Translated material
Military taxi
Alexandra Wagner - about the service sector in wartime, taxi drivers from workers in the field of transport services turn into a valuable source of information. So at least occurs in the eastern regions of Ukraine. By virtue of their profession, taxi drivers see much more than others. For example, they know where new checkpoints appeared, where one of the parties to the conflict took up positions. They can tell about the mood in the city, about what an important person said - while he was taken from point A to point B.
Going on a business trip to the east of Ukraine, I did not plan to use a taxi. I prefer to walk or drive in public transport, but this method of movement is more suitable for safe peacetime conditions. Seeing people with St. George ribbons on the form of the Lugansk Station on the form and automatic ribbons in my hands, I realized that only a taxi allows you to quickly hide before my presence causes suspicion, a check of documents or a camera will begin.
In the cities that I managed to drive, among the taxi drivers I met both supporters of the so -called people's republics and their opponents. There were more opponents in Lugansk . It would be more precisely to say that they were dissatisfied with cases of looting, the seizure of buildings, the confiscation of property "for the needs of the revolution", the appearance of people with weapons on the streets and swept their fear that full-scale military operations may begin, as in Slavyansk or Kramatorsk.
“I’ll go to the polls. Anyway, it seems to me that there will be no republic. If there is no war,” was the opinion of one of the taxi drivers on the day of the presidential election in Ukraine. A young guy from Dimitrov, Donetsk region, a town, on one of the buildings of which the flag of the so -called DPR fluttered, took part in a referendum held here on “self -determination”, but decided to vote in the presidential election. On the way to Dobropoli-another city in the north-west of Donetsk, where the presidential elections took place-he talked about where there were checkpoints of separatists, as well as about the hard local life: “There are four mines in the vicinity. All state. To earn more, some of two shifts underground are sitting on the railway, my friend worked on the railway, a salary-300 hryvnias a month. He left for the Czech Republic, married Lvivka, and for five years he built a house. "
The next day, another driver sympathizing with the DPR, the driver told how the taxi drivers are talking among themselves:
-I'm from Rostov-on-Don. He served in the army when the USSR was still, and when I was demobilized, there was already Ukraine.
- How did you end up in Donetsk? I ask.
- Father was in party work, he was transferred from Rostov here. Yesterday I was driving one of the commanders of the Army of the DPR, he said that the Kadyrovites regiment arrived in the city.
- I was sure that these were just rumors.
- No, we also transferred in the wave. We have an internal wave here, 98.2, we talk on it.
Among the taxi drivers there are not only people who transmit different information to the DPR command and receive information from them. Among them, as it turned out, there are even snipers. One, modestly calling himself a killer, told my colleagues with whom we visited the polling stations on May 25 that he went to Slavyansk and Mariupol and shot the Ukrainian military. According to him, he personally is familiar with the "Kadyrovites" who are fighting for the DPR, and with militias from Crimea.
Going on a business trip to the east of Ukraine, I did not plan to use a taxi. I prefer to walk or drive in public transport, but this method of movement is more suitable for safe peacetime conditions. Seeing people with St. George ribbons on the form of the Lugansk Station on the form and automatic ribbons in my hands, I realized that only a taxi allows you to quickly hide before my presence causes suspicion, a check of documents or a camera will begin.
In the cities that I managed to drive, among the taxi drivers I met both supporters of the so -called people's republics and their opponents. There were more opponents in Lugansk . It would be more precisely to say that they were dissatisfied with cases of looting, the seizure of buildings, the confiscation of property "for the needs of the revolution", the appearance of people with weapons on the streets and swept their fear that full-scale military operations may begin, as in Slavyansk or Kramatorsk.
“I’ll go to the polls. Anyway, it seems to me that there will be no republic. If there is no war,” was the opinion of one of the taxi drivers on the day of the presidential election in Ukraine. A young guy from Dimitrov, Donetsk region, a town, on one of the buildings of which the flag of the so -called DPR fluttered, took part in a referendum held here on “self -determination”, but decided to vote in the presidential election. On the way to Dobropoli-another city in the north-west of Donetsk, where the presidential elections took place-he talked about where there were checkpoints of separatists, as well as about the hard local life: “There are four mines in the vicinity. All state. To earn more, some of two shifts underground are sitting on the railway, my friend worked on the railway, a salary-300 hryvnias a month. He left for the Czech Republic, married Lvivka, and for five years he built a house. "
Unlike those areas where there were no military operations or where the "power" of the people's republics is not easy, in Donetsk the support of the separatists by taxiists was massive. When I and my colleagues returned after the presidential elections from the districts of the Donetsk region to its capital, where several administrative buildings are under the control of the DPR, we asked the taxi drivers if there were checkpoints along the way. We were assured that there were no checkpoints, but after five minutes one of the cars stopped a dozen machine gunners to verify documents. I was driving in the first car, we decided to wait for our colleagues, driving a little further away. The taxi driver with undisguised pleasure asked a rhetorical question: "So journalists? And do you have something to hide?" Then they called him from a car stopped on a checkpoint, and he confirmed that they were "too." After conferring, we decided to continue moving: it was not in our power to help our colleagues, and the taxi driver warning system could not work in our favor. Journalists in these parts are regularly taken hostage.In wartime, taxi drivers from the workers of the sphere of transport services turn into a valuable source of information
The next day, another driver sympathizing with the DPR, the driver told how the taxi drivers are talking among themselves:
-I'm from Rostov-on-Don. He served in the army when the USSR was still, and when I was demobilized, there was already Ukraine.
- How did you end up in Donetsk? I ask.
- Father was in party work, he was transferred from Rostov here. Yesterday I was driving one of the commanders of the Army of the DPR, he said that the Kadyrovites regiment arrived in the city.
- I was sure that these were just rumors.
- No, we also transferred in the wave. We have an internal wave here, 98.2, we talk on it.
Among the taxi drivers there are not only people who transmit different information to the DPR command and receive information from them. Among them, as it turned out, there are even snipers. One, modestly calling himself a killer, told my colleagues with whom we visited the polling stations on May 25 that he went to Slavyansk and Mariupol and shot the Ukrainian military. According to him, he personally is familiar with the "Kadyrovites" who are fighting for the DPR, and with militias from Crimea.
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A trip to Slavyansk