War in Ukraine: after a year of conflict, the striking contrast between the west and the east of the country

A year ago to the day, these images of despair abounded from kyiv, the Ukrainian capital which had become the target of one of the most powerful armies in the world. Families were rushing to fill car trunks to the brim to escape the Russian invasion as quickly as possible. A year after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, ordered by Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Tonev, the special envoy of Europe 1 on the spot, evokes the “totally strange dichotomy” between the west and the east of the country, where have been concentrating the fighting for several months, particularly in the Donbass.

In Lviv and kyiv, “there is life in the evening”

“In Lviv, very close to the Polish border, restaurants and shops are open. There is life in the evening,” he says. And describes a similar reality in kyiv, the capital. “There too you have an evening life and a lot of traffic”. Some details nevertheless remind the inhabitants of the reality of the conflict. “What marks the fact that we are at war is that the electricity is supplied via generators”, notes Nicolas Tonev.

In the east of the country, on the other hand, the gradual return to life before is only a distant chimera. “As soon as you pass Poltava, a city of about 300,000 inhabitants located 300 kilometers east of Kiev, you really start to feel that you are in a country at war. There are many more vehicles soldiers on the roads, much more stress”, testifies our special correspondent.

In the Donbass, “we regularly hear explosions in the background”

A particularly palpable atmosphere in the Donbass where the reality of war is immediately apparent. “There, we can say goodbye to life in the evening, we can say goodbye to illuminated windows and we regularly hear explosions in the background. And there, we understand that we are really in the war”.

This two-faced Ukraine gives a “very, very strange” feeling, according to our reporter who nevertheless wishes to qualify the relative tranquility observable in the west. “That does not mean that Lviv and kyiv are immune. Cities can also take missiles,” he says. Nevertheless, the daily life of Ukrainians in the western part of the country “has nothing to do with what people experience in the Donbass”.