“This is the second month that Russia has used all possible munitions to bomb the Luhansk region. “Now they are bringing in more equipment and mobilizing recruits….
Russia’s intentions are clear when the Kremlin calls the war against Ukraine a “special operation to liberate Donbass.” This May 9 marks the anniversary of Russia’s victory in World War II, and before that Moscow needs some concrete success to present it at home. After the failure of the invading troops, who failed to capture the Ukrainian army in Kiev and other important cities such as Kharkov, Russia turned its attention to the occupation of parts of the Donbas that are still under the control of the Ukrainian government.
According to Moscow, about two and a half million people live in unoccupied Donbass. Since the start of this war the area has been severely affected, especially in the south. “90% of Mariupol can not be rebuilt,” said Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kirilenko.
“Up to 5,000 civilians could have been killed during the siege, which began on March 1. There are still about 120,000 people there. “The town of Volnovakha, north of Mariupol, was just razed to the ground,” he said. Born in Donetsk 35 years ago, Kirilenko is a former prosecutor who is now on the list of people killed in the occupied territories. He has not returned to his home in Donbass for eight years and has cut ties with relatives there.
Was a doctor in the war
At the moment, the Ukrainian military controls only three large industrial cities in the Luhansk region. Severodonetsk, the most populous city and administrative capital, is still heavily bombed. I recently spent a few hours there and heard the constant sound of explosions. Few people had a light or a good signal on their cell phones.
Roman Vodyanik, chief physician of Severodonetsk’s main and now the only hospital, can talk on the phone thanks to a satellite internet connection set up for basic means of communication. Vodian surgery is full of medication, but it requires surgeons and more insulin. There were 100,000 people living in the city and now there are about 30,000.
I just met Vodianik at his workplace and took a look at the latest facility that would be the envy of many regional hospitals. But the shells hit oxygen cylinders imported two months earlier and one of the flats was severely damaged. Vodianik told me that his house had been destroyed.
In the corridors, patients lay in beds. It’s not that the hospital was full, they just preferred to be away from the windows. There I met a woman named Luba, who escaped an attack a few hours ago. Rescuers pulled him out of the rubble of the house.
Get ready for a new attack
The 45-year-old English teacher was not so lucky with Jana. He was hiding in the basement of the hospital after the winter with his 18-year-old son, Nikita, who has autism. She decided to go home to get light clothes for spring, but she and her son were hit by a shell on the street. Jana died and Nikita lost her hand. When I met him at the hospital, the hand that was left was inseparable from Larisa, the grandmother’s hand.
Governor Kirilenko asked Donetsk residents to leave the area. He restlessly prepares the region for a colossal attack. The goal is not to show heroism, but to save lives. His colleague from Lugansk regrets that many did not realize the need to evacuate before their neighbors’ homes were destroyed.
The Ukrainian authorities are careful not to spread information about the places where they evacuate civilians, for fear that large concentrations of people may become military targets.
Kirilenko told me about the lessons learned in recent months and the preparations for the new Donbass attacks. Supermarkets and warehouses have been attacked, so the plan is to supply more food and store it in different facilities. The evacuation convoys will be divided into small groups after the first evacuation convoy consisting of 50 buses in Mariupol was attacked and 20 vehicles were destroyed.
From Kiev, my hometown, I was disturbed by pictures of Bucha and Irpin. These are middle-class suburban cities where many of my colleagues and friends live. I looked at photos of mass graves and read testimonies of rape and torture. I saw a picture of an old man being shot on a bicycle and heard a description of mutilated bodies at a local morgue. I have been witnessing the war in eastern Ukraine for eight years, especially with civilian casualties and human rights abuses, but we have not seen anything like it.
There is a feeling that after the Bucha massacre, we will have to change the way we deal with this war. Earlier, we tried to understand Russia’s military strategy in order to better prepare. But a case of rape in a town near Kharkov, mines planted in the Trostyanets Botanical Garden or the shooting of handcuffed men in a peaceful suburb of Kiev can only be understood as a desire to punish Ukrainians.
Fight for the Donbass
Gaidai, the governor of Lugansk, was previously a very capable crisis manager. He burst into tears when I asked him about Severodonetsky, his birthplace. “I feel pain because these scum are bombing everything, hospitals, kindergartens. We just built a pool, my mother taught me to swim there, was this pool guilty of anything? He said and wiped away the tears. “I can not look at my cell phone without asking for help. It is a concentrated pain.”
Gadai and Kirelinko told me that on February 24 they had received a call from Russia urging them to stand on the Moscow side. “It was up to the phrase ‘Russian ship go to hell,'” recalls Kirilenko.
They explain that the fear is that the West, and those who want to reach an agreement with Russia, will be tempted to leave Donbass to Vladimir Putin. An exit strategy that will allow the Russian president to save face.
After hearing about the horrors of Bucha, I am afraid to think about what might happen to the people of Donbas, who have remained loyal to the state of Ukraine for the last eight years. We are not talking only about bureaucrats and the military. Residents of the area worked for Ukrainian companies and taught in Ukrainian schools.
Before I left Donbass, I went with a friend I met eight years ago during a trip as a reporter. My friend started a successful herbalist. Although his wife and daughter have moved to western Ukraine, he is still in that country to take care of his business. I hugged him and insisted he did what he was doing and left. After Bucha, Ukraine has no choice but to fight for Donbass. The struggle can be long and relentless.
* Natalia Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist specializing in Conflict and Foreign Affairs, author of the book. Lost Island: Stories from Occupied Crimea.
Translated by Francisco de Zarate
Source: El Diario
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
