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Facing relentless Russia, Ukraine confronts shortages of men and morale

It is an emotional moment for Nataliia Bilanska amid the constant crashes of encroaching artillery.

With advancing Russian forces bringing the southeast Ukraine war front to her town, the pensioner gives herself up to her inevitable evacuation.

Sobbing quietly, she locks her blue-painted front door, double-checks the handle, and then steps back and moves her hands in the shape of a cross, to bless her immaculate home, just west of the key transport hub of Pokrovsk.

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As the Russia-Ukraine war grinds toward its third anniversary, morale among Ukrainian troops and civilians is low amid shortages of military support from American and European allies.

“It will only be for two or three weeks,” she says, elevating an unlikely hope over the grim reality in this remote industrial region.

Russia’s monthslong steady advance has done more than force Ms. Bilanska’s evacuation. It has also contributed to the low morale that is afflicting civilians and military personnel the length of the front, as the war triggered by Russia’s invasion grinds toward its third anniversary.

The Russian assault on Pokrovsk, a ghost town that has been under threat for a year, is clearly visible from a rise above Hryshyne. Multiple columns of smoke can be seen rising into the sky as Russian troops subject the town to a pincer movement.

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