Donbass

Ah, yes, another article about the Compleat and Greatest Yet Attempt to Remove President Trump from Office Impeachment Extravaganza. To watch the US media outlets, notably Fox News, Drudge Report and CNN, the narratives appear to be set in place with each side trying to dig in to its position at a pitch we actually have not seen before. Russiagate was bad, but this is far more irrational, and unfortunately, there are signs of this irrationality manifest on both sides of the argument.

 
In Krutaya Balka, a frontline village north of Donetsk and just outside of Yasinovataya, 15 people (mostly elderly) remain, under near-daily Ukrainian shelling & heavy machine gun fire.
I spoke with those I could find at home while I was there. All told me they were constantly being assaulted by Ukrainian forces, by heavy machine gun fire and shelling.
The machine gun fire not only punctures the walls but also can set fire to the roof, thus the whole house.

The other day I went to Krutaya Balka, a frontline village N of Donetsk and just outside of Yasinovataya. Around 15 people (mostly elderly) remain in this village, under Ukrainian shelling & heavy machine gun fire.
I spoke with those I could find at home while I was there. All told me they were constantly being assaulted by Ukrainian forces) by heavy machine gun fire and shelling. The machine gun fire not only punctures the walls but also can set fire to the roof, thus the whole house.

 
Recently, I visited Zaitsevo, a village in the north of the Donetsk People’s Republic. It has been relentlessly shelled by Ukrainian forces/paramilitaries since 2014, and continues to be bombed nearly every day and night. 
The population has dropped from 3,500 to 1,600, including 200 children.
With me was Dmitry Astrakhan, press officer of the DPR People’s Militia, and a People’s Militia officer going by the nickname “Gyurza”.

Zaitsevo, a village in the north of the Donetsk People’s Republic, has been relentlessly shelled by Ukrainian forces/paramilitaries since 2014, and continues to be bombed nearly every day and night.
The population has dropped from 3,500 to 1,600, including 200 children.
I interviewed Irina Dikun, head of the administration of Zaitsevo, who spoke at length on the terror civilians have faced over the years and continue to face with the Ukrainian bombing that erupts nearly every single night, targeting civilian homes and village infrastructure.

Yesterday, I was able to visit areas on the outskirts of Gorlovka: mine 6/7 and Zaitsevo, both hard-hit by incessant Ukrainian shelling. Civilians are suffering immensely there, to the silence of Western corporate media.
En route to these areas, Dmitri, press officer of the DPR People’s Militia, gave me this advice:
-When you hear the whistle of a mortar, drop down immediately–to avoid the spray of shrapnel.
-Don’t go off the road; most areas haven’t been checked for unexploded ordnance.

The following is an interview conducted by email with a documentary maker based in Donetsk, who has been documenting Ukraine’s war on the Donetsk People’s Republic and the tragedies this has caused civilians living there.
‘Maxim Fadeev’ is actually the pseudonym of a correspondent whose family lives in an area of Ukraine controlled by the government. To protect his family, Maxim, like many journalists whose families live on the other side, opted to use a pseudonym, due to persecution by the Ukrainian authorities.

The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss whether the time has finally come for Ukraine to re-engage with Russia.
Can a sitcom actor turned President, Volodymyr Zelensky, find the courage to fight off ultra right nationalist forces and the neocon US deep state, to be the man who brings peace and sensibility to Ukraine, in relation to Russia?
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by Ruslan Ostashko Translated and subtitled by Eugenia

The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Russia decision to extend fast track to citizenship to Ukrainian people living in the East regions of the Donbas.
As Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelensky has yet to come to terms with the myriad of complex problems facing the country he now rules over, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a controversial decree, which allows people living in the of eastern Ukraine to apply for Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.