( CNN ) -- Bodies torn apart by the weapons of war . The bloody corpse of a man hit by shelling as he walked under trees , a shopkeeper 's mutilated body in front of her store , a broom lying nearby . Some three months after pro-Russian rebels declared an independent `` Donetsk People 's Republic , '' Ukrainian government forces are encircling the city of Donetsk . Photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie was in the city in May and returned two weeks ago to find it battle-scarred and slowly draining of life as its people flee . The images he has captured show the anguish of the immediate aftermath of shelling -- the relatives of victims , people left homeless , the dead . Others depict those left behind sheltering in Soviet or WWII-era cellars and boarded-up buildings as their homes are engulfed by the conflict . The photographs , many too graphic to show here , leave no doubt about the true horror of the destructive conflict . `` If you go north of the city towards the airport you have entire areas that are no-man 's land -- they are not controlled by anybody and they are being shelled daily ... with mortars and tanks , '' Alpeyrie tells CNN . `` You see some families that have remained there -- mostly elders and a lot of people that do n't really have any money , they have to stay . You also get people who stay because they do n't want to leave their homes . It 's been their family home for a long time and they have their belongings inside , so they want to stay close to that . `` You do have a lot of elders who are pretty tough and they 're very pro-Russian , so for them that 's also their struggle but a lot of them are hoping that this will end quickly . '' The center of Donetsk , in peacetime much like any other modern city , is less damaged , though suffering from water shortages and largely shut down , he says , abandoned by an estimated half of Donetsk 's population of around one million . `` People do get killed . If you 're walking down the street it 's like a lottery , you just do n't know , '' Alpeyrie says . The day before Alpeyrie spoke to CNN , the group he was with -- fellow photographers and a local driver/translator -- had almost been killed in the town of Marynivka . Four people died nearby . `` It 's always hard when we see people getting killed where you are , that 's tough , because they 're just regular people and they 're not really involved in the war , '' he says . The team 's driver was one of the residents trying to earn a living while it was still possible . Many of those still facing the dangers of Donetsk have sent their children away , Alpeyrie says . The trains have stopped running from Donetsk , so the refugees travel by bus , many making the perilous journey through fighting in Luhansk region to reach Russia . Others go south to Mariupol , traveling through the conflict 's front line to safety , Alpeyrie says . There , where the fighting is at its most intense , photography is not welcomed by the rebels . `` You can hang out with them if you want , but since just they get hit all the time and as you ca n't take pictures or photos there 's no reason to hang out with them , '' Alpeyrie says . However , recently Alpeyrie and some colleagues got lucky -- obtaining rare images of a rebel funeral . Click here to read the backstory and the unique images he captured .
Photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie returned to Donetsk , Ukraine , two weeks ago . Donetsk is held by pro-Russian rebels but the Ukrainian Army has gradually encircled it . Alpeyrie 's photographs show the life of the residents surviving under siege . The images show them sheltering in cellars or clearing rubble from their homes .