Donbass labyrinth

The column of military equipment under Russian flags goes to Donetsk. Torez city of Donetsk region, June 12, 2014 /Frame from the video from YouTube.com

The first blood in the Donbass spilled on March 13 - then, as a result of a mass fight in Donetsk, one person died between supporters and opponents of the United Ukraine. Today, the number of victims of fratricidal war at the Ukrainian southeast is estimated at 300 people. How many more victims will this youch take?

The bombing of Slavyansk does not stop, there are no electricity, water, shops are closed in the city, most of the inhabitants left the most dangerous areas, including the suburbs - Semenovka, which, according to some reports, the Ukrainian security forces on the night of June 12 were thrown by phosphorus bombs.

It would seem that before the common enemy, the defenders of the self -proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) should stand as a united front. But something opposite happens - among them there are fewer unity.

On June 7 and 12, attempts were made in Donetsk on the chairman of the Supreme Council of the DPR Denis Pushilin, who claimed the lives of three people.

On June 7, on the air of Life News, the DPR Self -Defense Minister Igor Strelkov lamented for the lack of people and weapons. Strelkov looked tired and upset, said that nothing good was waiting for from the new President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko: he, they say, would not go to peace negotiations, but would turn to NATO for military help. However, when exactly the interview with Strelkov was recorded - the question: on June 12, the sources of The New Times reported that he has not been in touch for a week.

On June 10, it became known about the arrest of the "people's mayor" of Slavyansk Vyacheslav Ponomarev. The fact of the arrest of Ponomarev and the inability to contact the rifle magazine was confirmed by the coordinator of the press center of the DPR Claudia Kulbatskaya, immediately making a reservation that in Slavyansk mobile communications problems. There are really such problems, but that the first person in the city could be left without a phone for almost a week ...

On the 10th, the Internet appeared about the call of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov Pushilin: they allegedly agreed on the ceasefire and the creation of the humanitarian corridor. Such a call could be completely in the spirit of Poroshenko’s promises to find a way out of the crisis. However, the press secretary of Avakov Natalia Stativko in a conversation with The New Times refuted this information: “There is no structure in the DPR, there is no one to talk to, what is the point of calling Pushilin or anyone else-he does not decide anything.”

Finally, Vladimir Pavlenko, the head of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of Slavyansk, who immediately declared readiness for negotiations of the ceasefire, was appointed new mayor.

The situation around the Donbass looks extremely confusing, if not deadly. And most importantly - there is no clarity that Moscow chose. On the one hand, Vladimir Putin, after a 15-minute meeting with Peter Poroshenko on June 6 in Normandy, ordered the FSB to strengthen border control with Ukraine, and on the 12th, the presidents again discussed the Donbass, this time by telephone. On the other hand, as the sources of The New Times in the Donbass assure, through a section of borders with the Rostov region of the Russian Federation, at the junction of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, there are still columns of cars with weapons and people, and under the control of the rebels for at least three gearboxes-Marinovka, Dyakovo and Dmitrovka. On June 12, after a conversation between the presidents, the network went around the videos of tanks following in Donetsk under Russian flags. It is unclear, however, whether the equipment from Russia has arrived or we are talking about tanks repelled by militias from Ukrainian Armed Forces a week earlier. And according to the deputy commander of the Azov battalion, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yaroslav Gonchar, to the Donetsk region from Russia, to 11.5 thousand militants have already been transferred, and over the past week the number of arriving people has doubled. Among them, the potter assures, there are also personnel military personnel, including women. “It is clear that women will not go to fight, it means that these are some sabotage groups,” the military suggested in a conversation with The New Times.

Meanwhile, in the city of Snezhnoye (Donetsk region), which is 15 kilometers from the Russian border, militias are preparing a new supporting point: serious fortifications have been created around the city, and inside, according to eyewitnesses, at least three hundred fighters, including many people with Caucasian appearance. According to Yaroslav Gonchar, the snow garrison is perfectly armed: in addition to small arms in the hands of the rebels of MANPADS, 82-mm mortars, machine guns "Utes" and BMP. It is unlikely that the Donetsk militia would have to strengthen the rear if they were going to flee to Russia ...