DONETSK, Ukraine — On school days, Vladimir rides the bus into the city center to teach gym class. On the weekends, he remains at home in his dark, unheated apartment and tries to ignore the shots ringing out from the floors above.

“There is no water, no electricity,” he said as he showed off his first-floor apartment, recently renovated with wallpaper resembling exposed brick, a laptop on his desk, and a dozen religious icons on his windowsill.

“There is also no gas, but I think that’s a good thing. It means there is nothing that can explode.”

Vladimir, who did not give a last name, is one of three people who still live in the high-rise, which has an excellent view of what was once the jewel of eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk International Airport.