Andrey (74) has been living alone in his flat in Kramatorsk for many years. The only family connection he still has is his daughter, who lives in Moscow. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it impossible for her to visit him. In the meantime, Kramatorsk has suffered from frequent…
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Valery and Olga are from Bakhmut. The couple’s flat is less than 3km away from Patrice Lumumba Avenue, where the day before, Russian Wagner mercenaries had launched an attack to enter Bakhmut, which was stopped by Ukrainian resistance. Their flat was particularly exposed to the front line, and they suffered…
Arka and Dub were queuing up for the “best hotdog in Kramatorsk”. The place is a popular hangout spot for Ukrainian soldiers taking a break from duty at the frontlines around 20km away. Both are from Zakarpatia, the extreme West of Ukraine and had no problem communicating in Russian with…
These are Alexandr and Svetlana with her granddaughter Sofia in the centre of their home city Kriviy Rih in Eastern Ukraine. The largely Russian-speaking city is a major iron ore mining hub and the hometown of President Zelensky. During Soviet times, Alexandr was stationed in Kaliningrad in a nuclear rocket…
Leonid is co-founder of Veterano Pizza, a restaurant in Kyiv run by veterans of the Donbas war. Over a pizza and beer, he told me his story. “When the Russians infiltrated the Donbas, I wanted to go there and fight immediately. But the army did not take me. I only…