The frontier of the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine was drawn two years ago. Many ethnic Russians live in this area. So what is life like now for those on the Kyiv side of the line? A report from Severodonetsk.
The war is more than 200 kilometers away, but you sense it as soon as you leave the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkhiv. The potholed M-03 highway has become a military road. You come across military trucks carrying cannon, or convoys of tanker vehicles rolling eastwards. Billboards by the side of the road advertize the Ukrainian army one minute and cheap bus rides to Moscow the next. By the time you reach the town of Sloviansk, if not before, the consequences of war become visible: The remains of a blown-up bridge loom up like a memorial to the fighting, which is still going on here.
