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Eyewitness: Human Toll of Eight-Year Ukrainian Army Onslaught in Eastern Ukraine is Shocking
By John Parker | September 15, 2022
Residents consider Americans who send money to the Ukrainian government in the belief that they are protecting them from the Russians to be "idiotic" and "foolish."
The third part of an eyewitness report. (See Part 1; and Part II)
From May 1 to May 12, I traveled to both Russia and the Lugansk People's Republic, an independent republic in the Donbas region, formerly part of eastern Ukraine. The purpose of this fact-finding mission initiated by the Socialist Unity Party and Struggle-La-Lucha.org was to report the suppressed information challenging the narrative of NATO and its member states, led by the U.S., in this proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.
[Image] Alexey Albu [Source: workers.org]
My visit to Lugansk was made possible with the assistance of Borotba (Struggle), a socialist political organization in Ukraine and Donbas that we have worked with for many years. Alexey Albu, one of the leaders of Borotba, also provided translation for me during interviews. This is the third part of my report.
On May 8, two days after we visited the Rubizhne shelter, we made our way from Lugansk city to the villages of Sokilnyky and Krymske. Both had recently been taken over by the joint forces of the Lugansk People’s Militia (LPM) and the Russian military.
After the 2014 U.S.-sponsored coup in Ukraine that brought to power a pro-Washington, anti-Moscow regime partnering with fascist forces, the majority Russian-speaking people of the Donbas region decided they did not want any part of this backsliding of history.
Dramatic evidence of the new coup government's fascist leanings came in its support for the neo-Nazis who burned alive activists at Odessa's House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014. To this day, none of the perpetrators has been charged with any crime. Given that incident, the people of the Donbas region declared themselves the independent Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). They voted by 89% in Donetsk and 96% in Lugansk for that change. Instead of honoring the wishes of the people of Donbas, Kyiv labeled them terrorists and sent armed forces with heavy artillery and aircraft against civilians, threatening to wipe out the population. The Lugansk People's Militia was organized to defend the area.
When the Minsk II cease-fire agreements took effect in 2015, the opposing sides' positions were drawn. Sokilnyky was controlled by the Lugansk People’s Republic. Krymske was occupied and controlled by the Ukrainian military.
If the cease-fire stipulations under the Minsk II agreements were adhered to by the Ukrainian military, it would have protected this community. Instead, the agreement was used by Ukraine to create a one-sided shooting range against civilians in Sokilnyky. Today no one lives there and the homes and buildings have been destroyed.
The road that runs between Sokilnyky and Krymske is called Vulytsya Horkoho, named for the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky. Google also translates it as "Bitter Street." The name is fitting since less than a quarter-mile north runs the Siverskyi Donets River—the border between two conflicting sides in a war.
When you travel along this road toward Sokilnyky, you see idle and broken-down Ukrainian tanks that were used against the villagers after 2014, when no military force was there to protect those communities.
Ukraine continued war after Minsk II
The 122-mm shells from the Ukrainian government's arsenal rained down on villagers from the north of the river’s edge and west of Sokilnyky, aimed at anyone driving along this road or just relaxing at home. These shells are capable of stopping tanks, penetrating bunkers and taking down aircraft. And as we could see along the way, many homes were blown to bits or barely left standing.
The 2015 Minsk II agreements were negotiated by Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France and the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, allowing for some self-determination of the Donbas regions and the right to be protected by their own military forces—the Lugansk People's Militia and the Donetsk People's Militia.
By 2017, however, most residents on this road east of Krymske who survived left the area since it was too dangerous.
Although the Minsk agreements forbade attacks within this area, our guide told us that, after 2015, the Lugansk militia forces began calling this street the "Road of Life," where LPR forces had to travel fast to keep from being shot at. "For seven years Nazis violated the Minsk agreements…They attacked peaceful people who lived in this village during those Minsk violations," explained our LPM guide, who led us to our next location further west toward Krymske.
We saw further evidence of houses resembling Swiss cheese rather than safe spaces for families. We stopped on the edge of Zynamyanka village, where a monument commemorating fallen World War II soldiers was located. We had to follow the steps of the person in front since the area was filled with unexploded shells dropped by the Ukrainian forces.
