Two years after armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, one year after the signing of the New Minsk ceasefire agreement, a reporter from the International Herald Leader returned to the main conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk Oblast and Lugansk Oblast to understand the current situation there. The situation of
certificate inspection has become a barometer of the situation. This interview was conducted by the Kiev authorities. The reporter submitted an interview application to the "Counter-Terrorism Center" of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, and a week later, he obtained a six-month interview certificate in the military-controlled area of the eastern government in Ukraine.
It is called an "interview certificate", but in fact it is more useful as a "pass". For example, in cities in eastern Ukraine, there are military and police guarding or patrolling bus stations and railway stations, and they will check the documents of passing passengers at any time. Foreign journalists carrying computers, cameras or cameras will generally attract "key care". With the "interview certificate" of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's anti-terrorism frontline, nothing is a problem.
Interestingly, whether the military and police check their documents, how to check and interrogate them is often a barometer of whether the local situation is tense. When I just arrived at the Donetsk Oblast, Slaviyansk, the situation was generally calm, so at the train station of the city, three Ukrainian soldiers with live ammunition looked at me and walked away without asking me for a document. But during the subsequent interview, I was checked several times in one day. The questions are basically the same. I asked which media I came from, what I did here, what specific reports I did, etc., and I also took my passport with a camera. I returned to the hotel in the evening and found that on both sides of the ceasefire contact line, the Ukrainian government forces and civilian armed forces had military exercises, and the Russian representative of the tripartite liaison team of the Ukraine issue happened to be inspecting Russia near eastern Ukraine.
Anti-government civilian armed forces mainly occupy , hrgansk city and surrounding areas, as well as large areas leading to Russia. The areas north and west of the two cities are controlled by Ukrainian government forces. At present, the two sides have set up a ceasefire contact line. Although small-scale shooting and firefighting still exists, large-scale military offensives and combat have not happened since the signing of the New Minsk ceasefire agreement in February 2015.
In areas controlled by government forces, each major traffic road is equipped with fortifications and checkpoints. From one city to another, it often passes through several checkpoints guarded by military and police.
The reporter experienced the most checkpoints in eastern Ukraine. It was from the north Donetsk city to the south to Popasnaya village. It was about 50 kilometers away and passed by 4 checkpoints. Barriers made of cement piers and sandbags were placed on the road where the inspection station was located, trenches were dug on both sides of the road, and bunkers were also located next to some inspection stations, so that they could look outward and shoot. Whenever we pass these checkpoints, the driver always reminds the reporter, "We have eyes that we can't see when we are staring at each move. Never take photos, otherwise there will be trouble."
The people yearn for a peaceful and stable life. During the interviews over the past few days, countless buildings and infrastructure destroyed by war frequently appeared in front of them. There are high water towers that may collapse at any time by rockets , single-family buildings with the entire roof being blown off by shells, high-rise apartments that mostly seem to shake when the wind blows, and large industrial and mining enterprises that have completely stopped work due to the war... The bullet marks on the walls of the building tell how fierce the war was once.
However, in the eyes of local residents who live today, these seem to be accustomed to them. Next to the destroyed buildings are homes of all sizes, and hundreds of residents are still living there.
On the sunny days, you can see many residents walking in the square and streets with baby strollers. Although many shops have closed and many people who are able to leave have left, there are always a few supermarkets or small shops that are still "stubbornly" open to welcome customers, and there are always a few dilapidated buses and taxis that are still driving through the dark streets at around 10 o'clock in the evening. Occasionally, the headlights swept by, and the night is instantly torn apart, making people feel a little warm.
In Slaviyansk City, where fierce battles broke out, taxi driver Valoga said: "Now the residents here basically rely on government relief and international humanitarian aid to live. Most people have no jobs to do, and they cannot get their wages normally. However, we cannot live without our own homes. At least we still have a house here, and we can survive if we have some food. When moving elsewhere, the cost of renting a house is a big problem. I really hope that we don't have to fight anymore. We don't need to ask who is right or wrong. What we need is a peaceful and normal life."
In the "May Day Village" of Donetsk Prefecture, about 10 kilometers away from the ceasefire line, Aunt Zarechenskaya, who is in her 60s, invites reporters to visit her home. I asked her, aren’t you worried about being so close to the front line? She said: "Material and spiritually, we cannot live without here. My old man and I are used to it. Although the situation is not very stable now, and there is fire exchange every day, you can hear explosions here. But it is much better than the rockets flying overhead a year ago. At that time, everyone took refuge in the cellar. Now if there are rockets coming, we will watch it as fireworks. If it is not possible to hit it, it will be destined."
