The agreement struck in Minsk for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine did little to stop the fierce fighting in Debaltseve.

Situated on a railway connecting the main rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, the town was the hub of weeks of gunfire and shelling between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces.

It was captured by the separatists towards the end of February.

“We survived,” said local woman Nadezhda Ignatenko. “It is impossible to express what we have experienced. In the beginning, when I could still hide in the basement, I would sit there and shake with fear. And shells would keep flying.”

Debaltseve now lies in ruins, with many homes destroyed. Hundreds queue up daily at a surviving grocery store, which hands out one loaf of bread per person.

One local hospital has reopened, but has had no water or central heating for a week. Patients there are mostly elderly people, who are said to have caught bronchitis as a result of sheltering in the cold and damp.