Live, Donbass!

No wildest fantasy could possibly predict what became reality for Donbass. A monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, shattered by artillery of a new war—the previous one, after which, it seemed, there would never be a next. “Entry with weapons prohibited” on the doors of the Art Museum, and the operating Children’s Railway just 30 minutes from the line of separation. Real science fiction is Donbass’s everyday life: a stubborn farmer from Stratonavtov Street, for the fourth time, rebuilding a fence destroyed by artillery; in a town near the front, a cosplay festival is held; Opera tickets are sold two months ahead. A symbol of the resilience of besieged Leningrad—the famous trams that were put back into service in the seventh month of the blockade—here also became powerful psychological support for the residents.

And the City fights its own way—with illumination, clean streets, live music…