The pristine white-walled salon is one of the few pockets of normality remaining in Ukraine's Pokrovsk, where Russian troops are closing in. Surreal at first, it exemplifies how residents of deserted, shelled-out frontline areas carry on, even as combat nears. Inside the salon, the buzz of hair clippers and blow dryers barely cover the thuds coming from the front line around seven kilometres away. "Sometimes it's very loud, but it's okay, we try to work," says salon worker Natalya, "how can you not go to work if people are waiting for you?" IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES ARRANGED IN SEQUENCES