Putin on our doorstep: Ukrainians watch as the frontline edges closer

News Snapshot:

It was a perfect May evening. Daria Karpinska and her friends sat in the corner of a five-a-side pitch and played cards. Nearby was their school. Swifts had returned to their village of Hrodivka and screeched in a sunny blue sky. Suddenly, a loud whoosh-whoosh noise interrupted the teenagers’ game of “fool”: the sound of a Grad missile. Seconds later came the boom of artillery. “It’s louder today than yesterday,” said 14-year-old Karpinska matter-of-factly. Nine miles (15km) away – across a green and blossom-white landscape dotted with slag heaps and wheelhouses – the Russians were advancing. In February, they captured...