On July 4 last year, the family of three was hit by war, in the literal sense. What was probably a rocket hit a market about a hundred meters from their block of flats. Splinters from the explosion broke the windows in the two-room flat and drilled into the plasterboard in several places in the living room. No one was killed or injured. But life is still marked by the incident. That’s why we report from Russian-occupied Ukraine There is great journalistic value in documenting the situation on the Russian-occupied side, for example how they carry out their policy of making the Ukrainian areas more Russian. It is news’s mission to cover conflicts from several perspectives. We focus our attention particularly on the civilian population in war and conflict, and it is important to see how people here too live and suffer in this war. We must be open about the conditions under which we work. There is no freedom of the press in the Russian-occupied territories. We therefore take reservations in our reporting. On this reporting trip, we apparently moved freely, but we must assume that the authorities were watching us. news has had a continuous presence in the Ukrainian-controlled areas of Ukraine since before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. We now have a permanent correspondent based in Kyiv. The reporting trip to Russian-occupied Ukraine was carried out by news’s Russia correspondent, who is based in Moscow. Sigurd Falkenberg MikkelsenForeign editor Because it’s cold in Donetsk city when winter comes. It is often windy. Mother Valentina says that they do not have the money to put in new window panes. To keep the weather and wind out, they have nailed up a cardboard sheet and covered it with an orange roller blind. Son Daniil (11) never meets fellow pupils or teachers. He sits in the living room and reads. Next to it is a framed portrait of him, with the corner missing. It was also hit by shrapnel. There was no one in the living room when the splinters hit the wall. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news Dreaming of becoming a soldier – I wish I could meet my teachers, says Daniil to news. But the 11-year-old lives in a district that is often hit by artillery, and it is too dangerous to go to school. Daniil (11) misses being at school with teachers and fellow students. Photo: Yuriy Linkevich / news The Ukrainian government forces have positions west and north of Donetsk city, and the city is attacked at irregular intervals. It is the administrative center of the county with the same name. Since April 2014, Donetsk has been under the control of Russian-backed separatists under the name “People’s Republic of Donetsk”. It has been a long time since children’s feet have trodden the grass at school number 56. It is closed for safety reasons, and all teaching takes place via the internet. Photo: Gro Holm / news Last autumn, Donetsk and three other Ukrainian counties were forcibly incorporated into Russia. While news was in Donetsk this autumn, Russian forces started an offensive to crush the Ukrainian positions in Avdijivka, around ten kilometers north of the city. Sometimes heavy artillery fire could be heard for a long time, almost without breaks. What kind of future dreams do the children who grow up here have? – I want to start military school after ninth grade, says Daniil. – Do you want to become a soldier? – Yes, I really want that. It is lonely for an 11-year-old when the classroom and the playground are replaced by the sofa in the living room around the clock. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news Daniil calmly answers the questions about his plans for life, while his mother stands in a corner and listens to the conversation. She smiles appreciatively, but says nothing. Claim against claim When the Ukraine-loyal newspaper Ukrainskaja Pravda wrote about the bombing of the market in Donetsk last year, they did not mention who was behind it. The regime-loyal Russian news service Ria Novosti reported that parts had been found that showed that artillery with “Nato caliber” 155 mm had been used. Understood: it was the Ukrainians who shot. Before July 4 last year, this was part of a fairly large market near the central railway station in Donetsk. Most of the sales stalls both inside and outside were completely destroyed in the fire that occurred. Photo: Gro Holm / news news can neither confirm nor deny the claim that Ukrainian forces were behind this particular incident. This is the case with many of the attacks that hit the civilian population. Often it is a claim against a claim. Valentina packed the rucksack and the man would have liked to have taken his son with him and gone somewhere further away from the front. By the front door, a rucksack is ready with all important documents packed, should the attacks become too intense. – This morning we heard rockets from five o’clock. But where were we supposed to go, says Valentina in despair. She and her husband have obtained Russian passports, but say that they barely have money for food. They have neither the resources nor the contacts to be able to re-establish themselves in Russia. A new, modern railway station was completed for the football European Championship in 2012. Some of the matches were played in Donetsk. It has been a long time since there have been trains from here. Those who want to go must bet on a car from Donetsk. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news The family collects rainwater and collects water in parts of the city that still have water for a few hours of the day. Donetsk city now gets its water from the Russian side of the border. A pipeline from Rostov County provides water for a few hours every other day. It has been like this since last spring. Many have left Many have left from the most exposed districts. We visited a four-storey block of flats that was hit in February last year. Three people died, several of the neighbors say. One of them lives next door to the gaping hole of a home that is gone. This block was hit in February this year. There are no street battles in Donetsk city, but Ukrainian positions are only a few kilometers outside the city in the north and west. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news A tired man appears at the door when we knock. I ask what it is like to live with only a thin inner wall between you and the abyss. He doesn’t get angry, just can’t bear to answer. There is no one else in the building who answers when we knock. In many of the mailboxes there is an older circular, testifying that there is no one left to collect the mail. Out on the street we meet Svetlana from the neighboring block. – Whether many Ukrainians have left? Which Ukrainians? Russians live here, this is Russian land, she says rather aggressively. Svetlana lives in a block directly across the street from the block that was hit. She seems more angry than scared. Photo: Jurij Linkevitsj / news – War is war. And those fascists, they must be killed, she adds. There is no doubt that it is the president of Ukraine and his soldiers that she is referring to. The words are the same as those used in Russian propaganda.
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– This morning we heard rockets from five o’clock – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
