Ukrainians are coping stoically with Russian aggression

AS AN ICY wind rattles the windows of his office, Sergei Shapkin dips a biscuit in honey and ponders the art of survival. He is the mayor of Pavlopil, a village in eastern Ukraine. When Vladimir Putin started grabbing Ukrainian territory in February 2014, Mr Shapkin knew his village was in danger. On one side were pro-Russian separatists, armed by the Kremlin. On the other were loyalist forces. If they fought over Pavlopil, villagers would die.So Mr Shapkin, a cardigan-wearing former history teacher, talked to the men with guns. His village was of no strategic value, but it had shops. He suggested that the separatists enter in the morning, unarmed and on foot, to buy food and cigarettes. The Ukrainian army could do the same each afternoon. That way, they would not bump into each other and start shooting. It worked—there was no fighting in Pavlopil, and the locals stayed alive, apart from one whose tractor hit a mine.