I have been to Zaporozhiye in the 1980s. It was no different than Donbas.
Hahahaha! So you’re a communist survivor then, the kind of misty eyed old dude that cried into his borscht when the Berlin Wall fell.
I was in England in the 80s. It was conservative, had no Internet, had limited cable TV, and everyone seemed terrified that AIDS would kill them if Russian nukes didn’t. I had Yorkshire coal miners in the family. My dad was a union official in an industry that no longer exists.
The campest, gayest comedian cross dresser on British television was a favourite of Maggie Thatcher, and he got to say “let’s bomb russia” at the Tory conference.
I got a taste of Czechoslovakia before the amicable divorce. Both countries have changed a lot since.
The past is another country, tovarisch.