Vovchansk residents recall Ukrainian city's near-total destruction

Vovchansk residents recall Ukrainian city's near-total destruction

An industrial city just five kilometres from the Russian border, Vovchansk, in northeastern Ukraine, has been almost entirely erased.

All that remains of its factories, medical school and residential districts, once home to around 20,000 people, is an expanse of smouldering ruins.

"It began on the 10th of May, the outright extermination of every living thing," recalls Raisa Zymovska, a Vovchansk resident whose husband was killed as they fled.