Pictured: 98-year-old Ukrainian woman who fled ruined village with slippers and cane

The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, according to new footage as Russian troops continue to make advances in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.

It came as firefighters in Kharkiv worked overnight on Friday to put out a major fire caused by an exploding drone attack that wounded four.

Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but says that fighting continues.

Moscow has been pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs.

Not a single person is seen in the footage, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting.

Most houses, apartment blocks and other buildings look damaged beyond repair, and many houses have been pummeled into piles of wood and bricks. A factory on the outskirts has also been badly damaged.

The footage also shows smoke billowing from several houses, and fires burning in at least two buildings.

Among those who have scrambled to leave the village in recent weeks is Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska.

The 98-year-old woman walked almost 6 miles alone wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane in one hand and a splintered piece of wood in the other after she was separated from her family while fleeing to safety last week.

“I woke up surrounded by shooting all around – so scary,” Ms Lomikovska said in a video interview posted by the National Police of Donetsk region.

Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she had fallen twice and was forced to stop to rest at some points, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey.

“Once I lost balance and fell into weeds. I fell asleep…a little, and continued walking. And then, for the second time, again, I fell. But then I got up and thought to myself: ‘I need to keep walking, bit by bit’,” Ms Lomikovska said.

She was eventually spotted by Ukrainian soldiers and handed over to the “White Angels”, a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line, who took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.

“I survived [the Second World War]. I had to go through this war too, and in the end, I am left with nothing.

“That war wasn’t like this one. I saw that war. Not a single house burned down. But now, everything is on fire,” she said to her rescuer.

Elsewhere, firefighters in Kharkiv were battling overnight to extinguish a major fire after Russian forces struck with exploding drones, Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor said on Saturday.

Four people were wounded and a two-story civilian building was damaged and set ablaze overnight.

The four, including a 13-year-old, were hurt by falling debris, he said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine’s military said Russia launched a total of 13 Shahed drones at the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of eastern Ukraine overnight, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defences.

Mr Syniehubov said Russia also bombed Kharkiv on Friday, damaging residential buildings and sparking a fire. An 82-year-old woman died and two men were wounded.

In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in an attempt to terrorise its 1.3 million residents.