Lidia Radenko Timofeevna stands among the ruins of her house in the village of Nikishina. 'Our street was bombed first. Our son took us onto Lenina Street. When the bombs began to fall on Lenina Street, we escaped to Torez city. We returned home in late February, when fighting had stopped. Half of our home was gone.'
Since April 2014, the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have been embroiled in a military stand-off between the Ukrainian national army and armed separatists rebels, widely believed to be armed by Russia and assisted by thousands of Russian volunteers and regular forces. By April 2015, over 6,100 people had lost their lives in the fighting, with civilians bearing the brunt of wide ranging fighting.