Russia trains sights on schools, offices and buses in busy Ukrainian city

It was five in the morning when Anna Holovchenko was woken up by glide bombs hitting the suburbs of her home city of Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine.

Security has deteriorated sharply there in a matter of weeks. Zaporizhzhia is a mere 24km (15 miles) from the front line, but is still home to some 750,000 people and the war is feeling closer than ever.

An hour later drones flew over Anna's house in a second wave of attack and Ukrainian air defences tried to bring them down. "I realised I'm not getting any more sleep and started getting ready for work," she said.

Numerous buses, petrol stations, schools, government offices and residential houses have been hit by Russian drones and bombs in recent weeks.

Acting mayor Regina Kharchenko told the BBC that during one particularly intensive attack she "did not go to the shelter, but when it got too loud I took cover in the toilet".

A Shahed drone crashed not far from Anna's office with a big bang, and another drone struck a cable, taking down the internet. "That's just another ordinary day in Zaporizhzhia," she said.

Their city is the administrative capital of Zaporizhzhia region, one of five regions in Ukraine's south and east that Russia claims as its own.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, is located almost 50km southwest of the city in part of the region under Russian occupation.

Following the relentless spate of Russian attacks, Zaporizhzhia city council met in an underground shelter to discuss the worsening situation. "The enemy has stepped up terror against civilians, municipal transport, privately-owned buses, cars, residential buildings and even children," Regina Kharchenko told the meeting.

Plans had been made to build more shelters across the city and put up more anti-drone nets at the busiest and most vulnerable locations, the acting mayor told the BBC later, and she said anti-shatter film was being applied to windows in schools, hospitals and public buildings.

"Personally, I'm very afraid," she said. At night she sometimes sleeps on the floor in a corridor at home: "I live in an ordinary high-rise, on the seventh floor. I've got no personal bunker with 10 bodyguards. I live an ordinary life."

Ukrainian forces have succeeded in pushing Russian forces back a few kilometres away from the city, and yet the attacks on Zaporizhzhia have worsened.

That is because many strikes are now carried out using small but lethal first-person-view (FPV) drones, which were not able to reach the city earlier.

There are several possible reasons for the deterioration, suggests Sam Cranny-Evans from the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London.

Russian forces have been using longer-range mothership drones to deliver several smaller drones which then scatter and strike targets that they would not be able to reach otherwise, he explains.

Also, they have been using so-called mesh networking technology, which is harder to jam and makes it possible to relay radio signals from drone to drone, thus allowing them to cover longer distances.

Another possible factor, Cranny-Evans told the BBC, could be "reduced Ukrainian electronic warfare [activity], because of a focus elsewhere and an equally increased focus from Russian units" on Zaporizhzhia.

Local authorities say they intercepted 884 Russian drones in the last week of June alone.

While Russian troops have been forced to retreat south of Zaporizhzhia, they continue advancing elsewhere, albeit at a much slower pace than before.

Their progress has recently been hampered by a successful Ukrainian campaign of strikes against Russian oil refineries, fuel storage and logistics in occupied territories.

Hundreds of thousands of residents are staying put for now, but for Zaporizhzhia's population Russia's offensive remains a constant threat after almost four and a half years of war.

"We've got food and fuel, why would I leave? Maybe I'm not the easily scared type," says Anna.

Although she admits the thought of leaving has crossed her mind, she does not want Zaporizhzhia to become another city destroyed by Russia.

"We're just trying to stay safe and we're doing all we can to survive until our victory."

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