‘We know what’s coming’ Ukrainian city braces for assault
Russia looms over Slovyansk after fall of Lysychansk
Agroup of young off-duty Ukrainian soldiers gathered at a military distribution centre to enjoy a rare respite from the fighting that has again engulfed their fractured home in eastern Ukraine.
As they shared jokes and a pizza, artillery explosions could be heard a few kilometres away — a reminder of the looming battle that threatens to unfold here in the city of Slovyansk, which was occupied by Russian proxy fighters in 2014.
“Everyone knows that there will be a huge battle in Slovyansk,” said one of the soldiers, who could not be named for security reasons.
Now, eight years after their city was last occupied, the war has returned. Slovyansk could become the next major target in Moscow’s campaign to take the Donbas region, Ukraine’s predominantly Russianspeaking industrial heartland.
Russia’s defence minister said Russian Army forces and a separatist militia yesterday captured the city of Lysychansk and now controlled all of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province. Slovyansk, located 70km to the west in Donetsk province, came under rocket attacks yesterday that killed an unspecified number of people, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said.
Another soldier, a 23-year-old accountant who joined up when the invasion began, said Ukrainian forces simply do not have the weapons to fight off the superior arsenal of the approaching Russian Army.
“We know what’s coming,” he said with a sad smile.
These soldiers were still teenagers when pro-russian separatists captured and held the town for three months. The brief occupation in 2014 terrorised Slovyansk, where dozens of officials and journalists were taken hostage, and several killings took place. Fierce fighting and shelling broke out when the Ukrainian Army laid siege to the city to recapture it.
“Actually, the war never left Slovyansk. It didn’t leave people’s heads,” said Tetiana Khimion, a 43-year-old dance choreographer who converted a fishing store into a hub for local military units.
Slovyansk is a city of splintered loyalties. With a large retired population, it is not uncommon to hear older residents express sympathy towards Russia or nostalgia for their Soviet past. There is also distrust of the Ukrainian Army and Government.
After a recent shelling of his apartment block, one resident named Sergei said he believed that the strike was launched by Ukraine.
“Both Russians and Ukrainians kill civilians — everyone should understand that,” he said.
On Friday, a group of elderly residents couldn’t hide their frustration after a bomb blast slashed open their roofs and shattered their windows.
Ukraine “says they are protecting us, but what kind of protection is this?” asked one man, who did not provide his name.
“They kneel to that Biden — may he die!” exclaimed his neighbour, Tatyana.
After 2014, Khimion said, it became easier to know “who is who” in Slovyansk. “Now you can easily see: These people are for Ukraine, and these people are for Russia.”
She said not enough was done after 2014 to punish people who collaborated with Russian proxies to prevent a repeat of the situation.
“That is why we cannot negotiate, we need to win. Otherwise it will be a never-ending process,” she said.
The mayor of Slovyansk reflects the city’s new trajectory. Taking his cues from Ukraine’s wartime leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he has decorated his office with Ukrainian flags, anti-russian symbols, portraits of national poets.
But before 2014, Lyakh was part of a political party that sought closer ties with Russia. He said while promoscow sentiment in the city has faded — in part because of the horrors witnessed in 2014 — there are still “people who are waiting for the return of the Russian troops”.
As the front line moves closer, attacks on the city intensify. Threequarters of its pre-war population has fled, but the mayor said too many residents are still in Slovyansk, including many children.
The mayor says that shelling now occurs at least four or five times a day, and the use of cluster munitions increased in the past week. Although he remains optimistic that Ukrainian forces can keep the enemy at bay, he is also clear-sighted about his options. “Nobody wants to be captured. When there is an imminent danger of the enemy troops entering the city, I will have to go.”
At the entrance to the city, a monument bearing Slovyansk’s name is riddled with bullet holes from 2014. It has been painted over several times. It now bears the national colours of Ukraine, and red flowers are painted around each perforation. Residents of Slovyansk wonder — some with hope, many in fear — if the sign will soon be painted in the red, white and blue of Russia. —AP