Dozens of people relax on a beach. Calm waters with high salt content. Therapeutic mud baths. Sun that warms, but does not scorch. Children’s races between colored floats. Mothers forgetting about the world in a supine position on their towels… and, from behind, the roar of the engines of a convoy with several military vehicles. This caravan breaks the scene, almost idyllic, of this Sloviansk lake (whose name means city of salt) and reminds that, about twenty kilometers away, are the trenches where Russians and Ukrainians fight.
“Yesterday we managed to escape from hell”, exclaims a young soldier with a bare chest and almost in a festive tone. He sports a bullet and a Cossack tattooed on his chest where he reads “for Ukraine, for his freedom.” He appears surrounded by several comrades, all from the kyiv region. Some still wear the swimsuit. Others have already returned to the green suit after enjoying a leisure afternoon in this area of the Donetsk region.
A stall to make temporary tattoos, a cafeteria, two massage tables, umbrellas, rental loungers and, in between, groups of uniformed men who approach the water, undress and, some even in their underpants, dive. Mikola, 56 years old and originally from the city of Lutsk, is one of the oldest in the place. He acknowledges that he began to fight in 2015, at the beginning of the war in this eastern region of Ukraine, and that, now, he no longer accompanies his former companions as before due to age. “I’m a little old now, but I’m still protecting my country,” he clarifies as, wearing a khaki shirt and camouflage pants, he waits for some of his colleagues to finish dressing on the sand.
This lake scene would not be at all Martian if it took place anywhere else, but the shock is a brutal contrast for someone, like this reporter, who has just left Chasiv Yar, at the gates of Bakhmut’s hell. It is enough to take a walk through the spa and dig a little among those who hang out on the shore to understand that this relaxation is another way of survival.
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“Here, in this particular place, no bombs have ever fallen,” Viktor, a 71-year-old retiree, clarifies in a reassuring tone, while sitting on the bottom, smearing his joints with mud. More than the possible insecurity, that is his main concern, that of massaging himself with the black earth that he tears from the bed with his hands. “I have been coming to treat myself very frequently for the last 10 years. If you come little it doesn’t work. I try to come 10 days in a row and then I rest ”, he details. Nothing is left behind: wrists, elbows, knees, shoulders… “This mud has many mineral properties,” he points out.
Sloviansk was occupied by pro-Russian forces nine years ago and three months later, in July 2014, recaptured by the kyiv authorities. But in all this time, despite the serenity that Viktor appears in his mud bath, he has not stopped being threatened and bombarded. Since the great Russian invasion launched in February 2022, Sloviansk and neighboring Kramatorsk have been a priority target for the invaders. Today, both are militarized cities that endure in the hands of the local army, despite the fact that at the end of May Bakhmut, some 40 kilometers away, fell into Russian hands after 10 months of bloody battle.
“It is very difficult for the body and mind to be in a perpetual state of alert,” says Amparo Villasmil, head of mental health for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Ukraine. This Venezuelan psychologist understands that these visits to the lake mean a way not to deny war or danger, but rather a manifest need to survive, a self-defense mechanism in the face of adversity. In the parking lot, the hood of a Lada car serves to support the glasses, the beer and some clothes from another group that, before concluding the day of enjoyment, ask to be photographed together as a souvenir. They affirm that they have come to take a bath directly from their positions, as if implying that there is something good about the location so close to the lake.
“You can go crazy without pleasures like this,” says Oleg, a 42-year-old member of the Special Forces who is looking forward to a new mission. Some crumbs from the kebab that he eats slide down his chest on the rosary that he wears next to a medal of the Virgin and the plate with the blood group. “This serves to reduce psychological tension, it gives you a feeling of relief,” he thanks.
According to the experience of Villasmil, who arrived in Ukraine last January, these communities that are 20 or 25 kilometers from the front claim the “desire to be able to make something of life around that reality: traditions, walks, meeting friends, activities with children… it is also a way of supporting oneself in the group, in that community. Resuming all these activities helps to mitigate the impact (of the war), which is still there and we cannot deny it”. They are, he adds, moments that help them deal with post-traumatic stress and anxiety.
Viktor, the retiree, says that this lake on the outskirts of the city of Sloviansk is the only one with all the services, cafes and kiosks accessible to the population. “There is another one beyond, but it is private and you have to pay. This is municipal and the facilities have improved a lot since 2018. In addition, it is good for children because it is shallow, ”he adds while raising his hands where the water level barely reaches half a meter. “Some people take the mud home in bags or cans, especially those that come from outside. There are other similar places, but they are in areas occupied by the Russians.” The slight movement of the retiree’s hands draws waves on the surface on which is reflected a salt factory that rises with a large chimney behind it.
“Human beings end up adapting, for better and for worse, in the midst of everyday life. Maintaining permanent alert is very hard and we need spaces or moments of relaxation. You have to be able to disconnect in the midst of the threat, the missiles, the alarms…”, explains the MSF psychologist. “We all have some fear, but not as much as last year. If I have to run, I have my bike”, resolves Viktor. Behind, a few dozen meters away, shine the domes of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, witness to this haven of peace at the gates of the war front.
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