Editor’s Note: The following content documents a trip to the war zone of eastern Ukraine alongside employees of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR) and the charity organization Proliska. The content is independent of the organizers.

MAYORSK, ZAITSEVE, and AVDIYIVKA, Ukraine — In the merciless cold of late December, crowds of people carrying well-worn travel sacks get out of arriving buses and slowly line up at a military checkpoint on the road ahead.