When do you realise that your city doesn’t belong to you anymore? This is a question I began asking myself several years ago, after I spoke to a historian from my hometown, Severodonetsk.
Is it when people you have known for 30 years leave for good? When you are getting older and start thinking who will bury you when you die?
As I write this, in mid-July 2022, nobody I know is still living in Severodonetsk, a city in Ukraine’s eastern region of Luhansk. At least, nobody I keep in touch with; nearly everyone has left. Only around 10,000 people remain, the regional authorities say, down from a pre-war population of just over 100,000. Most of the houses are ruined or damaged. No buildings, no people.
