‘Why should I leave?’: Some Ukrainians refuse to flee areas caught up in war

Seventy-year-old pensioner Valerii Ilchenko, who lives alone and is refusing to evacuate, walks to his apartment, after filling out his daily crossword, in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)

As a Russian offensive intensifies in eastern Ukraine and authorities there urge residents to evacuate for safer cities and towns in the west of the country, there are still people who refuse to leave.

Many of them are pensioners living alone, while some say they do not earn enough money to support themselves away from home.