Bakhmut is devastated.
As fighting continues around this eastern Ukrainian city, a drone on Friday captured the charred buildings, destroyed schools and shattered parks that now define Bakhmut.
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What looks like a morning mist spreading across the shattered horizon is the acrid smoke wafting after another night of incessant bombardment.
The Russians declare victory in this battle, the longest and bloodiest of the war.
Ukrainians, advancing on the outskirts, say the city's death is not the end of the campaign to drive Russians from the ruins, but just one more phase of a catastrophic war.
Civilians packing their bags to leave Bakhmut in December.
The notion of a "winner," however, challenges what has so clearly been lost:
The many lives and homes of the once peaceful city, known for its salt mines and sparkling wine, largely reduced to ashes.
The few remaining civilians moved anxiously trying to find a safe path as the Russians fought in the neighborhood where people were sheltering.
It was not immediately possible to know who the people were, where they were going and how they had survived.
In a place full of death and destruction, signs of life are the exception.
Residents collecting coal donations in December.
President Joe Biden declared over the weekend that some 100,000 Russian troops were killed and wounded in the battle for Bakhmut.
Fallen
Ukraine also suffered heavy losses in a fight described by both sides as a "meat grinder."
Last year, the Ukrainian government urged residents to evacuate the city of nearly 80,000 people, and in March estimated only about 4,000 people remained.
As Russia intensified its bombing, humanitarian groups found it impossible to work in the city.
According to the soldiers, Ukrainian forces continued to provide safe transportation to the population until two weeks ago, but some residents refused to leave.
As the last Ukrainian soldiers were driven to a smaller and smaller area near the western entrance to the city, the Russian military turned what was once a thriving residential neighborhood into a shooting gallery.
The Russian bombing of Bakhmut began about a year ago.
It wasn't until December – after months of brutal artillery duels and deadly trench warfare – that Russian forces managed to enter the city's eastern outskirts.
When temperatures dropped below freezing this winter, a Times team visited Bajmut and discovered that the few remaining residents lived mostly in basement bunkers.
They relied on volunteers to provide them with food and medical supplies, and occasionally went out to fetch firewood.
The Russians advanced slowly, block by block, razing many buildings to their foundations to prevent the Ukrainians from defending their positions.
In early May, Ukrainians were virtually confined to a plot smaller than Central Park.
Russian forces intensified their bombardment to expel the last Ukrainian soldiers.
By the end of May, they had largely succeeded.
Gestures
At the western entrance to Bakhmut, a group of artists in 2020 painted two large murals on the walls of tall buildings to offer residents a sense of comfort.
One depicted a mother holding her child aloft, sharing a moment of joy.
Both wear garlands in their hair.
The other mural depicts a father with his son on his shoulders playing with a toy airplane in the middle of a peaceful blue sky.
The mural of the mother and daughter has disappeared along with the multi-story building that served as a canvas and home for hundreds of people.
On Friday, the wall with the painting of the father and son was still standing, but when the drone made a pass, an explosion could be seen right in front of the building, which is now empty, battered and lifeless, like the city itself.
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