Our train, heading from Kyiv to Simferopol, has already been stopped for an hour and a half at Melitopol railway station. The passengers mix in a sleeper-car, watching the Ukrainian border guards through the windows. We can see that the conductor gets nervous when we ask “When will the train finally leave?”.

My fellow travellers are a teacher from a music school in Simferopol – Yelena; and Oleg – a former soldier.