Updated on 04/29/2022 at 20:17
- The Donbass in eastern Ukraine has been at the center of the war since 2014.
- Residents yearn for an end to hostilities.
- Some even support Russian invaders for this.
A report
by Daphne Rousseau, AFP
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in the Donbass region, the Ukrainian army has put up fierce resistance. But not everyone in eastern Ukraine wants victory over Russia. Whether out of a sense of belonging, nostalgia for the Soviet era, or simply the hope that the war will soon end, many await the advance of Russian troops without fear, if not hope.
At a market in the industrial city of Lysychansk, Olena describes her point of view: “Formally speaking, we are Ukrainians. But Donbass is not Ukraine.” Ukrainians are “the foreigners here, not the Russians”. Olena is not the woman’s real name. She doesn’t want to be referred to by her real name—because her opinion could land her “in jail,” she says.
Read too: All current information about the war in Ukraine on the live ticker
support for invaders
For years, Moscow has accused the Kiev government of discriminating against Russian-speaking people in the Donbass. The region has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. The Kremlin says the aim of its military offensive is to “liberate” areas of the region from mining and oil that are still under Kiev’s control.
In fact, some Ukrainian soldiers feel as if they are already in enemy territory. Iryna, a noncommissioned officer in the Ukrainian army, says: “Even if we do everything possible to camouflage our positions, the residents here give information about us to the other side.” The Kiev army also regularly announces the arrest of “saboteurs” in Donbass.
Vadim Lyakh, mayor of the city of Slavyansk, in northwestern Donbass, says of the mood of part of the population in the face of the Russian advance: “There are people who, at best, don’t care, and at best, worse, cheer for the Russians to arrive.”
Focus on the east of the country and location of steel mills in Mariupol, as well as updates with areas occupied by Russian troops
© dpa infographic GmbH
Memories of the Soviet era
The majority of the population in Donbass is Russian-speaking. Moscow allowed many Russians to settle in the region after World War II. One of the main complaints of many residents is that the region’s economy has slumped since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
For three decades, Olena worked at an oil refinery in Lysychansk. During the Soviet era, Donbass had “everything”: “Coal, salt, chemical industry,” she says. “While the Ukrainians were demonstrating at Maidan, we were working,” she says of the 2014 protests in Kiev that ended with the overthrow of the pro-Russian government.
In a bunker in the frontline city of Severodonetsk, more than 160 residents have been sheltering from rockets for two months. Many of them accuse the Ukrainian army of bombing their village, not Russian troops.
“Why should we be afraid of the Russians?”
Tamara, 77, is sitting on her bed in the bunker at the Ostchem factory in Severodonetsk.
© AFP/YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Tamara Doriwientko, a retired English teacher, is sitting on a bed in the bunker reading Jane Austen as she waits for the bombing to end. “Why should we be afraid of the Russians?” Ask her. “We’ve lived in the Soviet Union for 70 years. We look alike.”
However, the retiree seems to be divided. She says she sympathizes with Moscow but also “loves” Ukraine – “a beautiful country with many freedoms”. That is why Doriwientko, in his own words, would have preferred to continue living in Ukraine. But she assumes that she will live under Russian rule in the future: “The decision was made for us,” she notes.
Mayor Lyakh says there is little Ukrainian officials can do about pro-Russian sentiment. This part of the population wants an end to the war and sees “no problem with Russian hostilities”. But Lyakh is betting that the destruction of Russian-speaking cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv by invading forces will “change his mind” among the pro-Moscow community. © AFP
Updated on 04/29/2022 at 09:32
On Thursday, Kiev was again the target of Russian rocket attacks. Five rockets hit the Ukrainian capital immediately after a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to humiliate the UN. According to Ukrainian sources, it was the first rocket attack in about two weeks.