It has been four years since the nationalists in Kiev took power after a coup and started a civil war in Southeastern Ukraine. According to the UN, there have been over 10,000 casualties since then. The number of those injured is much higher. Refugees? In the hundreds of thousands. Right now, the oligarch president Poroshenko declares a new stage of this war, a military operation starting on April 30th. That's Kiev's duplicitous idea of the implementation of the Minsk Treaties. There is no point in arguing with them anymore, all you can do is defend yourself. Here's a report about the heroes of the rebellion against the Kiev junta.
Here's our special correspondent Aleksandr Rogatkin with the story.
Spring has been delayed in Donbass this year. The dirty snow covered the shell craters and broken bricks of destroyed houses until April in Slavyansk, which has been under Ukrainian military occupation. The shelled out city persistently tries to conceal its wounds with yellow and blue paint. There are barely any other colors here; even the poles are painted like the national flag. If you see an empty pedestal where Lenin's monument used to be, it will have government symbols.
A local resident: "About one-fourth have left, the others stayed, they have families and kids here. Neighbors would rat each other out; they got taken away, we don't know where they are now. There were no official trials; they were just taken away, nobody knows where and why".
He hides his face and his name as it's not safe. They try not to reminisce about how things used to be. He calls himself "one of the surviving activists of the Russian Spring".
A local resident:"At first, we'd stand at the checkpoints with sticks, we'd have one gun for eight people. We inspected buses and anyone with Ukrainian symbols, whether it was a ribbon, a crest, or anything else. We were very concerned about them coming and starting another Maidan in our region. We already had it bad; Maidan was the last thing we needed. Then, we were declared separatists and terrorists. They just started shelling our town. Nobody cared that we were just civilians".
Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Nikolayevka — these Donbass cities still haven't recovered from the victorious "anti-terrorist operation" conducted by the Maidan authorities. Semyonovka is still in ruins. The Kiev authorities don't have the money to restore the psychiatric hospital. They did, however, have enough shells. In Slavyansk's residences, shell holes are bricked up. The collapsed part of a 5-story tower block on Bulvarnaya St. has been restored.
A local resident: "The first shell hit the school, from that side. The second shell ended up in our courtyard, resulting in a crater. Two shells hit the building entrance."
The Russian Spring in Donbass bloomed throughout March 2014. Warmed up by the Crimean sun, it spread over the streets and squares of miners' towns. It all started here, near former headquarters of the Lugansk SBU. Local activists who inflamed the rebellion against the Maidan authorities were arrested earlier. On April 6th, their supporters came here, demanding an immediate release of the Luganskites. The ultimatum's conditions weren't fulfilled, and thousands of people started storming the SBU building.
The police try to reign it in, but their shields get taken away, and people start breaking down the doors. The people are greeted with water cannons and tear gas, but it doesn't stop them. Government symbols get torn down from the SBU building as they break in. The police aren't putting up any resistance. Activists from veteran organizations try to stop people from destroying the building.
Sergey Sivak: "Why?"
People: "Quiet!"
- Tell us why?
- Be quiet! Where are they?
-They'll bring them all here before nighttime. If you break everything here, they'll never let them go!
People: "Shame on the SBU!"
This is Sergey Sivak, a.k.a. "Yugoslav". The paratrooper and former Ukrainian peacemaker in the Balkans tried to stop the assault from happening. He was worried about unnecessary violence, believing that these protests would give the Kiev authorities the excuse they needed.
Sergey "Yugoslav" Sivak, a local defense unit leader: "On April 6th, we didn't want to separate from everyone, that's important. We wanted to be a part of Ukraine, but as Crimea, as a Federation. But, what's done is done".
When the Ukrainian forces surrounded Lugansk, Sivak was among the first militia forces. He was heavily injured.
Sergey "Yugoslav" Sivak, a local defense unit leader: "The address of the place where the real Russian Spring had begun is the village of Khryaschevatoe in the Lugansk Region".
