Russia

‘It brings back a sense of belonging’: Bakhmut was destroyed by Russia – but the town lives on through its newspaper

Vpered, saved from destruction by intrepid editor Svitlana Ovcharenko, still gives hope and voice to a community in UkraineBefore Bakhmut became famous internationally as a battleground, it was known inside Ukraine for salt, sparkling wine fermented in an old alabaster mine and roses that lined its streets. That physical town is gone now, its buildings in ruins, its streets a no man’s land of makeshift cemeteries laced with mines. Russian troops destroyed it as they claimed it, inch by inch, in a slow campaign between the summers of 2022 and 2023.Ukrainian resistance turned this Donbas town…