It’s midday in the frontline town of Siversk, eastern Ukraine. On a street corner, Olha is standing in a midi dress with short lace sleeves waiting for a bread delivery. Her purple nail polish matches with the pink eyeshadow framing her green eyes. “I like to dress up,” the 78-year-old former council woman and retired teacher says. She points to the chipped color on her manicured nails, adding: “The problem is that scissors are blunted and don’t work well anymore.
Purple, yellow and red waist-high flowers line the pathways between the inhabited buildings. Makeshift stoves and laundry lines in overgrown front yards are the few indications of life inside. Palm-sized solar panels are strewn over tree branches and benches. Seventy-year-old Nina now grows herbs, onions and potatoes in her front yard. “We are waiting for that day, that minute when the war ends,” she says.