more than his assigned quota. On 19 September Stakhanov is credited with setting a new record by mining 227 tonnes in the space of one shiſt. He was hailed in the mass media as a model for others and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Kadiyivka, understandably, is now called Stakhanov.

Ukraine became independent in 1991, and the bubble burst. Condi- tions rapidly deteriorated as post- Soviet industrial output fell. But the social infrastructure and the very survival of Donbas still depend on its heavy industry, handicapped by technology and attitudes inherited from the Soviet era as its traditional markets collapsed. Donetsk still lives by steel and coal, as no visitor could doubt. Once settled in your hotel, if you open the window you quickly shut it again, settling for a stuffy at- mosphere and the inevitable head- ache rather than the stream of sour air which pours in from outside.

A giant statue of a miner holding a lump of coal greets you as you en- ter the city, its emblem is a miner’s

8

Gross National Income (GNI) per capita

in current US dollars

2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

Belarus Ukraine

Moldova

1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 0

Note: Purchasing Power Parity method.

Source: World Bank. Development Indicators database

Produced by Zoi Environment Network, January 2011

hammer, and its beloved soccer teams are the FC Shaktar (the Min- ers) Donetsk and FC Metalurh (the Metallurgists) Donetsk. Football, incidentally, is the way to many a Ukrainian heart. Donetsk, together with several other cities in Ukraine and Poland, is the host of Euro 2012 (the UEFA European Football Championship).