“If you had to vote in a referendum—whether to give Donbas to the Russians to stop the war, or refuse and continue fighting—what would you choose?” I asked my mom.

“Do you understand,” she replied, “that if we give up Donbas now, they will come and take us all? Right now, you go to the supermarket—there’s music playing, people are shopping for New Year’s dinner. Imagine all of that ending.”

And this is a woman who has been living under drones and missiles for four years already.