Petro and Natalia Hotsaliuk live in Donetsk, the region with wealth in the earth that everyone wants. Vladimir Putin already occupies 75 percent and fights hard to take more. Donald Trump shows interest in all the mineral resources of the mining county. For Ukraine, this is the country’s most populous region where almost 84 percent voted for independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, an obvious part of the democratic, free, Ukraine.
– I was born here in the area. My two daughters are born here and my three grandchildren. My mother is buried here.
This is my country, says Natalia.
Grows despite explosions some miles away
It is self -catering that applies to Natalia and Petro. They grow onions, tomatoes, peppers and tobacco. Petro cares to the tobacco tenderly in his greenhouse. The explosions of war a few miles away is a daily reminder of the region’s vulnerability. Donetsk county is the epicenter for the fighting where the Russians advance ever closer every day.
– We hope for peace, that everything will be good. We want so and harvest and survive as best we can, says Petro.
– Everyone is scared. I planted, got up and went, says Natalia.
Believe that the war is over soon
TV4 The News Team also meets the couple’s neighbor Serhiy Lytvynov who is filled with anger, anxiety and sadness.
– They killed my nephew in Dobropillia. It’s such madness. I find no words. It feels uncomfortable and I feel the heart. And so it’s the war … I have some anxiety too, he says.
The team also meets a soldier who believes in some form of negotiations soon.
– The situation is very bad. I think the war is soon over. There is some kind of conflict stop. We are all exhausted now. The Donetsk region, Luhansk and Crimea belong to Ukraine, says Andriy.
Natalia Hotsaliuk will not stop living her life.
– The country must bear fruit and we have to plant. It will bear fruit. We can’t abandon it, so we sow.
This is my country. This is Ukraine. It has always been and will be Ukraine, she says.