Pro-Russian insurgent forces skedaddle from former redoubt
SLAVYANSK, Ukraine — It has been raining for two days in the black earth region of eastern Ukraine, and the soldiers perching on the motley collection of vehicles clogging the southbound lane of the highway into Slavyansk huddle under their ponchos like drowned rats.
But they still manage to flash victory signs at their comrades manning roadside checkpoints. For this is an army on the advance, and the city they are entering was, until 48 hours ago, their enemies’ most important redoubt.
Ukrainian forces establishe daring of checkpoints around Slavyansk in early May, effectively laying siege to the city in an attempt to contain the rebel expansion.
But the blockade was fractured and the isolated checkpoints vulnerable to attacks by rebel forces based in the city.
A little over a week earlier, rebels used tanks to surprise and destroy a checkpoint to the north of the city, in a demoralizing blow to government forces.
It was one strike in a scrappy war of raid and counter-raid at which the highly motivated pro-Russian fighters excelled — and which appeared to be locked in a bloody stalemate. That resistance crumbled suddenly early Saturday morning, following several days of artillery bombardment to which the rebels had no answer.
Gathering their remaining tanks and fighting vehicles, Igor Strelkov, the rebel commander, and his men made a desperate dash for Donetsk, the regional capital 100 kilometres to the south where the self-declared People’s Republic has established its government.
Most — but not all — of the fighters appear to have got through.
Two days after the breakout, Slavyansk — scarred by battle, but far from destroyed — is still a long way from a return to prewar normality. Ukrainian troops are building their own pillboxes to reinforce checkpoints and sandbag bunkers once manned by pro-Russian militiamen. There is still no running water or electricity. Gas has cut out more than once and few, if any, businesses are open.
The streets remain largely deserted, much of the civilian population having fled or remaining indoors.
“We’ve got nothing. Nothing. I never expected to feel such fear,” said Elena, 51, as she watched Ukrainian troops trying to salvage a tank — it was not clear whose — that had rolled down a nearby gully.
“We’ve only survived because we keep a bit of a reserve of water and food.”
Like many, she declined to voice a preference for one side or the other, only giving thanks that the fear and danger of the past three months appear to be at an end.
On Monday, Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Ahmetov, pleaded with the government not to bomb his home city.
Meanwhile pro-Russian rebels are preparing for the expected government assault, destroying a railway bridge to block the highway north of the city and blowing up bridges on two other roads.