"Stop the war - we are killed!"

Above Volkov, the snow stood on knees on the blink of blood and is inclined over the body of his 60-year-old mother of Catherine. Bricks do not allow the winter gust of wind to tear off the blanket, which covered with a shrapnel body. Hope strokes his mother’s hand, trembling with grief, and tears stand in her eyes. She is waiting for an investigator who should take the body.

Four days ago, the war returned to Avdeevka in eastern Ukraine again. On February 1, at about half a hundred morning, a city with a population of 22 thousand people covered the flurry of shells. So the inhabitants of Avdeevka say. Among them, there were three more recently: hope, her grandmother and mother, but on the way to the store at that fateful morning, the mother of hope died.

After almost three years since the fights began in the Donbass, the war returned here again: here and there, along the 450-kilometer line of distinction between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists, armed clashes occur.

Avdeevka suffered the most. Around 28 days and night, the approaching artillery blows were heard almost continuously. And the industrial city turned into a place with piles of broken glass and asphalt, with armored personnel carriers and soldiers, which are more on the streets on the roads.

Brachonomer on City Street

In terms of intensity and strength of bloodshed, resumed military operations resemble another battle that took place a year ago - beyond Debaltseve. Then the battles for the strategic railway junction unit 70 kilometers northeast of Avdeevka ended in the death of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers, who were surrounded by separatists with the support of the military from Russia.

These events led to the conclusion of agreements known as a set of measures to fulfill the Minsk agreements that did not bring anything reminiscent of the world.

“In Avdeevka is no worse,” says Peter Ivanovich, who, like many local residents, does not call his last name, limiting himself with a name and patronymic. At night, he was awakened by the sounds of shells who fell into the school yard next to the high -rise building in which he lives. “This is not Debaltseve yet,” says Pyotr Ivanovich, examining the dark craters and traces of shrapnel near them, which are clearly visible in the snow. On the wastelands, the earth is similar to the lunar landscape.

House destroyed during the artillery

Since January 29, at least ten civilians on both sides of the front became victims of the resumed battles. According to official reports, over the past day two Ukrainian military were killed and two more were injured. These victims, apparently, had not yet managed to include in the general list of the dead after a new exacerbation of the conflict. As for the separatists, they do not report the total number of those killed. There is only a speech by a representative of the separatist command who confirmed the death of three fighters, including one of the commanders.

Resident of Avdeevka next to her destroyed house

Locals are not looking for guilty, they consider both sides to be guilty.

“They say:“ Ukrainian heroes, ”but what was heroic in their actions?” - asks Peter Ivanovich, pointing to the remnants of his neighbor's house. He says that he does not support any of the parties, because "both there and there are criminals."

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Alexander Turchinov, who visited the region on February 1, said in an interview with Radio Liberty that 20 houses were destroyed due to shelling. Almost the entire city was de -energized, heating did not work - and this is at a temperature of minus 18 degrees.

The Avdeevsky Koksochemical Plant - the largest employer in the city - not only turns coal into coke, but also supplies heat for most of the city. The General Director of the enterprise Musa Magomedov said that 4 thousand employees work overtime in order to heat everyone, but after the artillery, due to the termination of electricity supply, the heating station only operates at 20 percent of the capacity. “If the plant closed,” says Magomedov, “Avdeevka would have empty and turn into a village.”

Due to the problems that have arisen after the artillery, at noon at the Humanitarian Help item, more than two thousand people lined up for bread and soup prepared in the field kitchen of the Ukrainian military.

Field kitchen in Avdeevka

According to the representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine Vladislav Gusinsky, in the morning 175 people evacuated from the city to nearby settlements, of which 88 children were evacuated. In the evening, this amount will increase, as buses from Svyatogorsk and Mariupol will arrive. But not everyone can afford to leave. And not everyone wants to leave their hometown. Pensioner Alla Aleksandrovna, who came to the buses, remains to be goodbye to wave to her neighbor, to take care of her daughter and granddaughter. All of them live in its apartment paid by the state and count only on a pension equal to 48 US dollars. “We survived and survive,” says Alla Alexandrovna. But not everyone is sure of this just like her.

Pavel Zhebrivsky, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Civil Administration, said the assembled crowd, in which there were mainly women in fur hats and fur coats that the authorities are doing everything possible to resume the supply of electricity and heat.

Pavel Zhebrivsky talks with local residents in Avdeevka

Zhebrivsky was repeatedly interrupted:

"And the artillery shots?" - one of the women shouted from the crowd.

"Yes, how will we sleep at night?" -shouted someone else.

“What do we need is to stop the war!” There was a cry of despair. “They kill us!”

What is the reason for the current aggravation of the situation in the Donbass and how do they react to it in Kyiv? Radio Liberty was told about this by the Ukrainian political scientist, director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Strategy , Kostya Bondarenko .

Bones Bondarenko

- What is known today about the development of events in the Donbass? The conflict, first of all in the Avdeevka area, is fading or not?

- According to the latest information, it seems to be some lull now, but it is only conditional, because shooting is going on, but this is not as intense shooting as, for example, from January 29 to January 31. Shooting does not allow you to start completely to recovery work, restore power supply. Plus, representatives of the OSCE, as well as Russian and Ukrainian officers to contact or get into close contact, negotiate with the leaders of the separatists in the Avdeevka area are trying. And, accordingly, to somehow solve the issue of a truce. But at the same time, very large forces are now pulled off from the Ukrainian side and from the so -called "DPR" to Avdeevka, and it is clear that the mood in place is quite explosive. The commanders are tired of this uncertainty, many are eager for battle, even say that they will not comply with the orders of a higher command. Therefore, the situation is really such that any spark is enough to light a large fire.

