Home in My Heart

by Arina Limarieva

When I was 5, I had lived my whole life in Luhansk, Ukraine. Then, in April 2014, Russia  invaded Luhansk and another nearby region, Donetsk. Russia declared them independent states and renamed them Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.   These name changes are part of how the Russian government tries to erase the Ukrainian identities of people who live there.