A day tour of Donetsk.
We spent yesterday with a group of lads that lived in Donetsk, Sasha, Max and Roman. They had agreed to show us around Donetsk and give us a bit of insight into what it was like living here. Which was great because we had found it extremely difficult to find anyone in the city willing to talk with us.
The meeting place was arranged as the Liverpool hotel, a large hotel that was now closed and unfortunately used as a garrison for separatist soldiers. Despite it being so close to our own hotel we got slightly lost and ended up at the government headquarters that we had visited the day before. To our surprise a convoy of tanks and APCs laden with separatists and garnished with the DNR flag sped down the road and began doing a circuit of the entryway to the headquarters.
The soldiers shouted and cheered until eventually, getting themselves into a fervor, they began shooting off their weapons into the sky and cheering. 50 men wildly shooting both small and large caliber weapons created an amazing amount of noise. They were travelling in a vast array of vehicles from quad bikes,APCs and large open backed trucks crammed with soldiers all shooting into the sky and cheering only meters away from where we were standing. As they were driving around the small compound we were amazed to see even the odd civilian in their cars poke AK-47's out of the windows and fire them wildly into the sky. Elliott tried to film some of this using the flip camera, however we were a little cautious as we were told we could only film the military with their permission and these guys seemed a little too trigger happy to get on the wrong side of. Although John was more concerned as to where these celebratory bullets would eventually land.
In a daze we finally found Roman and his friends who enlightened us with the news that today was a celebration of the liberation of Donetsk and so they soldiers were firing blanks before heading off to the front. We even received this official e mail from the Ministry of Information not long after:
There was a line of restored WW2 tanks and artillery used as decoration for the museum courtyard. Ominously there was a space about the size of a tank in the line up. We learnt that the rebels had managed to get this 70 year old tank running again and took it from the the museum to actually use on the front in one of their heavy Armour units. A great example of the ingenuity of the separatists to acquire more weaponry.
The meeting place was arranged as the Liverpool hotel, a large hotel that was now closed and unfortunately used as a garrison for separatist soldiers. Despite it being so close to our own hotel we got slightly lost and ended up at the government headquarters that we had visited the day before. To our surprise a convoy of tanks and APCs laden with separatists and garnished with the DNR flag sped down the road and began doing a circuit of the entryway to the headquarters.
The soldiers shouted and cheered until eventually, getting themselves into a fervor, they began shooting off their weapons into the sky and cheering. 50 men wildly shooting both small and large caliber weapons created an amazing amount of noise. They were travelling in a vast array of vehicles from quad bikes,APCs and large open backed trucks crammed with soldiers all shooting into the sky and cheering only meters away from where we were standing. As they were driving around the small compound we were amazed to see even the odd civilian in their cars poke AK-47's out of the windows and fire them wildly into the sky. Elliott tried to film some of this using the flip camera, however we were a little cautious as we were told we could only film the military with their permission and these guys seemed a little too trigger happy to get on the wrong side of. Although John was more concerned as to where these celebratory bullets would eventually land.
"В 12-30 салютом холостых выстрелов из автоматического оружия ополчение ДНР поприветствовало десантников, отправившихся в составе колонны бронетехники на боевые позиции. Министерство информации и массовых коммуникаций ДНР горячо поздравляет защитников республики с их праздником!
Militaries of Donetsk Republic have welcomed paratroopers by salute of blank shots at 12:30. After the action they went to fighting positions in a convoy.
Ministry of Information and mass Communication of Donetsk Republic warmly congratulate defenders of Republic with their feast!"
The first point of call after our introductions was to the stadium, an impressive structure built for the 2012 Euro cup. It was again completely deserted but the most surreal sight was yet to come.
In the same park complex was a War museum celebrating Ukrainian victory in WW2. There was a broad boulevard leading up to the massive structure adorned with a soviet era statue of an heroic soldier.
In the same park complex was a War museum celebrating Ukrainian victory in WW2. There was a broad boulevard leading up to the massive structure adorned with a soviet era statue of an heroic soldier.
"This is usually full of people even when there is not any football, but now no one" Roman said. The entire park was empty, it truly put into perspective how many people have either left or are too afraid to come out of their homes in this city that was once home to over 1 million people.
