Europe | City of love and war

How a front-line city became Ukraine’s romantic capital 

Just 30km from the fierce fighting in Bakhmut, Kramatorsk is adapting to wartime 

KRAMATORSK, DONETSK, UKRAINE - 2023/04/09: A soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces embraces his beloved after a long time at a train station in Kramatorsk. The railway station in Kramatorsk has already become a regular meeting place for Ukrainian soldiers and their loved ones. Despite the continuous shelling in the east of Ukraine and beyond, soldiers often find a few days, or even hours, to see their families and/or friends, meeting at the train station in Kramatorsk. (Photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images
|KRAMATORSK

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “City of love and war”

How should America lead? The Biden doctrine and its flaws

From the May 20th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

French President Macron visits the Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris

Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame

Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever

An illustration of Ursula von der Leyen bending down in front of a door. On the door is a sign that reads 'Danger! Hard right, keep locked'. In the bottom of the door is a cat flap. An arm is reaching out of the cat flap as she reaches down to take the hand.

Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right

The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term


Marine Le Pen (L) arrives at the Paris criminal courthouse for her trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds

Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets

She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics


The maths of Europe’s military black hole 

It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk

Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south 

Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale

Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats

The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare