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Introducing Donetsk
Making international headlines only with fatal mine collapses or explosions, or when it’s threatening to secede from Ukraine, the capital of the coal-rich Donbas (Donetsky Basin) region sounds miserable. So it’s a surprise to arrive in its Soviet environs to find that, despite the sci-fi sounding terakony (slag heaps) dotted around, it even won a Unesco award once for its relative cleanliness. Equally surprising, the people here seem friendlier and the drivers less arrogant than in Kyiv.
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The secret is that, as in Dnipropetrovsk, local oligarchs have injected funds into the centre. Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, is based here and the talk of the town is the brand-new $200 million stadium he has built for Dynamo Kyiv’s main football rival, Shakhtar Donetsk.
That aside, there’s almost nothing to lure the casual visitor, but if you’ve always wanted to visit a mine, now’s your chance.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
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