When a Russian soldier appeared outside 98-year-old Lidiia Lomikovska’s shattered home in eastern Ukraine in late April, the first thing he did was shoot and kill the family dog. “What have you done?” her daughter-in-law, Olha, 66, shouted at the Russian. “He was protecting me.”“Now, I will protect you,” he told her, Olha recalled in an interview. Ms. Lomikovska — who lived through a famine orchestrated by Stalin that killed millions in the 1930s and the German occupation of her town, Ocheretyne, during World War II — said she did not know why her life has been bracketed by sorrow. But when war once again arrived at her doorstep, she knew she did not want to live under the “protection” of Russia.

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Persons: Lomikovska’s, ”, Olha, Lomikovska —, Stalin, — Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Ocheretyne, Russia