As we got closer to the museum, we noticed shell casings on the floor. "The soldiers have been celebrating" explained Roman. Separatist soldiers had been loosing off a few rounds only an hour or so before, in celebration, littering the floor with empty shell casings.
After Elliott was invited by Max to climb on the roof of the museum for a better view, "We can do anything now, there are no police" explained Sasha. and a few photos were taken of the lads on the tanks, the silence was broken by a wedding party joyously making their way up the Boulevard. This was another surreal site as they were the only people in that park besides us. We can only assume it is currently a cheaper time to have a wedding and is a great way to politely avoid unwanted family members! John went to ask for an interview, "We are very happy" said the bride, when asked where they were going on honeymoon the bride replied "Crimea", "In Russia" the husband added resulting everybody to break out in laughter.
We made our way to a restaurant to get some lunch so we could get to know the lads a bit better. They were all obviously pro Russian but not passionately so. They tried to deny this fact despite their beliefs being directly in line with that of the separatists. Roman was worried about finishing his studies, "Now I have one more year of study left but I can't complete, the university is closed." Max was more worried about the implications of this being a permanent republic "What will my degree be, Ukrainian or a degree from The Donetsk Peoples Republic." The latter could prove useless outside of the republic, a small factor but a significant one for these men.
As we were leaving we were approached by an undercover policeman who flashed his badge and asked for identification. Max, only having his Ukrainian driving licence, was asked by the Policeman "You are Ukrainian", "No I am from The Donetsk People's Republic." He replied. When we later asked him what would happen if he had said he was Ukrainian he replied "I would be arrested, I might Disappear."
They took us to the beautiful Pobedy park. A thin strip of finely tended land that ran for several Kilometers through the centre of the city.You could hardly tell that we were in a besieged city besides the lack of people and the silence of the evening.
We then crossed over the lake to a theme park, it was extremely strange, as despite being open there was no one at all there apart from us Roman remarked "It is like Pripyat in Chernobyl." We were all inclined to agree with him.
After spending an hour walking around the eerily deserted park we headed back along side the river. We came upon an ornate lions head at the bottom of some steps. The lads told us that this was pure from an underground reservoir and many people came here to drink it's ice cold waters. We tried the water but it was slightly metallic, the pipes may have cracked due to the bombardment letting in soil or maybe they were just a little rusty.
After leaving the riverside we followed a road past another man made lake that had a pier leading out into the middle, after traversing the steel gantry, with gaps of 3 meters and a drop into the lake below. It was exactly like India Jones.
We looked out over the lake in the beautiful evening sun, it had been a relaxing day, seeing the sights of Donetsk. This tranquility was broken as a flurry of anti aircraft fire broke out not far away, everyone cheered but this was a stark reminder of where we actually were.
We sat down to have a drink and impressed the lads with the longest words in the English language 'antidisestablishmentarianism' and a photo of a village sign in Wales with the longest name in the world. We had a good chat despite everyone cutting themselves on the notoriously sharp bottle caps from the beer here. All in all it was a nice day, it was good to see a more normal side of Donetsk and get to know some of it's inhabitants. Normal guys who just want to get on with their lives, annoyed that they can't play football because their team of 30 has only 5 remaining players and the fact that "There is no where to go, without football or bars we are now very bored".
In other news,
Donetsk is almost completely surrounded, Ukrainian forces have secured many towns and villages in the countryside surrounding the city and are looking to move to a full offensive soon. This has changed the mood of the separatists somewhat. A 'state of siege' was declared, which means any medical, food or communication supplies (Phones) can be seized for the war effort along with any cars which are deemed necessary for the fight. This has basically gives the soldiers carte blanche to seize any cars they like. We will also be keeping our I Phones hidden.
In other news,
Donetsk is almost completely surrounded, Ukrainian forces have secured many towns and villages in the countryside surrounding the city and are looking to move to a full offensive soon. This has changed the mood of the separatists somewhat. A 'state of siege' was declared, which means any medical, food or communication supplies (Phones) can be seized for the war effort along with any cars which are deemed necessary for the fight. This has basically gives the soldiers carte blanche to seize any cars they like. We will also be keeping our I Phones hidden.
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