Under bombing in eastern Ukraine and disabled by illness, an unknown painter awaits his fate

By SAMYA KULLAB
Associated Press

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — In the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, a disabled painter lies bed-ridden in an apartment, its window his only view into the changing world he can no longer comprehend. Mykola Soloviov is 88 years old and suffered a stroke 7 years ago. His landscapes of eastern Ukraine record a lost time. Last week, a Russian missile strike blew out the window that frames the scene he painted over and over again. He’s now too ill to be moved, but his wife and middle-aged son are struggling to look after him.