DONETSK, Ukraine – Close to midnight on June 21, Russian-separatist forces fired on Ukrainian positions at least a dozen times, confirming Ukraine National Security and Defense Council reports of constant fighting near the ruined Donetsk airport. The shells were fired towards the Ukrainian-held Pisky, a city just some five kilometers from Russian-held Donetsk.
The NSDC says the Russian-separatist forces have been “actively using
heavy arms, tanks and large caliber artillery,” despite claims by the
Russia-backed separatist authorities that in line with the Minsk 2 agreement
heavy artillery has been mostly withdrawn from the demarcation line.
The increased fighting in the past few weeks has triggered a stronger anti-war sentiment has
been seen in Russia-held Donetsk. Some 500 residents of the Oktyabrskoe
neighborhood in Donetsk – one of the hardest hit in the Russia-held city –
gathered on June 15 in front of the city administration building and organized
the first anti-war demonstration in separatist-held territories.
The anti-war
rally didn’t go got noticed.
Kremlin-backed separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko told
the protesters that there would be no end of fighting anytime soon as his men are merely “returning Ukrainian fire.”
Russian
journalist Pavel Kanygin, working for Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s scarce
independent and opposition media, filmed the demonstration and posted it
online.
A day after the anti-war rally, Kanygin was detained and beaten, and
ultimately deported from the separatist-held territories back to Russia.
The
Donetsk press office responsible for accrediting journalists in the Russian zone didn’t want to state the exact reason of Kanygin’s
deportation. They only emphasized that every reporter needs to stick to the
rules.
“On the back of the assigned press card it states to be politically
correct. Also, it outlines other rules. Our decision makers found Kanygin
to be in violation of one of these rules,” a spokeswoman told the Kyiv Post. She
didn’t want to say what exact rule Kanygin violated, but according to different
reports and sources he was detained, beaten and deported for allegedly “spreading pro-Kyiv propaganda.”
Outside
Donetsk’s central city administration building the Kyiv Post has noticed more
separatist soldiers patrolling Shevchenko Park and Pushkin Park next to the
government building, possibly to stave off more protests.
The opinion
about anti-war rallies varies, however.
A group of young college students, who
call themselves The Young Republics, stands with flags along the roads. The
group consists of young volunteers that organize to change Ukrainian names and
signs into Russian ones.
“Honk your car if you support the Russification in Donetsk,” one flag reads. Cars passing by honk, and the students give out some
flyers to other people. “We don’t support a bloody war of course. We support
peace, but in order to get peace our soldiers need to fight for it, and then
it’s inevitable that blood will be spilled,” said Dima Dolonskaya, an
18-year-old economy student at the separatist-controlled Donetsk National
University. Both his mother and father grew up in Moscow, and Dolonskaya
considers himself to be Russian, although he’s been born and raised in Donetsk.
“I’ve been thinking to burn my Ukrainian passport,” he said.
Dolonskaya
thinks the anti-war rally on June 15 was manufactured.
“Look, if those
people demonstrating against our authorities complain about this war and their
living conditions, then why don’t they leave? They must have been paid by
either a pro-Kyiv media outlet or by the Ukrainian government. I’m confident
more of these rallies will take place as it’s no secret that there are
Ukrainian spies working on our territory,” he explained.
Then, Dolonskaya
pauses for a moment. “And yes, one self-proclaimed journalist was arrested and
deported. One plus one equals two in this case. It was nothing but a
provocation. If they want an end to this war, they should hold an anti-war
rally on the streets of Kyiv.”
Dolonskaya finishes his sentence, and then again
salvo of shells are fired as heard on the streets in downtown Donetsk. A bit
wary and confused, Dolonskaya said the shells are incoming. “It’s the
Ukrainians,” he said, as he quickly walked away. But he was wrong.
In the Leninskiy
district of Donets, a group of women sit on a bench outside, and have an
entirely different opinion than Dolonskaya.
“War is for young people. Look at
them in their uniforms. They think their superheroes but they are killing
machines, and I don’t like that,” said the 61-year-old Katerina who didn’t want
to give her family name out of fear of retribution. “Any bad word can become worse for you or your
family,” she told the Kyiv Post.
Katerina
supports the people that gathered on June 15 for the anti-war rally.
“Finally,
some stood up to express their opinion. Look around you, and see in what
conditions some people live in. It’s simply unacceptable, but most people are
too scared to speak up. If more people will gather in an anti-war rally, I will
join too, because I’m sick of this war. I used to travel once a month to
Krasnoarmysk to collect medicine, food, money, etc. Things are as it should be
over there. Donetsk will never be the same. It’s not the Donetsk I used to
love.”
A spokesperson
of the Ministry of Defense in Donetsk didn’t want to respond to the question about whether more anti-war rallies will be expected. But he said they will be stopped. “We
will not let it happen to have a Maidan on our territory,” the spokesperson said.
