Two flags fly from the grave-the blue-and-yellow national flag alongside the red-and-black standard of Ukrainian nationalists, dating back to their guerrilla war against Soviet forces in the 1940s. Stepan’s grave is adorned with flowers and embroidered linen, as well as a pysanka egg and paska cake brought by his mother over the Orthodox Easter period. It is most glaring in Bystrets’s churchyard. Step behind the closed doors of Ukraine’s deep homefront, and the devastating impact of the distant war becomes clear.Ĭhildren, one wearing camouflage clothing, walk from door to door with an Easter basket collecting candy from neighbors in Bystrets, Ukraine.Ĭhildren, one wearing camouflage clothing, walk from door to door with an Easter basket collecting candy from neighbors in Bystrets on April 15. They’ve avoided Russian missile attacks, so far. They’re Hutsuls, and they are highlanders-tough, fiercely independent, and renowned for their traditional dress. Cowbells and birdsong, not the thunder of artillery, are what catch the ear.
Cottages and haystacks, not Soviet-era apartment blocks, catch the eye. Rather than the flat, war-torn steppe of the Donbas, she lives among snowcapped mountains and steep wooded slopes. Fourteen months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the epicenter of fighting lies in the eastern town of Bakhmut, more than 700 miles from Potiak’s sleepy mountain village. War couldn’t feel further from this peaceful, pastoral setting. It has been unworn since the death of Stepan while fighting Russian forces.
The Potiak family’s traditional Hutsul dress hangs in their upstairs hallway on April 18.
The Potiak family's traditional Hutsul dress hangs from antlers in their upstairs hallway in Ukraine. Potiak prepares for Orthodox Easter breakfast with her family on April 16, with a shrine to her late son, Stepan, in the background. Hanna Potiak prepares a table for Orthodox Easter breakfast with her family on April 16 with the shrine to her late son Stepan, killed in Russia's war on Ukraine, in the background.
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