Not much is audible over the noise of the hulking, powerful machinery at Avdiyivka’s sprawling factory – except for the artillery barrages.
Since the war started in 2014 more than 300 shells have fallen on the grounds of the factory, the largest coking plant in Europe, which sits on Ukrainian-controlled territory just a few miles from the frontline with Russia-backed separatists. The big guns have been mercifully quiet for months, but the past fortnight has seen a new flurry of violence, linked in Kyiv to a Russia apparently newly emboldened by the election of Donald Trump in the US.