"This place was hit by rockets a year ago, and now it is built again." Aunt Zarechenskaya pointed to the wall of her backyard and said, "There is a small lake not far away. A rocket exploded in the lake, and many fish floated up. The villagers even rowed boats to catch the fish for food." She said as she smiled, as if the war had nothing to do with her.
The reporter learned that in the areas near the ceasefire line, at least one-third of the residents still live in the local area, and their personal safety and living security are still facing serious threats, including sporadic fire exchanges, hidden dangers of mines, and water, electricity and heating. However, the people here are still living tenaciously. At the end of February and early March, the weather gradually warmed up. Aunt Zarezkaya had already completed more than acres of fields to prepare to plant potatoes. The dark soil entrusted the aunt's hope for a peaceful life.
The crisis is generally controllable but partially unstable. In early 2014, when armed conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine was almost on the verge of division. At that time, in addition to the riots and wars in Luhansk Prefecture and Donetsk Prefecture, there were turmoil to varying degrees in Odessa Prefecture in southern Ukraine and Kharkiv Prefecture in northeast China. At the same time, the Republic of Crimea announced its merger into Russia's territory through a referendum.
However, two years later, when the reporter revisited the eastern Ukrainian region, he found that except for the economic downturn due to the turbulent and turbulent situation, the social order was basically stable.
It can be said that the situation in eastern Wu has gradually been controlled. However, if the conflict problem is to be completely resolved, it may take a long time, and the situation in some areas may even worsen. For example, since mid-January this year, the firefighting in areas near the ceasefire contact line has intensified, and the number of heavy weapons shots per day can reach forty or fifty times. The Ceasefire Observation Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation also confirmed that the images captured by the drone showed that the heavy weapons that were originally withdrawn by both sides showed signs of returning to the ceasefire contact line.
When the reporter was interviewing in an area 10 kilometers away from the ceasefire line, local people told the reporter that the calmest stage in the past year was from September to November 2015. During this period, the sound of fire exchange was almost no sound, and both sides of the conflict retreated heavy weapons. But now you can hear shooting and explosions every night, and there is a tendency to strengthen.
ICRC staff who often perform humanitarian aid missions in these areas pointed to fresh track marks on the sandy and mud on the roadside and told reporters that this was a trace of armored vehicles and tanks passing by.According to the New Minsk ceasefire agreement, these equipment should not appear 10 kilometers away from the ceasefire line.
At present, the key issues to the resolution of the crisis in eastern Ukraine are the status of the anti-government civil armed areas and the election of local authority agencies. Public opinion believes that political status will eventually develop in the direction of "decentralization"; and local authority elections may be completed within the year. The Russian-Ukraine-Ukraine-Dragon-Normandy Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Paris on March 3 has reached an agreement on holding local elections in the anti-government civil armed forces controlled areas in June this year. However, given that the security issues in eastern Ukraine are still very serious and firefighting occurs from time to time, it remains to be seen whether the election can be held.
Russia is still the destination for residents in eastern Ukraine. In February 2014, the Ukraine Provisional Government had just come to power and promulgated the law to "abolition Russian as the official language." The issuance of such a decree when ethnic conflicts are sharpened will undoubtedly become a fuse, causing dissatisfaction among the people in eastern Ukraine where the Russians live. Subsequently, various riots occurred in eastern Ukraine, until the outbreak of war, which has killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 20,000 people.
When an interview with the eastern Ukrainian region, the reporter found that most of the people who stayed in the local area were elderly, children and women, but young men were rare. After inquiring, I found out that many local men still choose to work in Russia to make money.
After the war, due to the large number of local enterprises being shut down, many people went to Russia through the Russian-Ukrainian border or to other countries of the CIS through Russia. Most local people have difficulty making a living in other European countries due to language problems.
The reporter found that in the long-distance bus stations in Slaviyansk and North Donetsk, controlled by the government forces, there are special ticket windows for sale of bus tickets to Moscow, Rostov, , St. Petersburg, and other places.
The conflict between the two countries has intensified to this extent. Judging from various external information, it has almost reached the point where water and fire are incompatible. But why are Ukrainians still willing or need to go to Russia to work, and Russia does not seem to have flatly rejected the labor force from Ukraine?
Gambling between power of major powers, changes in domestic political situations, and politics often have a decisive impact on social life, changing people's relationships and attitudes. However, the social bonds and geopolitical relationships formed over thousands of years will not be easily changed due to political reasons.
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