Pisky: Amid the ruins of a Soviet-era apartment block in Pisky, near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, large chunks of roof and walls lie scattered—remnants of what was once a home. Maria Seryogova, who used to live here, stands among the debris, recalling the days she spent playing with her baby grandson in what is now a lifeless wreck.
Seryogova and other former residents have returned to the devastated village, hoping to document the destruction and seek compensation from the Russian authorities now in control. Taking photographs of the rubble, they aim to strengthen their claims for damages.
“Oh my god, it’s horrible,” said Seryogova, 49, as she gestured toward the graffiti-covered walls, the wind howling through the ruins of her former living room. “It’s scary to look at all this.”
While Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, the conflict in eastern Ukraine traces back much further—to 2014. That year, Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was ousted following the Maidan Revolution, Russia annexed Crimea, and Moscow-backed separatists launched an armed insurgency, seizing control of key towns across the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Pisky became one of the war’s most fiercely contested battlegrounds. The village, once home to a couple of thousand residents, saw intense fighting and changed hands multiple times. As the conflict raged, the population dwindled to just a handful of people.
Seryogova’s family fled when her grandson was still an infant. She now rents an apartment in Donetsk, the region’s largest city, which remains under Russian control.
By August 2022, Russian forces and their allied fighters had captured Pisky. Today, no residents remain.
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For Yevgeniy, another former resident, returning to Pisky in February after 11 years was a painful experience. He stood before what used to be his family home, now nothing more than rubble.
“We used to live here,” he said, pointing at the flattened remains. “Now it’s only air left where the home once was.”
With Pisky in ruins, many former residents doubt that any future peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine will help them reclaim their homes.
“How can they (Russia and Ukraine) agree?” asked 75-year-old Yekaterina Tkachenko, who left her four-room apartment in 2014. “There’s so much destruction, I don’t know who will fix it.”
