Some outtakes, if you will, from my latest visit to the Donbas. Here’s Oleksiy, 38, from Donetsk city, showing us his Italian and Polish munitions at a position near Izyum. He’s quite pleased with their range and ability.
Ukrainian jets zipping over the Donbas on their way back from attacking Russian positions.
A bit of what it’s like moving around out in the east. This was between artillery volleys.
The roads are filled with military equipment, including tanks.
…and trunks carrying pontoon bridges.
The closer you get to the front the more it looks like this on the roads. Black smoke all around. Shelling audible from everywhere. Nowhere is completely safe and there’s no direct route or straight path to any place.
It’s Ukraine’s industrial heartland, so there are countless factories, smokestacks, and slag heaps.
But there plenty of natural beauty too.
… a lot of it actually.
And amid the devastating fighting there is life and there are people going about their business somehow. Life, in a way, goes on.
One thing you quickly realize is that the air raid sirens not only wail frequently, but they do so consistently for several minutes or even hours without a break. Here’s the siren in a very empty and eerie Kramatorsk.
And because some people have already asked and others might also in the future, every video was filmed many days ago and with military present or with military permission, in line with all rules and regs.
And the siren in Druzhkivka just to the south. It wailed for hours that evening. The airstrike never came. Not there at least. But the threat persists and that is what is mentally exhausting for so many people.
Bonus Kramatorsk scooter footage. 🛴 They’re everywhere and people like them even more now with fuel as rare and expensive as it is.
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We traveled across the Donbas, in ambulances and military vehicles, to witness daring rescues and evacuations, as well as the aftermath of Russian airstrikes and artillery attacks. The war in eastern Ukraine is a living hell. politico.com/news/2022/06/0… via @politico
There're many brave volunteers like Mark Holtsyev who are risking life & limb to save desperate people caught in the Russian army's path. Every one is a hero. Holtsyev drove us toward Lyman in his ambulance where he, police, & troops were helping folks escape. 📸 @AnatoliiStepan4
After suffering humiliating defeats, Russia's making slow progress as it employs a scorched-earth campaign in east Ukraine. But Kyiv hopes momentum will change in its favor with arrival of NATO weapons.
We spent time with Ukrainian mechanized brigades, territorial defense forces, police, others. I've covered the war in the Donbas since day 1; in 8 years I've never seen the situation so intense & terrible. Ukrainians are taking heavy losses, up to 100 a day. Russians, too. My 📸
In the wide expanse of Ukraine’s eastern steppe, heavy weapons are the defining feature of the new phase of Russia’s war. It’s mostly a long-range shootout across gullies, hills, and rivers. Those with biggest and most guns will likely win. Russia has the upper hand right now.
Ukraine media buzz for you: Interfax UA announced a presser tomo in Kyiv with Marina Ovsyannikova, ex Russia Channel 1 producer, who's supposed to expose how Ru propaganda works. Many ppl aren't happy. Already, comments where it's meant to stream are 🌶️.
And now, various people at Interfax UA say the press conference is cancelled, and not cancelled, and we'll call you back tomorrow to update you. Hard to see this going forward, IMO.
YouTube page where the event was/is meant to be streamed now looks like this:
Ukraine's parliament just fired human rights ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova. MPs claimed her work focusing on the rape of Ukrainians by Russian troops which "couldn't be confirmed with evidence [...] only harmed Ukraine and distracted the global media from Ukraine's real needs."
238 MPs voted her out. Other complaints were that Denisova had failed to organize humanitarian corridors and POW exchanges, and that she had spent time in "warm Western Europe" during the invasion "but not in Russia or Belarus, where her status and powers could help prisoners."
🚨 Luhansk regional admin head Serhiy Hayday says evacuation of civilians near Severodonetsk has been stopped after a French journalist was killed when shrapnel struck him in the neck. He was apparently riding in an evacuation bus when artillery exploded nearby. cc @pressfreedom
The French journalist reportedly killed near Severodonetsk is Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, according to Serhiy Hayday, Luhansk regional admin head. Photos published on Telegram show his body splayed on the road, bus window shattered, lots of blood; and press accreditation card.
This is the eighth journalist killed in the line of work since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.