On a sunny afternoon this week the beach in the frontline Ukrainian city of Sloviansk was busy. Bathers paddled in a lake, sunbathed and sipped tea. At 3.30pm there was a sudden thunderclap. An artillery shell had crashed nearby, sending up a plume of twisting grey smoke. Ducks took off in panic. The swimmers glanced nonchalantly upwards and carried on bobbing in the salty water.
“After three years of fighting we’ve got used to booms. They don’t bother us any more,” Alyona, a pensioner in a swimsuit, explained. She pointed to a concrete box beyond a row of wooden changing cabins and outdoor showers. “If the bombs are close we’ve got a shelter,” she said. Alyona and her friend waded into the shallows. A man selling grapes sat engrossed reading a book.
