First Days

An uneventful week an a half in Kiev, we spent most of our time making contacts and trying to get as much information in the east with mixed results, although it was easier to make contacts than expected our plans were changed due to a spontaneous offensive from the separatists in the east. This made the realities of spending a significant time in Donetsk to risky.

We quickly came up with an alternative plan to base ourselves in the city of Mariupol as it gave us the best of both worlds, it was only a few hours drive to Donetsk making it easily accessible however a much safer location for us to work from due to it being under complete Ukraine security forces control.

The city itself has strange atmosphere, considering the size of the city it seems to be eerily silent but there is still a feeling of unease. The shells of damaged buildings remain as a reminder of what happened only a few months before. As of yet we have seen little of the city itself we will be meeting with our translator and possible guide tomorrow to hopefully start to gain more information and begin the process of accessing Donetsk and more volatile factions involved.