Trains no longer run to Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region - part of the Donbas claimed in its entirety by Russia's President Vladimir Putin. It's another sign of the steady Russian advance.
Instead, the last station is now on the western side of the Donetsk border. This is where civilians and soldiers wait for a ride towards relative safety - their train to get out of Dodge.
Putin has been sounding more bullish since the leak of US proposals to end the war, widely seen as being in tune with his maximalist demands. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says territory remains the most difficult issue facing US-led peace talks.
At the last station on the line, soldier Andrii and his girlfriend Polina are parting after an all-too-brief time together. Andrii has to return to the front and they don't know when they'll see each other again.
He laughs when I mention peace talks, which have seen Donald Trump's envoys speak to Ukrainian negotiators before heading to Moscow, and dismisses them as chatter, just chatter. He doesn't think the war will be over soon.
There is skepticism, too, among other soldiers who board the train west for a brief respite from the fighting. They are taking some of their 20 days of leave. Most look exhausted.
Russian forces now control some 85% of the Donbas, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk. On Tuesday they claimed to have captured the key strategic town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk. Ukraine said fighting was continuing in the city.
Denys, who has been serving in the Ukrainian army for the past two years, tells me everyone's drained, everyone's tired mentally and physically.
Ceding territory where at least a quarter of a million Ukrainians live - the Donetsk fortress belt cities of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka - will not be acceptable to most Ukrainians.
There's already been an exodus of civilians from the Donbas. It's continuing as peace talks take place. We witness dozens, old and young, arriving at a reception centre just over the border in Lozova.
Yevheniy and his wife Maryna, fleeing from Kramatorsk with their two children, have little faith in the peace talks. She states, It's getting harder and harder to even go outside. Everything is dangerous.
However, others, like Oleksandr, express willingness to consider giving up their homes for peace. As the conflict continues, many soldiers are facing daunting choices while civilians flee the area to evade the ongoing violence.
