0:00:00 > 0:00:06Now on BBC News, it's Our World.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19The ball in eastern Ukraine, more than 10,000 people have died. Now
0:00:19 > 0:00:24this has become one of the longest conflicts in modern European
0:00:24 > 0:00:25history.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40There is no end in sight to the her still tears after separatist rebels
0:00:40 > 0:00:47backed by Russia took over Ukraine's Donbass region. Hundreds of families
0:00:47 > 0:00:53were split up, stranded on opposite sides of the border.
0:00:59 > 0:01:10With destruction all around, one familiar smell of peace time. But
0:01:10 > 0:01:19life to many here is anything but normal. I Lucy Ash and I in the town
0:01:19 > 0:01:26of Maryinka, were a bakery is providing hope that missed the
0:01:26 > 0:01:31trauma of war. -- among.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51Maryinka lies on the Ukrainian side of the frontline. Before the
0:01:51 > 0:01:55conflict, nearly 10,000 people lived here. There is only half that number
0:01:55 > 0:02:03now. Factories and coal mines have come to a standstill, in a war zone,
0:02:03 > 0:02:08jobs are hard to find. But for those trapped here, daily life must
0:02:08 > 0:02:21somehow won. -- go on. I have come to meet a local pastor who, against
0:02:21 > 0:02:26the odds, has started a small business here.
0:02:33 > 0:02:40He converted this old supermarket, damaged in the fighting, into a
0:02:40 > 0:02:43working bakery.
0:02:55 > 0:03:03The bakery is Maryinka's first new business seemed the war began. He
0:03:03 > 0:03:10produces fresh bread at affordable prices. Olga has lived in the town
0:03:10 > 0:03:17for 30 years, ever since she and husband were evacuated from the
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29This war has separated her on her children and grandchildren.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Older's home in Maryinka was badly damaged by shelling. She had her
0:04:15 > 0:04:22husband camp out in a home log into a family which has fled. She pines
0:04:22 > 0:04:32for her old life. She was very, very proud of the house and garden. She
0:04:32 > 0:04:35wants to show me pictures.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56Her children and grandchildren live in an area controlled by the
0:04:56 > 0:05:01breakaway Donetsk People's Republic and you need special permission to
0:05:01 > 0:05:03go there.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55The conflict in eastern Ukraine was sparked by a demonstrations in Kiev
0:05:55 > 0:06:01in the winter of 2013 which ousted the pro- Moscow President, soon
0:06:01 > 0:06:06after the Russian takeover of Crimea, Russian backed rebels then
0:06:06 > 0:06:12seized territory around the eastern city of Donetsk and declared the
0:06:12 > 0:06:22breakaway republics. Maryinka, just 30 kilometres from Donetsk found it
0:06:22 > 0:06:36self in a war zone. At the beginning of the conflict, it was captured by
0:06:36 > 0:06:43the DNR forces and retaken by the Ukrainian army for months later. The
0:06:43 > 0:06:49frontline runs north-east of Maryinka's Centre. Queues across to
0:06:49 > 0:06:54the other side could last hours, even days. This effect the border
0:06:54 > 0:06:57has divided families and created deep reefs between former
0:06:57 > 0:07:04neighbours. The divisions here in Maryinka are really quite
0:07:04 > 0:07:10complicated. These labels, up pro-Russian, pro- Ukrainian, don't
0:07:10 > 0:07:14really mean very much. People anyway are scared to say which side they
0:07:14 > 0:07:18actually support and, above all else, they want what is best for
0:07:18 > 0:07:23them and their families. They want peace to return to the town and the
0:07:23 > 0:07:26fighting to stop. Bread is subsidised to cover costs, the
0:07:26 > 0:07:31bakery has to make a small profit.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45The pastors started the bakery in 2016. They realise needed physical
0:07:45 > 0:07:58as well as spiritual sustenance. Now he spends his days in Maryinka but
0:07:58 > 0:08:05it might he goes home to a town safely away from the frontline. He
0:08:05 > 0:08:09does not hide where his political sympathies lie. He takes it to meet
0:08:09 > 0:08:11his family.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25He was once a successful businessman in Donetsk, now in rebel held
0:08:25 > 0:08:31territory. He sought solace in the church after his daughter died in a
0:08:31 > 0:08:35car crash before the war. Today he dedicates his life to help
0:10:00 > 0:10:07They prop in bread from other towns but it arrived sale and cold so he
0:10:07 > 0:10:11got the idea for the bakery. It opened with the help from foreign
0:10:11 > 0:10:17aid, $10,000 camera which has a large Ukrainian diaspora and flower
0:10:17 > 0:10:26from the Czech Republic. -- $10,000 from Canada
0:10:26 > 0:10:28from the Czech Republic. -- $10,000 from Canada.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50The bakery employs seven people. On the night's shift, three work flat
0:10:50 > 0:11:03out to produce another bread, Barnes and biscuits for the next day. --
