What the DPR military think and say near Volnovakha
In the Donbas, the armed forces of the DPR and LPR continue to occupy settlements that have been under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a long time. Correspondent of "Gazeta.Ru" visited Bugas - one of such settlements - and talked with the DPR military taking part in the fighting in the Volnovakha direction.
Before the occupation of Volnovakha, the demarcation line passed through Dokuchaevsk - the city belonged to the DPR and was closely adjacent to the front, and its outskirts were regularly under fire. In February, during the escalation, shells flew into the city center. However, in the last few days, when the front line has advanced further, there has been a lull.
However, the surviving destruction still reminds of arrivals and exacerbation. So, a Grad shell punched a hole in a school classroom. Windows are still broken here, school desks and chairs are piled up in a corner, beaded crafts, notebooks and textbooks are covered with a layer of dust - judging by the books lying on the floor, it was a literature room.
School in Dokuchaevsk
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
"Since the 20th of February, massive shelling has hit the city, there has been more damage than in previous years. During this period, 215 socially significant objects were destroyed - boiler houses, apartment and private houses, a school. Now the front line has shifted and it has become relatively safe in the city," he told the newspaper.Ru" head of the administration of Dokuchaevsk Alexander Kochanov.
There is no electricity, water, shops do not work here, and the delivery of food, medicines, coal, children's goods is carried out centrally by the forces of the People's militia of the DPR.
Civilians with humanitarian aid in the village of Bugas
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
The village does not look peaceful yet: the sounds of fighting are clearly audible in it, and residents are trying once again not to show themselves on the street. The fact that people live here is evidenced by the smoke coming from the chimneys, and rare passers-by carrying bags of coal and boxes of humanitarian aid through the muddy March mud to the sounds of cannonade.
Nevertheless, the DPR military, with whom we managed to communicate, are encouraged.
His family is waiting for him at home, his son, to whom the Ukrainian special services sent a false SMS message about the death of his father. Irtysh was considered dead for two days, until he managed to call his grieving relatives.
A fighter of the DPR army with the call sign "Irtysh"
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
Artakh (the Greek word meaning comrade) is also a volunteer, as they say in the Donbass, of the "first wave". His house is still on the other side of the front, behind Volnovakha. "I really want to return home after the war. This is the main goal for me," says Artakh.
Fighters Palych, Mark, Samara and Bely are still very young people, but they already have serious military experience. We communicate with them near the stove-bourgeoisie. They make tea, treat coffee with condensed milk. Some of them, such as, for example, Kharkiv resident Samara, returned to service on mobilization in the DPR after a break, as soon as it became clear that military operations were entering an acute phase.
"When I realized that there would be an escalation at the front, I immediately returned to my unit, to my commander," he says.
Soldiers of the DPR army with the call sign "Samara" (right) and Odessa Vladislav Dolgosheya (left)
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
He says that he used to dream of returning to his native Kharkiv, and now he is thinking of staying in the Donbass. This was also said by his comrade Vladislav Dolgosheya, a former prisoner of war from Odessa, exchanged at the end of 2019. He and his father in Ukraine were accused of preparing sabotage. He himself says that he was detained because "he did not agree with the policy of official Kiev."
Mark believes that the republics of Donbass tried to negotiate with Kiev.
A fighter of the DPR army with the call sign "Mark"
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
"We have been patiently and carefully promoting the diplomatic agenda for a long time, trying to resolve the conflict through negotiations, concessions, but our opponents did not go for it, pushing the situation to open conflict in every possible way. We didn't want this, but it became inevitable," the young man said.
Kirill Vorobyov with the call sign Old was a simple worker from Novosibirsk when he decided to come to the Donbass in July 2014. Then, like Fidel Castro, he promised himself not to shave his beard until victory ("and when you walk on the green, your face does not shine like that"), and now he thinks that his relatives will not recognize him - he has changed so much.
A fighter of the DPR army with the call sign "Old"
Image source: Kristina Melnikova
"When back in 2014 I went online and saw in the news that aviation was bombing Slavyansk, I had no other choice. If the Ukrainian government believed that Donbass was their territory and their people lived here, then what right did they have to turn their troops against this people? Having made such a decision, the Ukrainian authorities renounced Donbass. They don't care what's going on here. Both before and now," he said.
Kristina Melnikova