Jun 2: Serhii Antonov: War in Donbas Part 3
Thread published on May 27, 2023
Serhii Antonov: War in Donbas Part 3
Continuation of the story about the beginning of the war in Donbas in 2014.
I remind you that these are my subjective memories of events as a resident of Donbas. Some moments I could forget. But the general picture remains true.
After Yanukovych's escape to Russia, the Kremlin began work to destabilize Ukraine. If Luhansk was generally calm during the Revolution of Dignity, then after its end systematic work on the escalation of the situation began.
Initially, not only Russia was engaged in destabilization. Some oligarchs from Yanukovych's entourage and regional officials (not only in Donbas) feared that the new government would open criminal cases against them and confiscate illegally acquired property. Therefore, they tried to destabilize the situation in order to come to an agreement with the new authorities regarding their impunity for their old law violations and corruption. These oligarchs and officials condemned Yanukovych for shooting protesters, but tried to instill fear in people that they would be persecuted for their language and regional origin, that their businesses would be closed, and that the country would be ruled by Nazis.
They started organizing their own protests. However, in addition to the people who were deceived, they used administrative resources and expelled people from their enterprises, schools and other state institutions. The other part of the people hired for the protest were mentioned in the last thread – sportsmens-«titushki».
Almost immediately, sometime in early March, these oligarchs and officials realized that they were not in control of the situation, and Russia seized the initiative to seize these territories. Some of them distanced themselves from these processes, while others began to cooperate with Russia.
At that moment, the Russian army began to operate in Crimea and the process of annexation began. Pro-Ukrainian rallies and pro-Russian rallies (supported by Russia) began to take place in Donbas and other regions. Kremlin leaders began using Russian flags at their events and attacking pro-Ukrainian events, thanks to sportsmens-"titushki" and provocateurs from Russia.
The first serious conflict in Luhansk took place on March 9. This is the birthday of the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. Then a pro-Ukrainian rally gathered near the poet's monument to honor his memory. The vast majority of people gathered from Luhansk.
A pro-Russian rally was being held across the street. There were people who were purposefully brought from all over the region. Russians were also there. There were even buses with Rostov and Belgorod license plates. Thanks to this, they secured a quantitative advantage.
At some point, a pro-Russian rally attacked a pro-Ukrainian rally. The pro-Ukrainian demonstrators had numerous injuries. Even some women suffered.
I noticed some organization in the pro-Russian attackers. There were certain people with headsets in their ears leading their groups of people. I suspect that these were FSB officers who tried to work inconspicuously but managed separate groups. This allowed them to imperceptibly manage the protest and create an atmosphere of hatred. The rest of the people were simply used according to their script.
After the defeat of the pro-Ukrainian rally, they seized a state institution.
The video and fotos shows the moment when Russian forces attacked Ukrainian activists.
The same situation began to occur in Donetsk and some other regions. Pro-Russian rallies, which consisted of real people who support Russia, and sportsmens-"tituski", and provocateurs brought from Russia. On March 13, the first Ukrainian to die in Donetsk was 22-year-old Dmytro Chernyavsky, a native of Bakhmut. It was also reported that another Ukrainian was killed that day, but I do not know information about this.
Such attacks began to occur regularly, because the Kremlin needed to destroy or intimidate pro-Ukrainian people in Donbas and in those cities that were planned to be occupied. It has become dangerous to speak Ukrainian, wear the yellow-blue flag or simply support the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. Russian militants and sportsmens-"titushki" looked for pro-Ukrainian people, beat them, and sometimes killed them. Those who tell you that Ukraine allegedly "bombed" Donbas for 8 years will never tell you that the first victims in Donbas were pro-Ukrainian activists who were killed by Russia.
Russia needed to show that the whole of Donbas supports Russia. But it wasn't like that. Therefore, the Kremlin chose the path of terror. And speaking about the defense of Donbas, Putin never mentions us, the residents of Donbas, who were attacked by his fighters from February-March 2014 until now.
In the video, on March 13, 2014, a pro-Ukrainian action in Donetsk and an attack on Ukrainian activists.
There were many murders of pro-Ukrainian residents of Donbas. But, first of all, I want to recall the following, which will not please those who spread Russian propaganda about "Ukraine killing the children of Donbas."
In the photo is a schoolboy, 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko, a native of Kramatorsk (Donetsk region).
It wasn't a random rocket/mine/artillery shell that killed him. He was purposefully killed by pro-Russian militants. He was shot by grown men for his point of view and for the Ukrainian flag in his bag.
It was dangerous even for schoolchildren to demonstrate their support for Ukraine's independence. Complete terror against the pro-Ukrainian residents of Donbas.
At that time, it was obvious that Russia was escalating the situation in Ukraine and starting a war, although it did not admit it.
In Crimea, since the end of February (preparations for this began much earlier), Russian troops actively began the process of annexation. Although Putin lied that Russian troops were not involved in this. Later, he himself confirmed that he lied. Since then, Ukrainians have understood that Putin is synonymous with lies. He, together with his propagandists, built a parallel world that had nothing to do with reality.
On March 1, 2014, the Russian parliament allowed Putin to send troops into Ukraine and start a war. Putin and Russian propagandists continued to lie about the civil war, but the facts showed otherwise. Ukrainians hated Putin for destroying peaceful life. Many hoped that the Russians would oppose this and change their government. But the Russians supported the actions of their president and government. Even oppositionist Navalny and others said that Crimea should not be given to Ukraine.
Then Ukrainians hated Russians. And the more crimes Russia committed in Ukraine, the more Ukrainians hated Russians and Putin. I think that no one can criticize Ukrainians for this. It is difficult to imagine how the victims will treat murderers and rapists in a friendly way.
Putin began to claim that the east and south supported him and wanted to join Russia. But people on the streets demonstrated otherwise.
As an example, the song "Putin *hylo" (Putin is a di*khat) is well-known in Ukraine. It was sung for the first time in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine) by fans of Metalist (Kharkiv) and Shakhtar (Donetsk) football clubs at a joint march of thousands. She was picked up by fans of Zori (Luhansk), Metalurg (Zaporizhia), Dnipro (Dnipro), Chornomorets (Odesa) and others. Later, everyone in Ukraine and some in the world began to sing it.
Even the movements of the "hooligans" of different clubs stopped their quarrels and declared a truce, which is still happening.
The video shows the first performance of this song in Kharkiv. Russian propaganda is silent that it was fans from the east who created it and constantly used it as a sign of protest against the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Thank you for your interest in this topic. Tomorrow or a little later, I will continue my story about the beginning of the war in Donbas in 2014. If there are questions, I will try to answer them.