Russia-Ukraine War: Pro-Russian Donbas elders reveal to Moscow the positions of Ukrainian troops

Vladislav, a 24-year-old Ukrainian policeman, brings pasta and bread to the inhabitants of a village on the Eastern Front of Ukraine, but sometimes he has the impression that he is on enemy ground.

Vladislav Kopatskiy takes the purchases out of the trunk of the car and takes a quick look at the horizon looking for traces of smoke, which would indicate a recent Russian missile drop in the village of Novomykolaivka.

He then sets off to distribute humanitarian aid in the village. But your arrival sometimes is received coldly, or worse.

Many of the residents who have remained in Novomykolaivka, near Kramatorsk, despite heavy fighting and evacuation orders from the Ukrainian authorities, They support the Russians.

The older ones, who grew up in Soviet timescontinue to have a deep mistrust of kyiv.

Kopatskiy explains that several residents have already been arrested on suspicion of having provided the Russians with the GPS coordinates of the bases of the Ukrainian rear.

“Unfortunately, that happens,” he says, emerging from a makeshift underground shelter where a family has just spent three days, under Russian bombardment.

Kopatskiy says “trying to talk” to the pro-Russian inhabitants, “but those who grew up in Soviet times are difficult to convince.” “They have a point of view, and they won’t give in“, he assured.

An opinion, fueled by Kremlin propaganda that qualifies the Ukrainians of “neo-Nazis” under the orders of Washingtonwhich makes Kopatskiy a potential target in these frontline towns.

Ukrainian soldiers in contact with the residents estimate that of the 30 to 45% of these support the Russians.

“They are definitely giving our geolocations to the Russians,” lamented a soldier, nicknamed “Zastava”, during a short break after five days on the front lines.

“I remember an old man came up to us and He hit us“, he says. “The older ones don’t want to support us.

The Donbas is predominantly populated by Russian speakerswhose roots in the region go back to the shipment of Russian workers after World War II.

This story has shaped Donbas identitywhich has maintained strong economic and cultural ties with Russia after the fall of the USSR and Ukraine’s independence.

“There are towns that are neighbors and do not support the same side,” says “Zastava.”

Andriy Oleynik, a 48-year-old native of Novomykolayvka, in a wheelchair, has spent the last week listening in the dark the flight of warplanes and the explosion of projectiles on nearby farms.

His log cabin in the garden was hit. Since then, he is even more angry with kyiv and Moscow for not seeking peace.

The atmosphere in your house is heavy: the windows have been covered for weeks to limit the risk of the glass exploding.

“The Russians withdrew from kyiv, so for the people there, the war seems over. If the people of kyiv continued to live what we live here, everything would be different,” he thinks.

“I blame both governments. Both sides are responsible. They Do not Care About Us“, the Mint.

Part of the resentment towards kyiv is also due to the economic situation of the region, highly affected by deindustrialization before the war with pro-Russian separatists began in 2014.

Andriy and his wife, Yelena, gathered their savings and tried to go out with their children to a neighboring town in recent days, but was attacked by air force four days after their arrival.

“So we go back. “After all, home is home,” says Yelena.

Another important problem is fuel shortage, which limits movement. The few remaining service stations in the region are rationing sales to 10 or 20 liters per car.

“Where can we go?” Andriy asks. “In this whole area there is war,” he adds.

A local policeman, seeing families return with their belongings despite the bombing, hardly hold back tears.

“come back to this hell because they have nowhere to go,” he says, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They say: If I must die, I must die.”

AFP

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