FOr Misha Novitskyi, the problem is Russia will invade Ukraine Not theoretical. The enemy is only 50 meters away from the concrete slab. From time to time, Russian voices drifted strangely across this desolate no-man’s land, with jagged trees and shrubs everywhere.
“When they light the stove, you can see the smoke,” said Nowitzki, a senior lieutenant in the Ukrainian army, who was actually on the eastern front of Europe and Russia. He added: “They shoot at us every day.”
The conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists has lasted for nearly eight years. There are echoes of the First World War. The two sides confronted each other along a fixed 250-mile “border” or line of contact that winded through the Donbass region of Ukraine.
There are muddy trenches, strong command posts and buildings destroyed by artillery shells. Nowitzki defended a former textile factory. It is now a spooky ruin without a roof. Someone scribbled a useful reminder on the wall: “Fuck, you are dead.”
Everything is quiet until it is not. On Thursday morning, Ukrainian soldiers were heading to a nearby frontline position overlooking the city of Donetsk. The separatist’s base is located at the airport where it crashed, along what was once a runway. There were three gunshots: a sniper rifle.
The soldiers quickened their pace. A pheasant rose from a yellow field with red signs warning of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Old-fashioned metal wires connect the brigade’s outpost—an anthill-shaped embankment with bunkers and ladders—to the nearby village headquarters.
Much of the diplomacy in the past week is also reminiscent of the past. Vladimir Putin made no secret of his contempt for Ukraine. In his view, it is sub-sovereign: it is not so much a country as it is a persistent zone under the influence and control of the Russian Empire.
In 2014, Putin occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and installed separatist agents in Donetsk and Luhansk, which borders Russia. Worryingly, Putin’s next intentions are unclear.
These signs seem to be ominous. This fall, Moscow assembled troops and heavy weapons on the Ukrainian border. Satellite images showing approximately 175,000 Russian soldiers terrified the United States and its allies. It is not clear whether this is a negotiation strategy or an accumulation of invasion.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden spoke with Putin via a video link for two hours. The President of the United States reaffirmed his commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine. But he refused to provide Putin with what he wanted: proof that Kiev would never join NATO.
Biden briefed the Ukrainian comedian and current President Zelensky on his talks with the Russian president on Thursday. Eastern European countries are worried about this.They are afraid of America Preparing to “adapt” to apparent security issues in the Kremlin – Thereby rewarding Moscow for solving the problems it created.
Why Putin chose to escalate tensions at this moment is a mystery. One theory is that he realized that Ukraine was relentlessly moving away from Moscow’s orbit. For his part, Nowitzki rejected Putin’s recent essay that Ukraine and Russia are “single nations.”
Nowitzki said: “Russia is trapped in the Soviet past. Ukraine is moving in another direction, namely to the west and Europe. We are an independent country.
“Russia and Ukraine are not one person, but black and white, yin and yang.”
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov (Oleksii Reznikov) visited the front line where Novitskyi is located, an industrial zone in Avdiyivka. A little further south is Donetsk, which has been under rebel control since 2014.
Reznikov predicted that if Moscow launches an attack, both sides will suffer huge casualties and a bloody massacre will occur. Currently, no one knows whether Putin’s tanks will advance here, passing through the vast black fields, spouting chimneys, and Orthodox churches decorated with gleaming golden domes.
The existing conflict may look retro in nature, but it is largely a 21st century war. “We have better weapons than in the past,” Lieutenant Alexander Tymoshuk pointed out, standing on a corridor of trenches fixed with nets and reinforced with metal plates.
In World War I, reconnaissance involved sending a group of people. Timoshuk pointed out that now surveillance cameras can detect any movement or intrusion.Ukraine recently used Turkish-made drones for the first time Blow up a Russian-made howitzer.
Paradoxically, those who served on the front lines in Ukraine said that they were not worried about the threat of invasion. They claim that Kiev’s army is stronger, more experienced, and better equipped than it was eight years ago, when it collapsed under the powerful Russian firepower.
Avdiyivka mayor Vitaly Barabash (Vitaly Barabash) said that if Russia were to seize more territory, it would soon be embroiled in a partisan war. He estimates that about 300,000 veterans will take up arms-this is in stark contrast to 2014, when some of the patriotic volunteers who fought and died were IT workers from Kiev.
He said that too much blood has been shed on the front lines and the central square Maidan in Kiev, where anti-government protesters expelled the Ukrainian pro-Russian leader Victor Yanukovych in 2014. He added: “We will not return to Russia. No one wants to be Putin’s slave.”
As Biden prepares to hold further talks with Moscow, including NATO, people continue to die. Since September 16, members of the Ukrainian army have been killed, including a 22-year-old private shooter last week. Most were killed by snipers or improvised explosive devices. Others were injured.
“The casualties are really hard. Some of my strings broke. I became more cynical,” said Lieutenant Ivan Skulatovsky, showing off his basement living quarters. Two cats dozed off on his bed. The base has a small library and dining room, and wooden pillars are decorated with pictures sent by Ukrainian school children.
The civil costs of this unresolved conflict with Russia are enormous. Villages directly within the range of hostile fire are mostly abandoned, although some elderly residents refuse to leave. The front line passes through Timiryazev Street, named after the Russian botanist.
The once delightful villas on the street are in dilapidated condition. The garden survived. In summer, soldiers collect walnuts as they pass by on patrol. They also take care of the dog left behind when the owner leaves in a hurry, and will never come back again. In the absence of humans, nature flourished, with strange blue tits and many crows.
Since the beginning of the war, Avdiyivka’s personality has changed. According to former teacher Mariia Lepilova (Mariia Lepilova), the younger generation is more pro-Ukraine. The Donbass used to mainly speak Russian. She said that Ukrainians have been used in schools and shops. Children start to learn Ukrainian in class from the age of six or seven.
Lepilova said she was forced to leave the town in the winter of 2014 when shelling prevented her from living there. “No power. Our house was hit. My 10-year-old daughter was very scared. Almost everyone left,” she said. Fighting broke out again in 2017. Since then, most of the population has returned, apartments have been rebuilt and new investments have been made.
Like many people in the town, her relatives live in Donetsk, a pro-Russian enclave known as DNR or Donetsk People’s Republic. She couldn’t visit them anymore, she could only talk on the phone. “We avoid politics and talk about our children,” she said. “People can get used to anything,” she added.
In the past, residents of Avdiyivka visited Donetsk to go to restaurants or cinemas, or to support the city’s famous football team, Shakhtar Donetsk, which played at the Donbass Arena. The nearest McDonald’s is now in Kharkov, 190 miles away.
Lepilova said that she missed the cultural life of this big city and its museums, especially the collection of Dutch paintings and Greek sculptures. “This is the city I was in when I was young,” she explained. She added that Moscow tried to win the region for itself, which prompted people to accept Ukrainian identity.
Back at the front line of the airport, the sniper has more firepower. The local brigade commander, Major Sergey Kozachok, said his soldiers were ready to deal with anything that the Russians might throw at them. He said that the separatists continued to consolidate their positions and there was no significant increase in activity this week.
Kozachok said his soldiers have complied with the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed by Kiev under tremendous pressure from Russia in 2015. It prohibits the use of heavy weapons. The recent tensions put the treaty on the brink of collapse. He claimed that despite repeated “provocations”, the Ukrainian side did not fight back.
If they are unlikely to meet, what message will he give Putin? Kozachok thought for a while and smiled. He replied: “I will hit him in the ear.”
