Donetsk: ‘Did they come to an agreement?’ Sergey, my driver, asked anxiously as soon as I got into the car at 8 a.m. on Thursday. We had several hours of driving ahead of us so I read aloud from my Twitter feed to him during the trip. ‘Looks like they did … oh, wait … they went back. Proposed terms are not acceptable, Poroshenko says.’ Sergey’s face fell. He crossed himself, swore out loud, then apologised. ‘I just want this to be over. Can’t they have some vodka in Minsk, shake hands and stop doing this to the people?’
By the time we reached our destination, the agreement was reached and the peace deal signed. Some people I spoke with by phone in Donetsk on Sunday said they were thrilled to wake up in the morning and not to hear the booming of shells. But whether and how long the ceasifire will hold is a different question.
Daily life
In the meantime, residents of Donetsk and other conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine have been hiding from daily shelling and rocket attacks in basements and outdated bomb shelters, and starting their day by calling relatives and friends to find out if they made it through the night. Fighting has damaged or destroyed many houses, apartment buildings, schools and medical facilities, some of which have stopped operating.
