In Isolation Page 2

  February 23

  Opposition leader Oleksandr Turchynov, elected as the speaker of the parliament on the day before, is appointed by the parliament the interim President of Ukraine. Four days later, Yanukovych resurfaces in Russia. Later, in a documentary about the annexation of Crimea, Russian president Vladimir Putin retells the story of how Russian security services “rescued” Yanukovych and helped him make it to Russia, allegedly by sea from Crimea.

  February 20–March 18

  In the aftermath of the tragic events in Kyiv, Yanukovych’s disappearance creates a power vacuum. During this time, Russia covertly takes over Crimea and annexes it via an unlawful referendum and agreement. The Russian intervention takes place in stages.

  February 23, Sevastopol. A pro-Russian demonstration takes place in the city where the Russian Black Sea fleet was stationed. The leaders of the demonstration, members of the Russian Block party, announce the formation of “self-defense units.”

  February 26, Simferopol. A demonstration in front of the Crimean parliament—the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea—takes place. The protesters, most of whom belong to pro-Russian organizations, demand Crimea’s annexation by Russia. A counterdemonstration, comprising largely Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian residents of the peninsula, takes place at the same time and demands the preservation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Units of Russian military secret service (the GRU), arrive in Crimea from Toliatti.

  In Yalta, trucks with conscripted personnel of the Russian Black Sea fleet arrive.

  February 27, Crimean peninsula. Unidentified military personnel without insignia—later dubbed “little green men”—appear at key locations in Crimea and begin taking over facilities. On the night of February 27, the buildings of the Crimean parliament and government are taken over and the Russian flag raised over them. The parliament convenes a session under the watchful eye of Russian special forces, and passes resolutions to hold a referendum in May 2014 approving the expansion of the republic’s autonomy; to dismiss the prime minister of the autonomous republic, Anatolii Mohyliov; and to appoint a new prime minister, Serhii Aksionov, the leader of the Russian Unity party. A delegation of members of the Russian Duma arrives in Crimea and openly calls for Crimea’s inclusion in Russia. Russian forces then take over the airport Belbek and the ferry in Kerch.

  February 28, Chonhar, Kherson Oblast. At Chonhar and on other roads to Crimea, checkpoints displaying the Russian flag are erected, guarded by armed men in military uniforms with no insignia (“little green men”), and others in the uniforms of the Berkut and the Ukrainian police. On the same day, the Simferopol airport is taken over, along with the air traffic control station that regulates airspace over Crimea. Ten helicopters of the Russian military are reported crossing the border, a column of Russian armed personnel carriers is making its way to Simferopol, and five IL-76 military transport aircraft land at the military airport at Hvardiiske, in Crimea. Later that day, the office of the main provider of landline telecommunications, Ukrtelekom, is taken over and the master fiber-optic cable for the internet connection is damaged, cutting off cellphone and internet connections between the peninsula and the rest of Ukraine.

  March 1, Simferopol. Serhii Aksionov, illegally appointed prime minister on February 27 by the Crimean legislature, appeals to Vladimir Putin to help “maintain order” in the region. Aksionov moves forward the date of the referendum on the status of Crimea to March 30. In the course of the next two weeks, Russian forces increasingly take over Ukrainian military and navy installations, government offices, and key equipment, while the interim Ukrainian government in Kyiv attempts negotiations to prevent bloodshed and loss of life.

  March 11, Simferopol. The Crimean parliament passes the “Declaration of Independence of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.”

  March 16, Crimean peninsula. The unlawful “Referendum on Crimea’s Status” is held, two weeks earlier than Aksionov’s adjusted calendar. The referendum takes place with a heavy presence of Russian or Russian-backed armed men and armored vehicles in the streets of cities and towns throughout the peninsula.

  March 18, Moscow. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Serhii Aksionov sign an agreement on the annexation of Crimea by Russia. The annexation is condemned by the international community and becomes a major challenge to the global security system, particularly in view of the guarantees of Ukraine’s territorial integrity given by the US, the UK, and Russia, in exchange for Ukraine’s surrender of the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal in 1994 (the Budapest Memorandum).

  March

  Pro-Russian demonstrations and attacks on government buildings take place in Ukrainian cities in the east and south of the country, including Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), Zaporizhzhia, Melitopol, Mykolaїv, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol. Orchestration of these events is generally attributed to pro-Russian and Russian-funded people and organizations in Ukraine, as well as Russian secret services with local participation, using methods of aggressive propaganda and informational warfare.

