The war in Ukraine’s Donbas is now in its seventh year. Fourteen thousand people have been killed. Two million people have been displaced. And with constant stalling in diplomatic negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, there appears to be no end to the conflict in sight.
The Kremlin-backed war has had profound consequences for Ukraine, with the conflict penetrating many areas of Ukrainian life. People displaced from the country’s east have had to find new homes, jobs and lives. Veterans have returned from the front line with the physical and emotional consequences of war. And military symbols, rhetoric and practices have become commonplace as the country tries to deal with a war that is simultaneously close yet so far away.
A new book, A Loss: The Story of A Dead Soldier Told By His Sister, by London-based writer Olesya Khromeychuk aims to show how the war has affected both people in Ukraine and outside the country – through her own journey of loss and mourning for her brother, who was killed while serving on the front line.
