By AFP | 2023-12-20

LYMAN, Ukraine -- Lyubov Ganzhela's apartment in eastern Ukraine has been taken over by snow and pigeons since it was destroyed after Russia invaded.

Now the 63-year-old is hunkering down to spend her second winter in her cozy "cell" in the basement five floors below.

The bitter cold faded as Ganzhela led AFP through windy corridors to her five-square-meter bolthole decorated with religious icons whose frames she embroidered with pearls herself.

"When the war began, I started taking some of my stuff here," said Ganzhela, who lives in the much fought over frontline city of Lyman in Donetsk province.

"My neighbours were asking me why I was going down to the basement, saying [the war] would last only two or three weeks," she recalled.

But more than 21 months later, thousands of Ukrainians living near the front line are bracing themselves for another winter of war.

Lyman was seized by Russian troops after violent combat in May 2022, and recaptured by Ukraine four months later.

During the occupation, Russian soldiers acted "normally" and distributed humanitarian aid, Ganzhela said.

"At the beginning it was very cold; water was turning into ice," she said.

She joined forces with another resident who moved with her.

Both spent the following winter underground, while Russian forces were pummelling Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions in the dark and cold.

'Everything but a flat'

"We managed to make the place warmer. So I'm no longer afraid if it's cold in the streets," she said as temperatures dropped to -2° Celsius outside.

Their tiny space was packed with a small bed, blankets, an electric heater, a desk, books, a computer, clothes and a wooden stove in case of power cuts.

Ganzhela also stocked food in other rooms of the basement and set up a small kitchen at the end of the corridor.

She showers at the nearby church.

"I'm not homeless. I've created a comfortable place for myself. I get phone coverage in my cell and internet from time to time. I have everything but a flat," she said wryly.

Clocks dotted the walls of the basement.

"I don't have a window to see what time it is outside, so I've put them everywhere," she said.

Ganzhela moved to Lyman 43 years ago to work at the train station of the small city, once a major rail hub.

But the front line stabilized a dozen kilometers away from the city.

Only 6,000 out of the original 20,000 residents still live there, and it is regularly hit by shelling.

Prepared to stay

Among those who have stayed is Lyubov Surzhan, an elegant retiree who also used to work for Lyman's railway, as assistant to the station manager.

"I often dream about my work; I used to control freight trains," she said, looking nostalgically at the tracks from the giant holes in the walls of her ruined, snow-covered flat.

Nothing remained of her home on the fifth and top floor, which she said was hit by Russian tank fire.

"My flat burnt down in May 2022. All my stuff was burned, all my clothes and all my documents; I don't have any papers left," she said.

She too moved to her building's cellar, in a room that's just over four square meters.

Her kitchen is in a corner of the basement, where two other women live.

"I sleep here; I put a mattress over three chairs. And I put some wallpaper up; it made it cozy," she said smiling.

She pointed at her well-decorated room.

In it stood an electrical heater, an addition compared to last winter.

"It's my second winter here. I won't move anywhere; I'm going to wait for my apartment to be rebuilt," said the 67-year-old.

"I will stay here as long as God wills. I think I'll live for a long time."

Ganzhela was similarly optimistic.

"I'm prepared to stay here in the basement for another five years, until my flat is repaired," she said.