  In Kharkiv, the building of the Oblast State Administration is briefly taken over and a Russian flag flown on its roof. In Odesa, a similar demonstration takes place on Kulykove Pole, a square in the historic center of the city. In Luhansk, the local Oblast State Administration is taken over several times, with Russian flags raised above it, then taken down, and the head of the Administration is forced to resign. Clashes between the pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protesters ensue, in which pro-Ukrainian protesters are attacked on various occasions.

  With the Ukrainian military demoralized and disoriented after the defection of many general officers to Russia, Maidan protesters form the first volunteer battalions for the defense of Ukraine. Partial mobilization of the population for the Armed Forces of Ukraine begins.

  Graffiti in Donetsk reading “Novorossiia! Putin.”

  The Lost Generation of the “Fabled Novorossiia”

  These days, the cliché of the “fabled Novorossiia” 2 is alluded to more and more often in the Donbas media. What exactly makes it so fabled? Those who have maintained their ability to think straight despite the psychological pressure of this strange war will reply that its fairytale nature lies in the illegitimate government, in the lack of respect for international law, and in the very name, whose historical roots long ago withered in the soil of hard reality. But first, I should introduce myself: I may be the only person in contemporary Makiїvka who continues to live here with the blue and yellow flag 3 still fluttering in my head. Most pro-­Ukrainian Makiїvites have left their hometown to become refugees, pining away for their native corner on the pages of social media. I’m not ready to vouch for its accuracy, but based on the social sampling available to me today, among 100 percent of my acquaintances, relatives, and friends, there isn’t a single one who would say they’re against the “Donetsk People’s Republic.”

  Beyond that, another number comes to mind: about 80 percent of my male friends and acquaintances are now serving with the opolchenie—the separatist “citizens’ militias”—often in different units of militants that despise each other.4 This makes the list of enemies of Ukraine far more extensive than we can imagine, because every one of these former plumbers, coal miners, and roofers has at least five to ten relatives whose attitude is exactly the same as that of their sons, husbands, and brothers. The point I’m trying to make is that the grassroots nature of the separatist militia makes the problem of the current war in the Donbas a far deeper one than people are used to thinking about.

  Most people are used to considering all this the consequence of the Kremlin pulling the strings of local oligarchs and the intervention of regular units of the Russian Federation’s armed forces, and only after that, the local population burrowed into their armchairs, watching the propagandistic LifeNews TV channel.5 In fact, all these boys with orange-and-black ribbons 6 pinned to their fevered breasts live within 300 yards of m
y home. And the propaganda war is no more intense there than it is in my own armchair!

  But the minute the bells rang out for the “Russian Spring,” 7 they all showed up on the city squares with portraits of Putin in wooden frames, for reasons that would probably need a separate chapter to explain. In any case, I want to describe how “the fabled Novorossiia,” whose legend is becoming less fabulous by the minute, has been able to hang on here, in the vastness of our land, for nearly a year now, and to put down roots more and more deeply.

  As of January 2015, the situation in the DPR looks like this: most of the industrial giants are closed, some of the coal mines have had their power cut and have been flooded, social benefits—with very few exceptions—are not being paid, and the universities and banks have all moved west to territory under the control of the Ukrainian government; in their place, the people here have been trying to set up some kind of surrogate along the lines of the “Central Republican Bank.”

  Most financial resources in the region are going to cover the war and to pay the fighters in the militias. For instance, my friend who is a private gets around 7,000 hryvnias [440 US dollars] for operating a Grad multiple rocket launcher.8 It’s true that “humanitarian aid” is being trucked here from Russia, but most of it is sold off at tables in “everything but the kitchen sink” bazaars, where it goes for ridiculously low prices to those who still have the means to buy anything at all—even at such reduced prices. Despite all of this, you won’t find a single person on the streets of Donetsk or Makiїvka who is not prepared to curse the “bloody Ukrops.” 9 Why is that?

  When I first heard someone use the term “Donetsk People’s Republic,” I remember how a feeling of perplexity washed over me rather than the urge to smile, and I thought, “What the heck are they talking about? What republic? What kind of nonsense is this?” But just a few months later, my entire family, to a person, put check marks in the box for “Independence” in the now-notorious “referendum.” 10

  But this isn’t even about my grandma, who thought that she was voting in a Ukrainian presidential election 11 (which actually took place, though much later)—the names “Hubariev” 12 and the abbreviation “DNR” (DPR) looked like gibberish to her—nor is it about my apolitical mom who checked the box for the republic just to avoid getting dirty looks from the neighbors. Many people genuinely believed in this “new bastion of the good” against Ukraine’s “fascist capital.”

