As Ukraine Orders Civilians to Evacuate the East, Residents Face a Grim Choice
DONETSK PROVINCE, Ukraine — Thuds from the artillery pounding Ukraine’s embattled east reverberated in the distance, yet it was the shouts of playing children on a recent afternoon that echoed across the yard near the front line.

The scene spoke to the grim choice that residents face after President Volodymyr Zelensky called this weekend for a mandatory evacuation of the region, directing hundreds of thousands of civilians in eastern Ukraine to leave their homes.

“We could go,” said Natasha, a 46-year-old mother of six, talking over the din of war with unflagging calm. “But how would we earn money? And I have kids to feed.”