Mediaboss Marketing

Fighting persists despite the two-year anniversary of the Minsk 2 cease-fire agreement.

By Benas Gerdziunas

2/21/17, 4:15 AM CET

Updated 2/21/17, 1:07 PM CET

The gut-churning bass of artillery rockets dispels the myth that a cease-fire is holding in eastern Ukraine, two years after the Minsk 2 agreement between Russian-backed separatists and pro-government forces was signed.

At least 30 civilians died when the fighting escalated again in January, following what the government in Kiev described as an unsuccessful offensive by pro-Moscow rebels on the city of Avdiivka. Ina sluggish 20th-century war of attrition, where undersupplied trenches are hit by sporadic artillery fire, graffiti on a Ukrainian soldiers helmet paraphrases the title of Erich Maria Remarques classic on the First World War: Nothing new on the western eastern front.

Civilians trapped in the fighting initially fled to safer ground in 2014. However, when their money ran out many of those families saw no option other than to return to their homes on the front line.

A Ukrainian marine, nicknamed Nightingale, walks amid heavy snowfall in Pavlopil in the Donetsk region. The OSCE has tried to maintain the Minsk 2 cease-fire deal, mostly in vain, as artillery shelling ensues daily and both sides use weapons and munitions banned by the agreement | Photos by Benas Gerdziunas

Most people went to the seaside or Kiev at the beginning, says Oksana Sidorenko, who lives in Marinka less than 100 meters from the trenches with her boyfriend and two sons. But there is no work, and local people in Kiev or Kharkiv take advantage they raise the rent costs overnight, forcing people to move back.

In Marinka, a Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk satellite town, the front line has not shifted since the war began. Daily shelling sprays shrapnel and separatist snipers continue to fire on civilians. The majority of houses here have suffered direct hits and the gas supply has been cut for three years.

With up to 5,000 people still estimated to be living in the town, a school continues to operate practically on the front line, according to its director, Liudmila Panchenko. I honestly cant remember how many times we already had to run to the basement, says Artiom, Oksana Sidorenkos son.

A lone civilian walks on a road near Marinka in the Donetsk region, which has seen near-constant heavy fighting in the last three years. With key infrastructure and transport links destroyed, civilians are often trapped between the front lines.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission patrols the roughly 500 kilometers of front line and buffer zones mostly in vain theyre often met with suspicion and outright hostility on both sides.

Visits from the OSCE are often followed by direct hits on even newly-entrenched positions, according to residents, ingraining cynicism toward lasting peace prospects and international cooperation.

During the recently-concluded Munich Security Conference, Russian, Ukrainian and European representatives reaffirmed their commitment to the Minsk agreement and signed a truce that was due to start on Monday, February 20. Nevertheless, the war continues and people on both sides of the barricades have grown weary.

A Ukrainian marine sits inside a makeshift dining hall near Mariupol in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military has experienced significant levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, which goes largely untreated. After almost three years of trench fighting and artillery bombardments, many turn to the bottle, or worse.

Soldiers on both sides occupy vacant buildings. Looting was an issue at the beginning of the conflict, as volunteer units on both sides seized properties and everything found inside.

Nikola Chorishko, a marine, was taken prisoner in the early stages of the war, when the Ukrainian military suffered a crushing defeat in the encirclement of Illovaisk in August 2014. The tragedy, as its referred to by Ukrainians, left thousands of casualties. Freed in a prisoner swap, Chorishkoreturned immediately to the fighting.

Artiom, 14, watches a film inside his front line home in Marinka in the Donetsk region. Just 10 minutes earlier, a fragment of a shell fell in the backyard. The house is dotted with bullet holes from a sniper position directly opposite. The separatist positions are less than 300 meters away and the Ukrainian military are 50 meters away.

Marines say goodbye to comrades who will spend the night in one of the forward positions along the front line near Mariupol in the Donetsk region. We dont say goodbye before the night, says Nikola Chorishko. Each morning after the night counts.

Oksana Sidorenko, Artioms mother, sprints across a sniper corridor in Marinka in the Donetsk region. Reminiscent of scenes from the siege of Sarajevo, residents must sprint across a street, as Russian-backed separatists continue to fire from positions directly in front. So far, two civilians have been hit, two soldiers killed and many more have experienced near-misses, according to locals.

A school in Marinka, a few kilometers from the front line. With artillery shelling nearly every day, the children have to hide in the basement, or below sandbag-lined windows.

A primary school student sits in a half-empty classroom. At the outbreak of the war, attendance dropped to less than 50 percent, but as families move back, numbers are returning to pre-war levels.

Yura Nogin repairs war-damaged buildings in Marinka, where he now lives with Oksana Sidorenko, whom he met while serving with an artillery detachment in the town.

An apartment block destroyed by artillery fire in Marinka. A U.N.-funded program tears down badly-damaged apartment blocks to be rebuilt, while those with only moderate damage are refitted by local construction crews.

The front line town Avdiivka has been the epicenter of a recent escalation in fighting. At least eight civilians died here in January alone, as the humanitarian crisis worsened with heating and electricity cut off. Temperatures dropped to -8 degrees at night in unheated buildings. This hole was left by artillery fire in 2014, and a home of a local man who didnt want to be named was completely destroyed in February.

A painted gate reads People live here, near Avdiivka. Houses still occupied by civilians mark their front gates a pattern visible all along the front line.

Excerpt from:
Ukraine: not quiet on the Eastern front - POLITICO.eu