VoltTime Basova stood next to her house holding a local newspaper.The front page title says Russia The tank is being transported to the eastern border of Ukraine. “What do they want from us? Why are they dragging those tanks here?” Basova asked her neighbor.
The 90-year-old was worried that she would have to return to the basement to escape the shelling between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian separatists in the East Donbass. The war has recently entered its eighth year and has already claimed more than 13,000 people. s life. .
According to NATO, Russia’s large-scale assembly of combat troops near the eastern border of Ukraine-the largest since the annexation of Crimea in 2014-and the effective rupture of the ceasefire have triggered alarms in the West that Moscow is preparing to invade. .Joe Biden Has urged Vladimir Putin was demoted, but Russian threat The expulsion of a Ukrainian diplomat accused of espionage on Saturday caused Kiev’s warnings of retaliation, further exacerbating tensions.
Basova lives in Malinka, a government-controlled town only 23 kilometers southwest of Donetsk. It is a stronghold of separatists and 80 kilometers from the Russian border. A pair of kittens hopped around on the wooden fence of Basova. Next to it was a cherry tree. Since a military vehicle hit it, the cherry tree was entangled with tape.
From the streets of Basova, you can clearly see the mines and slag dumps of Donetsk. Almost every house there shows signs of war damage. The children of the neighbors were playing outside and heard the sounds of birds, gunshots and skirmishes in the distance. From time to time, an armed Ukrainian soldier walks down the street.
Before the war, many residents of Malinka commuted to Donetsk for work and shopping every day. In 2014 and 2015, the battle for control of Marinca was fierce. The city center was hit by direct shelling, and civilians and troops suffered heavy casualties.
Bassowa recalled escaping from the “fireball in the sky” and temporarily lost his hearing after suffering a concussion.
When the front line was stable and the hot war in Ukraine turned into a brewing conflict, Malinka became one of the border crossing points between the government-controlled and insurgent-controlled parties of the Donetsk region. Until the spring of 2020, the pandemic closed checkpoints and separated many families living on either side of the so-called “line of contact”.
Bassowa started crying when she talked about missing her daughter. She lives in Donetsk and has not been able to visit her for more than a year. Basova’s 50-year-old neighbor, Svitlana Derkach, felt the same way: she had not seen her newborn grandson in Donetsk. Dekacher showed off her beautifully packaged teddy bears made for little boys.
“First, we got used to the war, but then the coronavirus gave us a new blow,” she said.
Derkach remembers that in 2016 and 2017, the bomb fell in her yard. One of them blew up her cat, and the other blew up the window.
She said that if Russia’s actions were not only a raging sword, but a prelude to a full-scale invasion, she would try not to panic herself. What this means to her. “If something happens, I [will] Cheer up,” she said.
At the same time, she planted flowers in the garden and planned to bake shitThis is a traditional cake for Orthodox Easter in early May, provided by a new oven provided by a French humanitarian NGO.
After meeting with President Macron in Paris on Friday, Ukrainian President Zelensky called on Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France to hold summits. ThenBoth the United States and the European Union have assured Ukraine that it “unswervingly” supports its “territorial integrity.”
But like most people in Malinka, Dekacs did not believe that the West would help Ukraine if Russia invaded. “Neither Europe The United States does not need us to solve our problems,” she said. But at the front line of this conflict, Malinka seems to have been largely forgotten by the rest of Ukraine.
When the war began in 2014, the supply of natural gas was cut off and has not been restored. Most of the businesses in the town were either destroyed by fighting or stopped trading. Many fields in the agricultural hinterland have been mined, which makes agriculture impossible. As the water in the tap and well is contaminated, drinking water must be purchased.
The locals now mainly rely on their gardens for food, although the military advises them to work outdoors before noon because the risk of being shot is less.
Alina Kosse, 62, head of the Creative Hub, an art and training center run by the local government, said: “Life is over in the second half of the day.” Kosse is very positive about the economic recovery or whatever. The opportunity for people to reinvest in Marinka is regrettable but very realistic.It used to have a population of 10,000, but nearly half of its residents have left, either evacuated during the 2014-15 crisis or left the town after the disaster.
Among those who remained, there were differences in the loyalties. Kosse said that she believed many locals were pro-Russian because they got news from Russian TV and Ukraine could not stop the broadcast from Donetsk. Russian is the first language of most Malinka residents, although some elderly people can hear Ukrainian.
Koss said someone threw explosives at her home because she helped the Ukrainian army. When the war began, civilian volunteers donated new socks and underwear to the poorly equipped Ukrainian soldiers. Now, the optical systems of weapons and military drones help. “Our army is unparalleled compared to 2014,” she said. “If Russia dares to attack us again, Russia will soon perish. Trust me.”
Increase Defense expenditure By Kiev and seven years of combat experience changed the Ukrainian army from the chaotic volunteer force of 2014.
In the courtyard of an abandoned house in Malinka, only 400 meters from the nearest military position of the separatist forces, a Ukrainian soldier named nom de guerre Kaba believed that Ukraine could resist Russia. “If our allies close the skies to Aeroflot and prevent Russian ships from attacking us at sea, we will be able to fight Russia on the ground,” he said.
The 48-year-old sniper said that his troops possess Canadian and American rifles and Ukrainian weapons. They also received training from British instructors. But he admitted that since February, they have been facing sniper firepower from Donetsk, which he believes comes from well-trained and well-equipped Russian soldiers. “They have nasty combat lasers, and if they hit your eyes, they will burn your retina,” he said.
Kabbah comes from Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine. He was originally an activist of the European Women’s Revolution, which forced the resignation of then President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian forces in capturing the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Kaba said that snipers and landmines are now the most common cause of death in war zones. In mid-March, a Ukrainian soldier was killed by a sniper bullet near Marinka, and there were frequent reports of casualties on the front lines. In the ongoing escalation, soldiers pay little attention to Covid-19, even though they are now being vaccinated.
In the evening, except for the occasional hordes of teenagers and stray dogs roaming the center, Malinka became deserted. Some people fished quietly in the local pond, ignoring the signs that it was mined.
Marinka’s old bakery was destroyed by artillery shells in 2014. A charity-run bakery was opened by the Protestant church in 2016. It is one of the few normally functioning businesses here, producing 1,000 fresh bread every morning.
Roman Riazantsev, a 38-year-old pastor who organized the delivery of free or discounted bread and buns, said that many of his parish residents were worried. They told him that their windows creaked in the shelling and they needed to prepare the air-raid shelter again. “People are used to being quiet, they have repaired the house, and now everything is restored,” he said. “The fear they used to live has faded, and now they are back.”
Basova survived the Second World War. She said that she never thought that she would endure another or even longer war at the end of her life. When she heard the shooting or shelling, she would read the prayer book to calm herself down. “What do they want from us? Do they need money?” Bassowa said. “I will give them all my pension to prevent the shooting.”
