Around the city.
We spent Sunday swimming in the river with the lads, they first took us to a massive supermarket full to the brim with the food. The idea that food may run out shortly seems implausible but if everyone starts stocking up due to the potential siege it is possible.
We then drove 20 minutes to the river beach. It was absolutely rammed, there were more people here than we have seen in the entire center of Donetsk, many of them separatist soldiers old and young and covered in tattoo's. It was a nice day in the sun, and again easy to forget we were in a war zone.
On the way back Elliott asked Max if this was the best beach, "No, there is a better one outside the city" after asking why we couldn't go there, "Because the soldiers will take my car." The siege declaration meant that any civilian vehicle could be confiscated for the war effort. We were then able to get the interview with all the guys in an empty park on the way back.
We returned to the hotel and went to bed after a pretty uneventful day.
The following day we learned that Alexander Boradaj, the prime minister of the Donetsk People's republic was giving a press conference, he had recently fled to Russia so his return was interesting. We packed up and along with Sandro made our way to government headquarters, also meeting up with a French Journalist, Emmanuel, who has been in Donetsk for 4 months.
After the usual bag search and passport check we made our way up to the media relations floor. Strangely the building did not seem so extreme as they had been making a big effort to tidy it and maybe we had begun to get used to it's ramshackle offices and propaganda strewn walls. When we arrived at the media relations office we were told that the press conference had been cancelled. The lady assured us that Boradaj was in Donetsk but it was cancelled for technical reasons, a likely story.
Emanuel knew of the SBU (Secret service) Headquarters where we could get our conflict press passes. We made our way to this unassuming building, with it's constant stream of soldiers and officials. After calling the Relations officer he came out with forms for us to fill in, but who knows how long this application will take.
After this we retired to a sophisticated restaurant, of course at Emanuel's request. We had a delicious meal and chatted about the situation here. Then news started coming through that Ukraine had breached the borders of the city. Frantic phone calls were made but it turned out to be misinformation spread by pro Ukrainians.
Sandro went to meet a contact on the outskirts of the city and me and Elliott retired to the hotel to sit on the balcony and listen to the bombing. Around 10 o clock a man walked past on the road below with his dog. The local strays began barking at his dog so he did what any normal dog owner would do and shot one of the strays, this is really quite a crazy situation.
We listened to British radio until the commemorative lights out for the centenary of the start of WW1 began at around 1 am our time. Just as the music started a volley of shots rang out in the night, making us realize the world hasn't changed that much in all that time, war still tears countries apart.
We then drove 20 minutes to the river beach. It was absolutely rammed, there were more people here than we have seen in the entire center of Donetsk, many of them separatist soldiers old and young and covered in tattoo's. It was a nice day in the sun, and again easy to forget we were in a war zone.
On the way back Elliott asked Max if this was the best beach, "No, there is a better one outside the city" after asking why we couldn't go there, "Because the soldiers will take my car." The siege declaration meant that any civilian vehicle could be confiscated for the war effort. We were then able to get the interview with all the guys in an empty park on the way back.
We returned to the hotel and went to bed after a pretty uneventful day.
The following day we learned that Alexander Boradaj, the prime minister of the Donetsk People's republic was giving a press conference, he had recently fled to Russia so his return was interesting. We packed up and along with Sandro made our way to government headquarters, also meeting up with a French Journalist, Emmanuel, who has been in Donetsk for 4 months.
After the usual bag search and passport check we made our way up to the media relations floor. Strangely the building did not seem so extreme as they had been making a big effort to tidy it and maybe we had begun to get used to it's ramshackle offices and propaganda strewn walls. When we arrived at the media relations office we were told that the press conference had been cancelled. The lady assured us that Boradaj was in Donetsk but it was cancelled for technical reasons, a likely story.
Emanuel knew of the SBU (Secret service) Headquarters where we could get our conflict press passes. We made our way to this unassuming building, with it's constant stream of soldiers and officials. After calling the Relations officer he came out with forms for us to fill in, but who knows how long this application will take.
After this we retired to a sophisticated restaurant, of course at Emanuel's request. We had a delicious meal and chatted about the situation here. Then news started coming through that Ukraine had breached the borders of the city. Frantic phone calls were made but it turned out to be misinformation spread by pro Ukrainians.
Sandro went to meet a contact on the outskirts of the city and me and Elliott retired to the hotel to sit on the balcony and listen to the bombing. Around 10 o clock a man walked past on the road below with his dog. The local strays began barking at his dog so he did what any normal dog owner would do and shot one of the strays, this is really quite a crazy situation.
We listened to British radio until the commemorative lights out for the centenary of the start of WW1 began at around 1 am our time. Just as the music started a volley of shots rang out in the night, making us realize the world hasn't changed that much in all that time, war still tears countries apart.
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