- How much anxious in Kyiv perceives what is happening now? A flash of military operations around Avdeevka, shelling of a Ukrainian plane over the Black Sea ... Is this just another exacerbation, or is it a really dangerous moment now?

The situation is such that any spark is enough to light a big fire

- In Kyiv, public opinion was divided into two parts. Some believe that this is actually a provocation on the part of Russia, this is an almost official position of the Ukrainian leadership. Others do not believe in this and believe that this exacerbation has become a consequence of some provocations from Ukraine in order to prevent sanctions from the Russian Federation. These two hypotheses, two positions are approximately equally present on social networks, in the positions of citizens that I hear during communication with experts, with politicians. A discussion is conducted regarding who is to blame, but so far there is no discussion regarding what to do. Because everyone understands that, no matter how much it is discussed, we will definitely return to the fact that it is still necessary to fulfill the Minsk agreements, it will not be possible to get away from them, but no one knows how to fulfill them.

- In recent months, the Ukrainian authorities have been able to prepare new, sane recipes for resolving the conflict in the east of the country? Or does Kyiv react to events quite passively?

- Unfortunately, today the Ukrainian authorities are not engaged in the search for these new recipes, and only the accusation of the opposite side is following the path that the Minsk agreements are not executed. While the separatists and Russia also accuse Ukraine of non -fulfilling the Minsk agreements. Both parties say: they are to fulfill the Minsk agreements and accuse each other that these agreements are not executed. There are no sane "roadmap", two years have passed, there is not even a hope that the first points will be made - breeding the parties to a safe distance and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line.

I’m not saying that it is almost impossible to adopt the necessary laws that are provided for by the Minsk agreements by the current composition - these are amendments to the Constitution in terms of expanding the powers of certain regions of Ukraine, this is the adoption of the law on amnesty, the law on elections to the territories not controlled by Kyiv, and so on. That is, all this is a consequence of the crisis of a political vision of the situation.

Today, if we talk about who is right, who is to blame, the old principle "both worse" comes into force

- A lot said and it was written that the capabilities of separatists in the east of Ukraine in the last year were at the end that they certainly did not have the strength to attack. And suddenly such a development of events.

- I would not downplay the capabilities of the separatists. The fact is that in fact, quite large technical reserves are concentrated there. I do not believe in the presence of regular parts of the Russian army that are fighting on the side of the "DPR" and "LPR". Yes, there are mercenaries, there are a large number of Russian instructors, but there are no regular troops there. (Both Ukrainian authorities and independent journalists, and international human rights organizations repeatedly convicted Russia in direct military involvement in the military conflict in the east of Ukraine - RS.) But as for technology - yes, Russia gave them a large number of equipment, weapons, and this equipment and weapons are used with full return. For example, now, according to some reports, an entire tank corps from the “DPR” is pulled to Avdeevka, which is ready to join the battle.

- How do you evaluate the potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

- He, of course, is higher than in 2014. Then it was an absolutely unsettled army, without the experience of hostilities, and by and large, an army that was never prepared for war. In two years, I had to re -equip it and create an actually new type of army. Now this is a completely different army than in 2014-early 2015 than the one with which the separatists had to face Ilovaisky or Debaltsev. As for the current situation, yes, there are not enough technical points, there are not enough aviation units, but as for the fighting spirit, it has grown noticeably among the Ukrainian army. However, the fact is that the Ukrainian army has to deal with the enemy who went through a serious training. If large -scale military operations begin now, it will be a completely different type of fighting than three years ago.

- The chairman of the European Council Donald Tusk today urged Russia to use its influence on separatists in eastern Ukraine to stop the war. On the one hand, the world has not yet stopped paying attention to Ukrainian events. On the other hand, there are a lot of opinions and talk that in connection with the arrival of the White House in Washington Donald Trump, the West will begin to pay much less attention to conflict in Ukraine. How seriously do the Ukrainian authorities perceive this prospect?

I am very afraid that the West and East, Russia and the USA will begin to solve Ukraine’s affairs without the participation of Ukrainian politicians

- You see, the Ukrainian authorities made many political mistakes. No matter how much we talk about the heroism of Ukrainian troops, about the possibilities of the Ukrainian army, it is quite possible that political issues, including the future of Ukraine, can resolve today without Kyiv, simply putting Ukraine before the fact. For example, over the four years of the war in Bosnia, serious armies formed with serious capabilities, but it all ended with the fact that the participants in the conflict were simply put at the negotiations on the American military base in Deuton and confronted that they should sign a certain agreement that was not beneficial to any party, but which has been operating today for 20 years. I am very afraid that the West and the East, Russia and the USA will begin to solve Ukraine’s affairs without the participation of Ukrainian politicians, ”said the Kiev political expert Bondarenko .

Over the past day, four military personnel died in the conflict zone, 17 people were injured. The Bellingcat International Investigative Group Analyzing satellite pictures, videos, OSCE reports, reports in social networks, believes that the separatists installed "grades" in Donetsk residential quarters. The leadership of the unrecognized “DPR” claims that Kyiv is guilty of the conflict escalation and report at least two dead and 13 wounded as a result of Donetsk missile to the Ukrainian military.