We reached an administrative building that was now more cinder block pieces than structure. Two wires strewn across our path warned us not to go any further since that area was not partially cleared of unexploded shells or mines.
Against the advice of our guide, a very brave journalist from the news service Izvestia continued walking and laying a path for us. Why would he take such a risk? Because, he said, he felt it was important for us to see up close the monument with the names of those from this and nearby villages of both Ukrainian and Russian Soviet soldiers killed fighting the Nazi threat during World War II—so we could appreciate the respect these residents had for their relatives who fought fascists. And to appreciate their suffering in being targeted by those who adhere to that same fascist ideology.
My comrades insisted they walk in front of me, following the soldier from the LPM. Then it hit me hard. From our friends in Borotba to the guides from the Lugansk People's Militia and brave journalists dedicated to telling the truth—they were all here assisting me, putting their bodies on the line to keep me safe, because they believed the message I would relay back to the U.S. was that important.
I truly wish the U.S. anti-war movement that has so cynically and arrogantly dismissed any facts or testimony coming from the people in Lugansk and Donetsk, who refuse to acknowledge their experiences or even existence, could feel just one-tenth of what I felt in that moment.
When we reached the monument, carefully, the words with the hundreds of names of buried soldiers read: "Your Heroism Is Immortal and Your Glory Is Eternal."
[Video walking to the Monument in Zynam'yanka]
Sister towns separated by war
The once Ukrainian-held territory in and around Krymske, just west of us, included areas within eyeshot of the LPR-held Sokilnyky village. In 2014 almost 2,000 people lived in Krymske, and 1,000 lived in Sokilnyky. They lie about five minutes from each other by car.
In fact, the communities were very close. One of the Izvestia reporters with us wrote: "If a guy from Krymske married a girl from Sokilnyky, the wedding was played in two villages at once." But after the battles in 2014 and by 2015, the two communities remained separated with blocks of concrete and barbed wire.
After passing the town of Sokilnyky, we drove about a quarter mile to where the Ukrainian military had installed bunkers and barracks to target that village, using these places to launch missiles and those 122-mm shells against the LPR-held territories, even in the years when civilians were still there.
Please go to CovertAction Magazine to continue reading.
Hundreds Of Children Included In Ukrainian Kill-List
What do we know about 'petal mines' scattered in the streets of Donetsk?
Source: CovertAction Magazine
Eyewitness: Human Toll of Eight-Year Ukrainian Army Onslaught in Eastern Ukraine is Shocking
By John Parker | September 15, 2022
John Parker walking through a Ukrainian bunker west of Sokilnyky. [Source: Photo courtesy of John Parker]
The eastern Ukrainian countryside is being littered with Ukrainian Army mines while some towns have been abandoned as residents had to escape Ukrainian Army shelling.
Residents consider Americans who send money to the Ukrainian government in the belief that they are protecting them from the Russians to be "idiotic" and "foolish."
The third part of an eyewitness report. (See Part 1; and Part II)
From May 1 to May 12, I traveled to both Russia and the Lugansk People's Republic, an independent republic in the Donbas region, formerly part of eastern Ukraine. The purpose of this fact-finding mission initiated by the Socialist Unity Party and Struggle-La-Lucha.org was to report the suppressed information challenging the narrative of NATO and its member states, led by the U.S., in this proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.
My visit to Lugansk was made possible with the assistance of Borotba (Struggle), a socialist political organization in Ukraine and Donbas that we have worked with for many years. Alexey Albu, one of the leaders of Borotba, also provided translation for me during interviews. This is the third part of my report.
On May 8, two days after we visited the Rubizhne shelter, we made our way from Lugansk city to the villages of Sokilnyky and Krymske. Both had recently been taken over by the joint forces of the Lugansk People’s Militia (LPM) and the Russian military.
After the 2014 U.S.-sponsored coup in Ukraine that brought to power a pro-Washington, anti-Moscow regime partnering with fascist forces, the majority Russian-speaking people of the Donbas region decided they did not want any part of this backsliding of history.
