War, sickness and love in rebel-held Ukraine

Cancer, a war that has dragged on for eight years, and the threat of a Russian invasion – Larysa is living with them all, with fortitude and humour. We met the 65-year-old queuing in a hangar, at the Novotroitske crossing point in Eastern Ukraine.

It sits on the “line of contact” – an almost 500km (310 mile) long fissure between Ukrainian government territory and two enclaves that have been held by Russian backed separatists since 2014. Families, communities, and services are divided by this line. The enduring conflict here on the eastern front has already claimed more than 14,000 lives – at least 3,000 of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

The self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) are recognised by no one – for now, not even the Kremlin – but they are home to about four million people. Larysa is one of them. She was wrapped up against the cold in a bright blue jacket, pink jumper, and matching woolly hat. She preferred not to use her last name.

It takes permission and patience to get from Ukrainian government territory to the other side. Larysa knows the drill. “I do this every six months,” she said. “I have been for a check-up at a hospital in Dnipro (in central Ukraine) and now I am going home to Donetsk.” As she waited for sniffer dogs to check her bag, she wasn’t too concerned about the Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s borders.

“We have been bombed, and we have been through a lot,” she said.

“I don’t believe there will be an invasion, or if there is, it won’t be a big one. That’s my view as someone with intuition. I watch TV and what politicians say. I think all of this is just to keep us on our toes and stop us from getting too relaxed.”

Perhaps

But Western leaders have long feared that President Vladimir Putin would fake a crisis in the Russian-backed rebel areas – or the appearance of one – to use as an excuse to invade. The seeds were sewn on Friday when rebel leaders announced that women and children would be evacuated over the border to Russia because Ukraine was planning to attack. Ukraine denied that and most civilians in those areas appear to have stayed put.

“We, the people, do not want any war to happen. We want to live, love… We want to love everybody and give them a hug,” said Larysa, eyes smiling above her mask. With that she boarded a bus to take her through no man’s land to a checkpoint on the other side.

Source: BBC