Listening To Dostoevsky Under Shelling: Life Near Donetsk Airport

Hromadske journalists Nataliya Gumenyuk and Bohdan Kutiepov traveled to the eastern Ukrainian village of Pervomayske with Ukrainian volunteers who had escaped the areas controlled by pro-Russian insurgent and devoted themselves to distributing aid to people still living on the front line under life-threatening conditions. The village is located a few miles from Donetsk airport, which has been a focal point of the conflict. The breakdown in employment and social services has left these villagers with no money to buy food. 

Though the village is under the control of the Ukrainian government, the regional capital remains under the separatist control. It has taken a few months to restore pensions payments, yet it still not easy for the residents to re-register and receive their money. There a various volunteer groups which bring food to the village a few times per week, e.g. the Czech humanitarian organization “People in Need” and money is also sent by people from across the country.

For some of the residents their loneliness and the disruption to their normal way of life is more worse than the lack of the money.

Quite a few people decided to stay and try to preserve the life they had rather than leaving and "accepting an unknown future" like a local shepherd who is listening to Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov" audiobook and is not mentioning the shelling.