Dramatic evidence of the new coup government's fascist leanings came in its support for the neo-Nazis who burned alive activists at Odessa's House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014. To this day, none of the perpetrators has been charged with any crime. Given that incident, the people of the Donbas region declared themselves the independent Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). They voted by 89% in Donetsk and 96% in Lugansk for that change. Instead of honoring the wishes of the people of Donbas, Kyiv labeled them terrorists and sent armed forces with heavy artillery and aircraft against civilians, threatening to wipe out the population. The Lugansk People's Militia was organized to defend the area.
Valery Bolotov proclaims the Act of Independence of the Lugansk People's Republic, May 12, 2014. [Source: wikipedia.org]
When the Minsk II cease-fire agreements took effect in 2015, the opposing sides' positions were drawn. Sokilnyky was controlled by the Lugansk People’s Republic. Krymske was occupied and controlled by the Ukrainian military.
If the cease-fire stipulations under the Minsk II agreements were adhered to by the Ukrainian military, it would have protected this community. Instead, the agreement was used by Ukraine to create a one-sided shooting range against civilians in Sokilnyky. Today no one lives there and the homes and buildings have been destroyed.
[Source: nationsonline.org]
The road that runs between Sokilnyky and Krymske is called Vulytsya Horkoho, named for the great Russian writer Maxim Gorky. Google also translates it as "Bitter Street." The name is fitting since less than a quarter-mile north runs the Siverskyi Donets River—the border between two conflicting sides in a war.
When you travel along this road toward Sokilnyky, you see idle and broken-down Ukrainian tanks that were used against the villagers after 2014, when no military force was there to protect those communities.
From left: Alexey Albu of Borotba; John Parker of Socialist Unity Party; and Evgeniy Miroshnichenko, member of the Youth Parliament, State Duma of Russia. [Source: Photo courtesy of John Parker]
Ukraine continued war after Minsk II
The 122-mm shells from the Ukrainian government's arsenal rained down on villagers from the north of the river’s edge and west of Sokilnyky, aimed at anyone driving along this road or just relaxing at home. These shells are capable of stopping tanks, penetrating bunkers and taking down aircraft. And as we could see along the way, many homes were blown to bits or barely left standing.
The 2015 Minsk II agreements were negotiated by Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France and the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, allowing for some self-determination of the Donbas regions and the right to be protected by their own military forces—the Lugansk People's Militia and the Donetsk People's Militia.
By 2017, however, most residents on this road east of Krymske who survived left the area since it was too dangerous.
Ukrainian soldier passes by ruins of bombed out building in the abandoned town of Krymske in eastern Ukraine. [Source: militarytimes.com]
Although the Minsk agreements forbade attacks within this area, our guide told us that, after 2015, the Lugansk militia forces began calling this street the "Road of Life," where LPR forces had to travel fast to keep from being shot at. "For seven years Nazis violated the Minsk agreements…They attacked peaceful people who lived in this village during those Minsk violations," explained our LPM guide, who led us to our next location further west toward Krymske.
We saw further evidence of houses resembling Swiss cheese rather than safe spaces for families. We stopped on the edge of Zynamyanka village, where a monument commemorating fallen World War II soldiers was located. We had to follow the steps of the person in front since the area was filled with unexploded shells dropped by the Ukrainian forces.
We reached an administrative building that was now more cinder block pieces than structure. Two wires strewn across our path warned us not to go any further since that area was not partially cleared of unexploded shells or mines.
Against the advice of our guide, a very brave journalist from the news service Izvestia continued walking and laying a path for us. Why would he take such a risk? Because, he said, he felt it was important for us to see up close the monument with the names of those from this and nearby villages of both Ukrainian and Russian Soviet soldiers killed fighting the Nazi threat during World War II—so we could appreciate the respect these residents had for their relatives who fought fascists. And to appreciate their suffering in being targeted by those who adhere to that same fascist ideology.
My comrades insisted they walk in front of me, following the soldier from the LPM. Then it hit me hard. From our friends in Borotba to the guides from the Lugansk People's Militia and brave journalists dedicated to telling the truth—they were all here assisting me, putting their bodies on the line to keep me safe, because they believed the message I would relay back to the U.S. was that important.
