David Patrikarakos AT dpatrikarakos
THREAD: I’ve come to the Donbas & onto the frontlines of eastern Ukraine for
AT unherd
I was lucky enough to spend time in a - covert - Ukrainian base right near the front. I must be careful about locations etc. What follows are my thoughts & observations on the war in the east.
You get a sense of the atmosphere in Donbas where fighting is intense from the flag someone has hung on the Donetsk Oblast sign: “Russian occupiers make the best fertiliser.”
On the road we meet a “pilgrim” walking to Mariupol to rescue people there. He carries an icon & papers he claims give him authority - including a UN official’s business card. “If he gets to Mariupol it really will be divine intervention,” says my Ukraine army friend Dima.
Dima & I discuss war and politics: “there’s anger at Russian brutality but I’ve never seen a POW mistreated. Our guys understand the Geneva convention & know they are a resource to get back our people. Prisoner exchanges take place constantly. It’s a delicate process.
“Everything I have apart from my gun & ammo - has been crowdfunded: my clothes, my boots, everything. One of Ukraine’s strengths is our capacity for collective action away from centralised authority.”
“Before the war I wasn’t a big fan of Zelensky. I thought he was a great guy but not right for politics. Now I support him 1000%. The most important thing he did was stay in Ukraine. It was vital the people saw that the first man in government did not flee. It raised morale.
As we get closer to the eastern frontlines things change, soon there almost only military vehicles on the road. We pass through scenes of recent fighting. “This car lost a game of chicken with a military vehicle,” says Dima.
As we draw closer to the front Dima tells me there’s intense fighting going on & we swerve around a pothole-ridden road. We get stuck behind two pheasants. “They’re totally deaf,” he says. “They’ve had their eardrums blown out by shelling. We can hoot all day they’ll never hear.”
Inside the base, Dima tells me about his work heading up a drone unit targeting for artillery. "We go up ahead to a sector, just close the front, to look for anything from armour to men. We do it, call in the strike, & try to get out quick as Russia fires back immediately."
Sometimes they listen to the Russian troops as they have access to their radio frequencies - which they call Paedophile FM - and hear them bemoaning their losses and cursing ukraine "What’s to stop the Russians trying to do the same to you?" "They do: every day"
"The way Russia is using WWII to militarise society is disgusting: who the fuck dresses an 11-year old kid up in a military uniform" Have you ever read Umberto Eco’s 12 signs of Fascism? All 12 of them are present in modern Russia."
The base remains both close to the front & hidden from Russia. At night, lights are switched off. Windows are covered at all times. We need to use the light from our phones to move around. We are asked not to gather in groups outside for fear of Russian drones flying overhead.
The soldiers here bunk down together to sleep but are constantly on alert and constantly leaving to go on missions to the front throughout the day and night. Almost everyone sleeps with their weapon just by their beds.
ukraine is not the cave battle of Tora Bora or counterinsurgency of Iraq. It's industrial scale army v army war on the European continent. "Everywhere are links wars of the past," says Dima. On the left a water bottle from Afghanistan, the right. The one we are given today!"
I meet Pasha: "I got here a month ago – it’s been hell. We're fighting local separatists with a lot of experience & Russia specialists & Chechens. We figured out they're special forces there b/c of the silenced AS Val guns they are using." (Photo taken on location far from base)
The soldiers here are ready for a long fight if need be. They have big stories of ammunition. Once more: this is the return of industrial-scale army versus army war in Europe.
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