A checkpoint marks the edge of the Grey Zone, around 30 kilometres from the frontline. From this point onward, the area is in range of artillery.

The separatism affair began in May 2014, several weeks after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, and months after Ukraine’s pro-European Maidan revolution.

A separatist radio broadcast blares out in a house near the mine, which the locals say is owned by a former officer of the Ukrainian intelligence service SBU.

Today, only one broadcasting tower in the region is still under Ukrainian control, with the rest in separatist-controlled territory.

“Ukrainian channels have their own information,” says Natasha, a local librarian who didn’t want to give her last name.

Following the election, Zolote became a critical juncture in the push for peace by Poroshenko’s successor, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the end, says the elderly lady to Lasovna, “we’re such a Grey Zone here”.

Pabaiga