0:11:03 > 0:11:13buns. It is just past 11 o'clock and they are waiting for the bread to
0:11:13 > 0:11:17rise by the time I have been here we have already had gunfire and shells
0:11:17 > 0:11:22go. She is telling me it is very normal and it happens most nights
0:11:22 > 0:11:29they are here. Natasha had a job ad bakery in town if what it was hit by
0:11:29 > 0:11:33a Shell. The bakery here is a haven from the fighting which usually
0:11:33 > 0:11:38kicks off at dusk. The women stay here until morning because it is too
0:11:38 > 0:11:43dangerous to travel home at night. They both live in the so-called red
0:11:43 > 0:11:48zone, in a neighbourhood right eye the frontline. Tanja lives with her
0:11:48 > 0:11:51husband and teenage son.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Olga has mixed feeling about the Ukrainian Army's presence in the
0:12:56 > 0:12:57town.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Many here don't know who to believe and a lack of information deepens
0:13:21 > 0:13:28the distrust. Locals mostly watch Russian TV which has a much stronger
0:13:28 > 0:13:32signal than the Ukrainian channels.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48We are going to the place where the Ukrainian Army is positioned just on
0:13:48 > 0:13:52the outskirts of Marinka. Apparently there was in trouble their last
0:13:52 > 0:14:03night, quite a lot of shelling, but it is quiet today. Morale is low
0:14:03 > 0:14:06even though these troops only arrived in the new rotation a few
0:14:06 > 0:14:12weeks ago. Many suspect the war is being driven by profit and
0:14:12 > 0:14:18corruption but they don't want to say that on camera. A singer officer
0:14:18 > 0:14:22talks of men in the shadows and smuggling networks for weapons, coal
0:14:22 > 0:14:37and oil. Use of this opportunity to introduce himself to the soldiers.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39The Ukrainian government calls this area the anti-terrorist operation
0:15:39 > 0:15:43zone and seize the land on the other side of the frontline as occupied
0:15:43 > 0:15:48territory. I'm not going to come out any further onto the roof because
0:15:48 > 0:15:51there are snipers in that direction but you can see how close the town
0:15:51 > 0:15:56is, I just heard the church bells, the bakery and the market just about
0:15:56 > 0:16:16four or 500 metres from here this really is a town the frontline. Life
0:16:16 > 0:16:20is hard, especially to the elderly in Marinka. The International Red
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Cross distributes aid such as coal but poverty and the stress of war
0:16:25 > 0:16:33create tensions between neighbours. Seemed to be I don't know about 40
0:16:33 > 0:16:37people queueing up to this registration to get winter cold. I'm
0:16:37 > 0:16:42just going to ask about it.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19Upstairs I find Lieutenant Alexander, a military man now in
0:17:19 > 0:17:23charge of Marinka. He is uncomfortable when I ask him aid is
0:17:23 > 0:17:27coming from and charities rather than the Ukrainian government.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11I've come to meet Olya the Baker. The house was hit and patched up by
0:18:11 > 0:18:14volunteers. It is right next to the checkpoint which separates Ukraine
0:18:14 > 0:18:20from no man's land. Beyond this slack heap is rebel held territory,
0:18:20 > 0:18:30but the end. -- the DNR. It has been no gas or drinking water in Marinka
0:18:30 > 0:18:37since the war began. People have always produced their own food here.
0:18:37 > 0:18:45But now it is even more important. During the worst bombing, Olya went
0:18:45 > 0:18:50down to the cellar. Her elderly father didn't make it and died after
0:18:50 > 0:18:55being injured by shattered glass.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56being injured by shattered glass.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Tanya who works with Olya at the bakery lives only a few hours at
0:20:04 > 0:20:04four
0:20:25 > 0:20:31Almost every house in Tanya's Street has been bombed or shelled at some
0:20:31 > 0:20:34point.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55A local teacher is that the bakery to pick up funds this Monday morning
0:20:55 > 0:20:58for the kindergarten.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13This building, like most in the town, was badly damaged and the
0:21:13 > 0:21:19children were evacuated.
0:21:23 > 0:21:30Now it is open again, although there are only two classes so far. There
0:21:30 > 0:21:36is no canteen here yet to the jam filled buns are a special treat.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35The war in Ukraine has slipped off the political agenda and it is
0:22:35 > 0:22:41really in the news anymore but it is far from over. It is hard to imagine
0:22:41 > 0:22:46a time when these children will be able to live in peace.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56And although the fighting now is not as bad as it has been, it is -- its
0:22:56 > 0:23:01sporadic nature means nobody knows when or where the next shell will
0:23:01 > 0:23:02land.