The resistance gathered here in Yugoslav's garage. The last meeting was on April 2nd; they talked about a resistance plan against the Maidan, which had seized power in Kiev. This is the core of Lugansk's local defense. Come on in!
A member of the resistance: "Holy cow, it's already been four years. It started four years ago. It started with this garage, here's its owner, he gave us, the so-called separatists, shelter".
During combat, Khryaschevatoe was almost wiped out. Somehow, the garage has made it through all of it. Right next to it is a basement of a house under construction, Ukrainian soldiers stayed there. The southeast's resistance fighters were right across from their HQ.
Members of the resistance: "Greetings from Krasnodon. Alchevsk. Krasnodon. Bulgakov. Bryansk. Northern Donetsk. Stakhanov. Mulansk, Belovodsk. Rubezhnaya".
Aleksandr Krasko, a former local defense unit chief: "We had a map of the Lugansk Republic where we gathered all the intel and monitored hardware movements. Everyone had people who'd drive around and look where the UKROPs were, where their bases were, how many people there were, what snipers they had, and who had guns. The history of the Lugansk People's Republic happened here".
Right now, they make monuments to soldiers for the Lane of Fame.
A member of the resistance: "We gather these guys and put steles up along the Lane of Fame. This is a shell casing from a 100mm MT-12 anti-tank gun".
There used to be 24 of them, but only 12 are here today. 3 died, 2 were badly injured, and the others couldn't handle it and left Donbass. One of them had betrayed everyone.
Sergey "Yugoslav" Sivak, a local defense unit leader: "Of course, I hope that the rat isn't among those that are here today. But, the Ukrainian security services knew all about our plans and movements. That's why, on April 5th, all of our movement's activists were arrested by the SBU's Alpha Group".
One for all, and all for one! Aleksey Koryakin was arrested in Stakhanov at 4 AM by Kiev's Alpha Group. He was charged with treason and plots of sabotage. The resistance to Kiev's SBU facility in Lugansk resulted in its seizure. By Sunday evening, the authorities had no choice; they released all those they had arrested.
Aleksey Karyakin, in 2014-2017, a speaker of the LPR People's Council: "I'm sure nothing would've happened. If they didn't go after our language, the Russian language, this entire thing wouldn't have happened at that time. They were the ones that lit this fuse".
People: "Power to the people! Power to the people!"
They couldn't hold the people back anymore. The SBU building was seized and its armories were repurposed.
People: "Here they are. Here you go, brand new and oiled. They have everything here. We even have swords. Cossack sabers!"
There are enough weapons for a battalion: Kalashnikov guns, grenade launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles, and lots of ammo.
Sergey Grachyev, an LPR commander's regiment captain: "We can decide for ourselves how to live. I've lived for 50 years, I know how to. We've gone through five presidents. What has changed?"
A simple Lugansk driver, Sergey Grachyev, took command over the seized building.
Sergey Grachyev: "When we made it into the armory, we knew that we could fight back now".
A week after the Lugansk events, Slavyansk became famous worldwide. It became the symbol of the people's resistance.
Andrey Savelyev, a participant of the 2014 Slavyansk defense: "52 of us had entered Slavyansk. It's a relatively small number to take on all of Ukraine. Slavyansk is a small town, but 52 people wouldn't be able to defend the whole town. Thus, nothing would have happened without local support".
16-year-old Andrey Savelyev from Kiev was the youngest soldier in the Slavyansk unit.
Andrey Savelyev: "I had just gotten my Ukrainian passport, they issue them at 16. So, I became a true Ukrainian citizen, and joined up. Against Ukraine? Not against Ukraine, for Ukraine, for the real Ukraine and its people, against the junta that took over the government and that keeps destroying Ukraine".
Savelyev was a medic in the Slavyansk unit; he medevaced injured soldiers.
Andrey Savelyev: "We already knew that nobody would help us. We didn't count on it, we knew we were fighting for the right thing. We knew exactly what we were in for, and we were ready to die".
Aleksandr Rogatkin, Aleksandr Smirnov, Dmitry Nakalyev, and Farid Khananov. A special report for Vesti News of the Week.
