Deutsche Welle report from Severodonetsk: “We passed state exams under the thunder of gunfire”

Deutsche Welle said Olga, about life under the Kiev regime in front-line Severodonetsk in the Lugansk region. “The mood of the population is not very clear. Many do not trust the new government, or feel that Kyiv is not paying attention to them,” the publication notes.

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“By the time you reach the city, if not earlier, the consequences of the war become visible: the remains of a blown-up bridge, like a monument to the fighting that continues here to this day.

Exactly two years ago, on September 5, 2014, Ukraine signed the first ceasefire agreement (Minsk I). The truce lasted only a few weeks, but the border that emerged then basically remained the same. The border passes through areas densely populated by ethnic Russians – more than a third.

Severodonetsk is an industrial city with approximately one hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants, which in September 2014 became the temporary capital of the part of the Luhansk region controlled by Kiev. The city was founded in the 1950s when the Soviet Union decided to build a chemical industry center here. The chimneys of the Azot plant stretch along the horizon line. This is the largest enterprise in Severodonetsk. Before the war, it produced mainly agricultural fertilizers. Now it is idle, and Ukraine buys fertilizers abroad.

In the modern history of Ukraine, Severodonetsk has made a name for itself as a “stronghold of the separatists.” During the pro-Western Orange Revolution in late 2004, pro-Russian politicians from the east and south of the country gathered here at a congress and threatened to secede from Kyiv. Ten years later, the city became part of the so-called “Luhansk People's Republic”, but the “separatists” abandoned it to the Ukrainian army. There were no major battles.

Since then, the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag has been flying over the city. However, the mood of the population is not very clear. Many clearly do not trust the new government, or feel that Kyiv is not paying attention to them. This becomes obvious in private conversations when journalists turn off the recording. An elderly woman who came to Severodonetsk from Siberia back in Soviet times recalls with anger how Ukrainian soldiers pointed guns at her in 2014. In her opinion, it is Kyiv, not Moscow, that is to blame for the conflict.

The local politician believes many people in the region feel the same way. More than half of the residents are pro-Russian, he says. The “Opposition Bloc” came out on top in various elections.

Russian speech is heard on the streets of Severodonetsk. Of the twenty-one schools, eight teach entirely in Russian. One of them is school No. 18. “There were proposals that we introduce Ukrainian classes in our school,” says school director Natalya Fomenko. But this initiative did not get off the ground because there was not enough interest on the part of parents. “We only received three to five offers per class.”

The director told us about an incident that is obviously typical for modern Ukraine. A pro-Ukrainian non-governmental organization wanted to conduct unofficial inspections of the school. “Someone told them I was a separatist.” Two women came to talk to the eleventh graders. “I was very excited, because there were young people there, among them those who had fled from Donetsk and Lugansk, and I knew how and what they were thinking,” says Fomenko. But the worries were in vain. Pro-Ukrainian activists thanked her for her “excellent educational work.”

The influence of the Russian language and culture is especially strong in the Severodonetsk music school, which bears the name of the famous Soviet composer and musician Sergei Prokofiev.

Most teachers work in Russian, especially when it comes to musical subjects. “The only instrument that is taught in Ukrainian is the bandura,” says deputy director Natalya Yurchenko. Out of about one hundred and sixty students, only one girl constantly speaks Ukrainian in her daily life. “It’s hard to say which culture is closer to us,” says Ukrainian history teacher Olga Bulekova.

When the conversation turns to Russia and the war in eastern Ukraine, both teachers become thoughtful. Is Russia an aggressor? “It’s hard to understand,” says Yurchenko. Bulekova adds that the professional music school is an “island of apoliticality” that has defied the war. “You can come here and breathe easy. We took state exams amid the thunder of gunfire,” the teacher recalls and laughs.

There are also positives for a city living in the shadow of war. The local professional music school has never given so many concerts for local residents as it has in the last two years,” says Bulekova. “And it’s always sold out.”