Life goes on in fortress cities

Civilians waiting at a bus stop, sheltered by anti-drone netting, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Shelling is slowly destroying Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, crucial links in Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’. As another cruel winter nears, residents say Russia is bent on obliterating what it has failed to conquer. — Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

WHEN explosions ring out across Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Oleksandr Chyvenkov and the police paramedic unit under his command do not rush immediately to the scene. Instead, they listen.

In the compact industrial city, where every detonation reverberates off concrete high-rises, the first blast is often bait.