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Outgunned but defiant, Ukrainian twin cities' defenders ready for Russian attack

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In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Artchk helps shore up defences against imminent Russian attack while, nearby, farmer Vasyl Avramenko laments the loss of crops supplanted by mines.

The shells continue to fall on Kramatorsk (and its twin, Sloviansk) and they are poised for the next frontline in Moscow’s offensive in heavily industrialised Donbass.

Although their defenders are outgunned by the Russian-backed forces, Ukrainians have successfully repelled Russian-backed troops here before. The cities were seized by proKremlin separatists on April 2014, and then recaptured three years later.

"Ofcourse we're already prepared. "We're ready," Artchk said, identifying himself as his nom-de-guerre and telling Reuters.

"It's their fantasy (Russians) to occupy these cities but they don’t expect the level resistance - it’s not just the Ukrainian government that refuses to accept them, it’s the people who refuse.

As excavators dig trenches around their outskirts to stop the advance of Russian tanks and soldiers, their streets are eerily deserted. Moscow considers the cities to be a symbol of its support for the separatist insurgency in 2014.

They were once the hubs of Soviet machine-building industries. Now they are in the Donetsk area and Russia is in full control after the Kremlin took control of the Luhansk region (also part of Donbas) last weekend.

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As incoming shells began to sound in the distance on Tuesday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk's regional governor, told reporters that he was making preparations for evacuation of both cities.

According to military analysts, Ukraine could do better in defending its new frontline after its forces retreated from a pocket that they had defended for many months and where Russia was able pound them with artillery.

Ukrainian soldiers who were attempting to break the front lines just 10km (six miles) away from Sloviansk claimed they were greatly outgunned and urged the West to provide them with more heavy-tech ammunition and high-tech weapons.

One artilleryman, who chose not to be identified, said that "we shoot once and then they respond by cluster bombs."

"The Russians have so much shells that they keep hitting the same area. They don't keep track of the number of shells they are firing."

Russian proxies retreated from Sloviansk, Kramatorsk in 2014 to consolidate territories further to the east or south. This conflict resulted in more than 14,000 deaths and continued.

Russia, long a NATO buffer, annexed ex-Soviet Ukraine in the same year. It also backed the separatist movement after a Moscow-backed president fled to face pro-Western protests.

After the failed attack on Kyiv on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it a major war objective to capture the Donbas for separatists.

Sloviansk and Kramatorsk could be last obstacles to reaching that goal. Many of those who chose to remain in cities are believed to be Russian sympathisers.

Yulia Leputina, the Veteran Affairs Minister, was part of the task force that captured Sloviansk in 2014. She dismissed that suspicion, saying that it was only barely recognisable eight years ago.

It's a different city. She said that it was a more pro-European place.

Kyrylenko, Donetsk Governor, stated that some pro-Russians were still present.

"It's not just that they are disloyal but they also try to direct missile strikes. Anyone who harbors that thought and acts on it will be punished. He added.

A spokesperon stated that the SBU security services in Ukraine arrested a man from Kramatorsk Monday for providing coordinates of Ukrainian military positions with Russian artillery.

The city has seen increased traffic checks and officials and soldiers have declined to discuss plans to defend the area.

Avramenko (53), a farmer from Sloviansk, stated that he couldn't farm much of the six acres he had on its outskirts due to it being mined to repel a Russian offensive.

He said that residents would fight invading troops in the streets and that he would join territorial defense forces, as he did in 2014.

"It is evidently bad that back then, in 2014, there was no solution. He said that they must be chased away and put an end to all of this, gathering garlic he was unable to sell.

He said that the artillery barrage was more intense this time, which often forced him to hide in his basement.

The market caught fire hours later after it was struck by shelling, which killed at least two and injured seven others.

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