After another night of shelling on the outskirts of Donetsk, the stronghold of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), residents in affected areas began cleaning up the damage to their homes and burying the dead.

On Sunday night, shells struck a neighborhood in Oktyabrskiy district close to the city's airport. Local residents told the Global Times at least four were killed and 20 houses damaged after six shells hit the area within a couple of minutes.

The airport, currently under Ukrainian control, has seen the most intense fighting.

Standing in the yard of one of the damaged homes on Monday morning, the air was thick with acrid smoke from fires. Around half of the house had burned. A neighbor quietly shoveled rubble aside.

A mattress left near the entrance of a yard was stained with blood. I learned that its former owner, 56, was killed as he slept after a shell hit his house, igniting it in a blaze. Neighbors rushed to rescue his wife and put out the fire.

Neighbors of the victim told the Global Times that when the shell struck, their children were playing table tennis in the yard.

Another house on a neighboring street spewed flames and billowing smoke. The explosion had torn off its roof.

Braving the heat and rubble, broken glass and shell fragments, we climbed into the charred house. It was destroyed almost beyond recognition. Only a charred refrigerator and broken dishes on the ground indicated the room we were standing in was once a kitchen.

The adjacent house had a gaping hole in the wall of its first-floor bedroom.

"I came to the window to open it, then saw a flash of light. Everything was shaking, and I fell near the window. When I stood up, I saw our ruined house," sobbed its owner, Calina.

What was once a lovely neighborhood was now walls and fences with shrapnel-pierced holes. Residents worked to repair the damages with tears and curses.

Olga, a 57-year-old pensioner, was in her backyard picking tomatoes when the shelling started. She told the Global Times shots came from Peski, an area controlled by the Ukrainian army. It had been the second such attack on the neighborhood  in the past week.

Three other residents, who are miners, told the Global Times that they wondered why government forces keep firing at civilians. 

Olga accused the Ukrainian army of shooting the area from helicopters in late May.

"We have gotten used to hearing the thuds of shelling. On that day, three helicopters hovered above the area, my neighbor, her children and I were standing in our gardens watching them. Suddenly, they opened the doors and fired at the area. We hid ourselves in the shelter," Olga said, pointing to the holes in her fence.

"I know they were from the army. I saw their faces."

She then pointed to the daisies grown on her lawn. "They smell like gunpowder now."

But Calina's husband said the shell that destroyed his house may have been fired from an area held by rebels, suggesting the neighborhood might have been caught in the crossfire.

The district is home to both wealthy households and working class families made up mostly of miners. While the rich have already moved to different cities or even Russia, most of the poor are left with nowhere to go.

Locals estimate about 20 to 30 percent of the original population, mostly women and children, had left, while men remained.

Power had been cut off for more than a week, leaving the remaining residents dependent on generators.

Olga said she worries about the future. She has no money, no job, and the latest attack had destroyed her vegetable garden. "I still have a week's worth of food, but I don't know what will happen after that, or how we will survive the winter," she wept.  

Olga's son, Roman, told the Global Times the shelling had wiped out what was a lifetime of work for the miners in the area. "Miners risk their lives to earn their money. They're not paid big salaries, so they put their life savings into their houses, and now they're destroyed."

When asked which side they support in the current conflicts, the three miners were apprehensive. Though they support neither side, they feared that if the Ukrainian army wins they would be oppressed and accused of supporting the rebels.

"We have weapons - spades and axes. These are the only weapons we have," said the miners.

With nowhere to go, locals are left to cope with the situation.

Roman said he and his mother will be spending the night in their cellar; a damp, 5-square-meter room filled with two chaise lounges and jars of pickles. They are unsure how many nights they are going to spend there.

When we bid our farewell, Olga hugged me again and again, and I could feel her trembling. Not knowing how to comfort her, all I could do was pat her shoulders.

With tears in her eyes, she made me promise to come back to visit her home when the war is over.

I accepted the invitation, but had no idea when that would be.