DONETSK, Ukraine -- Some 1,000 people gathered in central Donetsk on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union's victory over fascism 69 years ago.
Young and old alike, including several war veterans adorned with shiny medals of honor, waved the flags of Russia, the Soviet Union and the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” as old hymns memorializing the Great Patriotic War blared from speakers mounted atop barricades surrounding the region’s government headquarters. Pro-Russian separatists have been in control the building for weeks and use it as their headquarters.
Around noon the group moved from the regional administration building to Donetsk’s central Lenin Square for a larger event that will culminate in a display of fireworks this evening, according to organizers.
Marching in a group of people during Victory Day celebrations in central Donetsk, “Donetsk People’s Republic” insurgent-appointed governor Denis Pushilin told the Kyiv Post he expected a “good result” for the May 11 secession referendum. “There will be a referendum. And there will be a good result,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the separatists on May 9 to move back the date of the referendum, which is supposed to decide the future of two eastern regions of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk. But the separatists have decided to press ahead with it anyway. Ukraine’s central government does not recognize the self-proclaimed authorities in the region, and says the referendum will have no legal power, regardless of the outcome.
Speakers at Friday’s rally spoke only briefly of the Red Army’s victory over the Nazis 69 years ago. They spent most of their time persuading people to vote in Sunday’s planned referendum. In the crowd, people were receptive to their words, responding with chants of “Ref-er-en-dum!”
As the rally went on, more armed men appeared with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and bats. They came in on two large, blue trucks, which blocked the main road on both ends of the square. Several of the men and the two trucks were seen earlier in the week at a Ukrainian military base in Donetsk, where they took aim at Ukrainian officers and checked vehicles leaving the compound. They said they were acting on a tip that nationalist group Right Sector was going to seize weapons stored inside.
The armed men were met with massive applause by the crowd, especially the women, who gave them red carnations. One man showed off his automatic rifle to a child, who placed his finger on the trigger and pretended to fire the weapon, making sounds like “Guh-guh-guh.” A smile appeared on his face as he posed for a photo.
A group of local policemen showed up donning orange and black St. George ribbons to commemorate the Red Army victory, but also to show support for the separatist movement here. Uniformed police have been vanished from plain site in recent days amid the unrest in the eastern part of the country. Many have left the region or simply stopped working. Some, like those who appeared at the Victory Day rally, have defected to the pro-Russian side.
The rally left Lenin Square after 3 p.m. and wrapped up after a march to a nearby war monument, where several people laid flowers and paid their respect to soldiers who died 69 years ago.
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