I truly wish the U.S. anti-war movement that has so cynically and arrogantly dismissed any facts or testimony coming from the people in Lugansk and Donetsk, who refuse to acknowledge their experiences or even existence, could feel just one-tenth of what I felt in that moment.
When we reached the monument, carefully, the words with the hundreds of names of buried soldiers read: "Your Heroism Is Immortal and Your Glory Is Eternal."
[Video walking to the Monument in Zynam'yanka]
Sister towns separated by war
The once Ukrainian-held territory in and around Krymske, just west of us, included areas within eyeshot of the LPR-held Sokilnyky village. In 2014 almost 2,000 people lived in Krymske, and 1,000 lived in Sokilnyky. They lie about five minutes from each other by car.
In fact, the communities were very close. One of the Izvestia reporters with us wrote: "If a guy from Krymske married a girl from Sokilnyky, the wedding was played in two villages at once." But after the battles in 2014 and by 2015, the two communities remained separated with blocks of concrete and barbed wire.
After passing the town of Sokilnyky, we drove about a quarter mile to where the Ukrainian military had installed bunkers and barracks to target that village, using these places to launch missiles and those 122-mm shells against the LPR-held territories, even in the years when civilians were still there.
Please go to CovertAction Magazine to continue reading.
__________
The people living in the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics have had to endure savage brutality the Ukronazis have inflicted on them since 2014 using US-supplied munitions and weapons:
The people living in the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics have had to endure savage brutality the Ukronazis have inflicted on them since 2014 using US-supplied munitions and weapons:
There are American and foreign mercenaries fighting directly against the Russian military inflicting as much damage as they can to blame Russia:
There are thousands of petal mines scattered all over the region of Donetsk including in the streets, behind buildings, on pathways and in areas where they are extremely difficult to detect. Russia's nemesis in this proxy war against Russia is the UK. The UK has constantly blamed Russia for dropping these petal mines all over the region and that is an outright lie.
Here is the reason the killing and destruction will continue in Ukraine. The HIMARS rocket munition system is being used by the Ukronazis to destroy civilian infrastructure and kill civilians in the Donbass region. The guy in the US who is partially responsible for this pointed out in the republished article above from CovertAction Magazine is the corporate Bolshevik apparatchik and war profiteer Democratic Representative Adam Smith from Washington State. In 2019, this war profiteer became chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, L3Harris Technologies, BAE Systems and Huntington Ingalls Industries dropped $3.4 million into the laps of the House Armed Services Committee during the 2022 election cycle. Smith took his share alright as an estimated 4,000 civilians in Donbass have been torn to shreds in artillery attacks by US manufactured Howitzer 155mm shells. Is is worth noting that while supply chains all over the world have been destroyed or compromised, there still remains in tact both military and civilian supply chain logistics to get all these weapons into Ukraine.
How exactly is Germany going to do this when gas has been shut off or severely curtailed from Russia to run its industries?
The incoherent shit about Russia the western media (dumb as dirt propaganda) is designing and making up through their propaganda outlets has now reached levels of utter contempt. Russia has deployed an estimated 10-15 percent of its military assets in Ukraine with the militias of the LPR and DPR doing most of the fighting with Russian air, artillery and rocket support. The Wagner Group and thousands of Chechens are also operating in the region.
The British elite hate Graham Philips and they want him silenced about what is going on in eastern Ukraine. Here is Graham in a recent report briefly describing the Ukronazi's attacks on civilians in Donetsk. Graham suggests the US-supplied HIMARS weapon system delivered the rockets.
It looks as though Kiev (it's not Kiev pushing for these weapon systems) is pushing hard for some hard core weapon systems from the US including F16s and Patriot missile systems. It is incorrect to say that Kiev is "urging for these US weapon systems." This is the US inserting itself and covering up their escalation against Russia through Kiev.
It is war porn certainly, but for anyone watching and observing and studying events closely in Ukraine, it sure is gratifying seeing corpses of Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries littering the battlefields of eastern Ukraine compliments of Russian artillery.
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