violent of recent months and seems to be letting up, with Russian and Ukrainian officials expressing an unwillingness to yield this week.
Ukrainian officials have said that the civilians are choosing to stay despite their best efforts to evacuate them, with some hiding from police officers or emergency workers. But many of those still in the region are older or disabled people with low mobility and family members caring for them, Umar Khan, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a briefing Friday.
All you see is people pushed to the very limit of their existence and survival, said Mr. Khan, who traveled with a Red Cross convoy that delivered aid to towns around Bakhmut this week. The scale of destruction is shocking.