“I have relatives in both Ukraine and Russia, and no one wants our cities to be destroyed by war,” he said. “Whoever started this will have to answer to God for his actions.” If it was Mr Putin, he declined to say. Like many in this largely Russian-speaking part of eastern Ukraine, she guarded exactly where her faith lay. Few in Mykolaivka, however, seem to have much nostalgia for the city’s stint under separatist rule in April 2014. Masked gunmen from the newly proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic entered both Mykolaivka and Sloviansk, seizing council buildings and the headquarters of the SBU security service. They controlled both cities for three chaotic months, but were finally driven out by Ukrainian forces in July. “They tied a woman to a tree because she was waving a Ukrainian flag, and when they left, they even planted a landmine in my shop,” Ms Chuparenko said. “If they come here again, I won’t have any more work to run.”
