This archive report was first published on 3 November 2019.
On November 3, 2019, a fragile peace process was underway in eastern Ukraine's Lugansk region, where Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists had agreed to pull back their soldiers and hardware.
The pullback was part of a process toward peace announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky following his election in April 2019.
Locals in the village of Katerynivka, which sits close to the line of contact between the warring sides, expressed cautious optimism about the pullback.
'Here, we all dream of the peace that Vovochka promised us, that everything would be as before,' said 67-year-old Valentyna Reznyk, using a diminutive form for the 41-year-old Ukrainian leader's first name.
However, not everyone in Ukraine was relieved. Nationalist militia groups accused Zelensky of surrendering Ukrainian land to Russia, and the far-right National Corps had sent men to the area to 'observe the disengagement' and 'protect' civilians.
Some 40 men from the National Corps were deployed in Zolote, a few kilometres from Katerynivka, to monitor the situation.
Residents of Katerynivka, a typical settlement with many residents retired or working in the coal mining industry, were eager for the shooting to stop.
'I don't think we're surrendering territories (to separatist control),' said Oleksiy, a 53-year-old miner. 'Being realistic, we just want the shooting to stop.'
Since the pullout process started a few days ago, 'it's gotten quieter', he added.
However, the struggling state-owned coal mine had stopped paying salaries four months ago, deepening the economic misery in the region.
Ukrainian soldiers, some wearing 'Ukraine or death' patches, were moving to new positions several hundred metres from the traditional ones.
They confirmed that the shooting has practically stopped in recent days, but remained on their guard.
