Refugees from Donbass tell the truth about military actions in Ukraine

23 мая 2022
Belarus has always acted as a peaceful country on the world stage, as a country that has no claims to the territory of others, and is ready to help its neighbors. The hostilities in Ukraine, both now and eight years ago, are a pain we all share. Therefore, Belarus shows openness. Both in helping refugees and awarding them citizenship. The situation is under the personal control of the head of state. Ksenia Lebedeva met with refugees from Donbass who found peace and quiet in Belarus. Learn more from the author's feature right now.

There are a lot of fakes on the Internet about how the Ukrainian army rescues the residents of Donbass. And about how they don't shell civilian convoys that want to get out of Ukraine into the Russian Federation, and about how the Ukrainian army is the most powerful and manned and that mobilization is not needed and everything is under control. Under whose control?

I talked to refugees from Donetsk Region, who fled their hometown in April. They asked not to name the city or names, as people are worried about their loved ones who stay there. And they do not believe at all in the humanity of the Ukrainian "defenders. 

A refugee man and woman say:

- They don't let anyone go to Russia, we took circuitous routes, not only us, there were long columns of cars. We passed through the Russian border quite normally, but we were standing for a long time. If you took the way through Kharkov, as before, you could go to Belgorod, but now you can't escape that way at all. They were shooting at cars and so on. Many people were afraid to go, many had little children with them. We stood in a column at the border for four and a half days.

They had to stay in the woods for four days to cross the Russian border. It is clear that crossing over from the war zone is a business now, but people who work as guides are also at risk. Moreover, the Russians do not charge money from men for crossing, as the Ukrainian border guards do, where a conscript has to pay from 3,000 to 10,000 euros in order to be allowed through. And by the way, the trail that our heroes walked then, the trail of life for them and other refugees, was declassified literally two days later, and the new convoy was shelled by Ukrainian cleansing units. Interestingly, the path of the civilian column, the column with refugees, the column with many small children, lay through a minefield. It was examined before and there were signs everywhere: mine, mine.

A refugee man and woman say:

- Now you can't go anywhere, only to the Ukraine, to the West there. The bridges are blown up. 

- You're lucky.

- We still had time to leave, and then a few days later that was it, people could not leave even where we crossed the border.

As the characters of our program told us, going to Western Ukraine is not an option for those who are in the East - it is not only that they are not loved there, and they have not become loved more since 2014, but there are also no job opportunities there. Not only for the newcomers, but even for their own people. As for the fakes. People cite real examples of how Kiev lies, blaming Moscow and the Russian army for its sins.

A refugee man and woman say:

They tell a lot of lies on TV, a lot. There are a lot of fakes. The Ukrainians themselves shot somewhere, and then blame it on Russians. It often happened, too. People who were driving from there, from Tatyanovka, also said that it wasn't Russian shells that flew in, it was Ukrainian shells. 

Speaking of mobilization, in the Donetsk Region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces even called people to join their troops in the markets, on the streets, and at gas stations. Can you imagine handing out subpoenas in the unfriendly territory - how much of a shortage of fighters must it be? They say that it was scary to go through checkpoints, not Russian, but essentially their own, the Ukrainian ones. It is not only that the guys are unpredictable, but also the men are taken into the army right from the border. Many do not take the risk - they stay in the territories where military operations are taking place. And listen to the answers about the difference between the 2014 bombings and the current ones.

A refugee man and woman say:

-It was very different back then, quieter, now it' a lot scarier than it was back then. It's very, very serious now.

- Much more serious than in 2014? 

- Well, yes, at least the planes didn't bomb back then, but now the military hardware is completely different. It's very scary right now. 

Speaking about what they want now, refugees say they want peace. Just peace, tranquility and stability that they now found in Belarus. And people no longer pin their hopes on Zelensky's authority. 

A refugee man and woman say:

- We need to negotiate, but this government does not want to negotiate. 

- The Ukrainian authorities don't need this, can you feel it?

- They only talk on the news.

- Then it turns out they need a war if they don't want to negotiate.

- It goes like this. At least there were some negotiations at first, but then that was it. 

- Lukashenko is a smart man, who keeps his word. It's better here for now. It's stable, quiet, and peaceful here. 

The last negotiations to stabilize the situation in Ukraine took place between the parties in Istanbul in late March. Today is May 23. There is no question who needs military action in Donbass and Ukraine as a whole, because whoever wants to do it, does it. Those who don't, make money from the war, along with the American military lobby, and look for excuses for the people. Yet, the Ukrainian people have less and less faith in these excuses.