On this day, exactly nine years ago, I was in Donetsk, Ukraine, witnessing the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine. Let me share with you what I saw back then. A thread on what Donetsk was like nine years ago. All photos and videos in this thread are mine. π§΅
1. May 2014 was the last month when you could get to Donetsk by train from Kyiv, and this is what I did. Why did I do that? Because Ukraine was the most debated topic in my home country of Kyrgyzstan, but only 1% of those who argued about Ukraine had actually been there.
2. I thought it would be important for me to just go there and witness everything. I spent more than a week in Kyiv during Euromaidan protests in February 2014, and three months later I returned to Ukraine to see how the war began.
3. In May 2014 most of the heavy battles between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian armed forces were happening around the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, but also to the south of Donetsk. Donetsk itself still looked more or less calm.
4. Local people used very bizarre terminology. They used the term "DNR territory" (DNR stands for "Donetsk People's Republic") but they referred only to the buildings occupied by separatists. This is Donetsk regional administration building, already occupied by that time:
5. Other buildings occupied by separatists included the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and the regional prosecutor's office. Outside of these buildings life mostly looked absolutely normal, as if nothing was going on:
6. But the tension was there, and I witnessed the last pro-Ukrainian actions in Donetsk. One of them was honking a signal on your car at noon if you support Ukraine. On the second day of this action separatists started throwing stones at cars that did that:
7. Local police had already switched to separatists by that time. This was disgusting: they still wore Ukrainian uniform but already collaborated with separatists. These cops totally ignored attacks on cars. Me and my local friend confronted them, but it led to nothing:
8. This tent was probably the last pro-Ukrainian action in Donetsk. It was installed by one of the local protestant churches, but people of different confessions were gathering around it every evening to pray for the united Ukraine:
9. Just a couple of days after I had left Donetsk that tent was smashed by separatists, and I don't think that any other public pro-Ukrainian action has taken place in the city after that.
10. Another place that I visited was the Donetsk Airport, three days before the battle for the airport would begin:
11. I witnessed last days of it operating as the airport, it even had flights to Munich, Kyiv, and Antalya, but almost no people there:
12. Also, I was there during the final week before the Ukrainian presidential election of 2014. Ukrainian authorities still hoped to hold them all around the country, and some candidates even had their billboards in Donetsk:
13. But separatists attacked most of the voting stations the week I was there, and Donetsk residents eventually could not vote in their city. This is one of the separatists showing me the room where one of the local (Ukrainian) election commissions was supposed to operate:
14. Back then, it was already obvious that Russia was behind the beginning of the war, but the presence of Russian regular troops was not quite visible yet. I remember driving around Donetsk and trying to understand the scope of separatists' military presence:
15. There were military vehicles at some separatists' checkpoints around Donetsk. I had to photograph them secretly of course, and I still don't know where they got them from. But back then they were most likely taken from Ukrainian military bases:
16. Russia would start secretly sending its regular troops to Donbass a bit later, in August-September 2014. But in May there had already been lots of "volunteers" from Russia, it was just difficult to understand what was the level of their affiliation with the Russian army.
17. Separatists were already checking cars that were entering the city of Donetsk, paying more attention to trucks like this one:
18. Checkpoints were installed at every major highway that led to Donetsk:
19. Before the war began in 2014, Donetsk had been unfairly described by many as a "pro-Russian city", this stereotype existed even within Ukraine. Well, that is not really true, Donetsk had a significant pro-Ukrainian share of its population.
20. May 2014 was the last month when pro-Ukrainian residents were able to demonstrate their position openly (though already with a huge risk). It could range from a cyclist whom I accidentally met at Tekstylshchyk microdistrictβ¦
21. β¦to some insanely brave people who one day, on May 22, 2014, hanged a lot of Ukrainian flags all around the city. One of those flags was at Donetsk central square, and separatists couldn't remove it from there for several days:
22. Overall, I visited Donetsk four times: once before the war, in 2010; then in May 2014; and then twice during the occupation. I love this city very much. I am sure Ukraine will liberate it from occupiers, and I will come back. END OF THREAD.
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