  But the very fact that “Novorossiia” became possible precisely here, on this soil, forces us to consider the lower strata of the social atmosphere where, beyond the nefarious hand of the Kremlin and despite the actual silencing of Ukrainian TV and the broadcasting of exclusively pro-­Russian channels, there appear the faces of ordinary people whose responsibility cannot in anyway be written off as an “outside influence.”

  The backbone of the “militia” is formed by locals who lost their jobs because of the arrival of winter and continuing social upheaval. In addition to these are local riffraff with whom Mr. Strelkov 13 and his gang, while they were still active in Donetsk, dealt very harshly. We are talking about those addicted to drugs or alcohol who were given the choice of either building defensive fortifications, digging trenches, serving in the “Novorossiia” army, or getting snuffed out. Then there are the young guys from more-or-less respectable families who, to this very day, can count on their relatives to bring them borscht and hot meals in the barracks.

  Of course, this has nothing to do with regular units of the Russian army, the volunteers from Russia, Czechia, and Serbia, or the Chechens. I can only speak about those who are walking around right now with a Ukrainian passport in their back pockets after changing the cover for one with a DPR flag on it.

  Every one of these men has a dozen reasons for joining the separatist militants. Every one of them has gone through his own school of war and changed to such a degree that I can no longer recognize even those whom I’ve known for twenty years. Many of these men no longer see themselves and their future outside of the war, and should the shooting in the Donbas actually stop, they already have plans to migrate to the Middle East to fight in other armed conflicts.

  While we are all busy following the movement of the tectonic plates of international diplomacy, we’re paying far too little attention to what could turn out to be a much more serious problem than just shooting at each other right now: we are in danger of losing an entire generation on both sides of the front.

  January 20, 2015

  Radio Svoboda (RFE/RL)

  The destroyed building of the new terminal of the Donetsk Airport.

  The War in the Donbas

  2014

  April 6

  A pro-Russian demonstration takes place in Lenin Square in Donetsk. The Donetsk State Oblast Administration building is taken over by the protesters.

  In Luhansk, the building of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is taken over.

  April 7

  In Donetsk, a group proclaiming itself the deputies of Donetsk Oblast cities votes to declare the sovereignty of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (the DPR).

  In Luhansk, three thousand pro-Russian fighters attack and occupy the local branch of the National Bank of Ukraine, located next to the SBU building.

  April 8

  In Luhansk, the formation of a self-styled parliament begins after a pro-Russian demonstration in front of the SBU building. Inside the building, sixty people are taken hostage by armed separatists and used as human shields against Ukrainian security forces. (All hostages are released by the end of the day.)

  April 10

  In Donetsk, pro-Russian separatists announce that there will be a referendum to legitimize the DPR, and they begin forming an “election committee.”

  April 12

  Armed separatists attack and take over police precincts in the cities of Slov’iansk and Kramatorsk, and the city council in Artemivsk. Similar attacks are launched in Horlivka and Krasnyi Lyman. A unit under the command of Igor Girkin (Strelkov) takes control of Slov’iansk, Kramatorsk, and several other towns. The battle for Kramatorsk begins. (Ukrainian forces liberate the towns from DPR militants and Russian mercenaries on July 5.)

  April 13

  Ukraine’s National Security Council, without declaring martial law and with the involvement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announces the beginning of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). The situation in Ukraine is discussed at a meeting of the UN Security Council. The first battle takes place near Slov’iansk; here, the Ukrainian military engages Igor Strelkov’s fighters.

  In Zaporizhzhia, an attempt by pro-Russian separatists to storm the city council is thwarted by pro-Ukrainian residents.

  In Kharkiv, pro-Russian protesters violently attack local pro-Ukrainian protesters.

  In Mariupol, the building of the city council is taken over.

  April 14

  In Donetsk, a majority of the local police members join the pro-Russian protesters. Checkpoints are installed on key routes and intersections and are controlled by armed men without insignia.

  April 16

  In Donetsk, the pro-Russian protesters take over the building of the Donetsk City Council.

  April 17

  A pro-Ukrainian demonstration takes place in Donetsk, with close to 3,000 participants. A large yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flag is carried at the demonstration as a symbol of Ukraine’s unity.

  Russia’s president Vladimir Putin makes a statement calling southeast Ukraine “Novorossiia” (New Russia), while contending that Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions were merely “transferred” to Ukraine by the Soviet government.

  Quadrilateral negotiations with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, the EU, and the US take place in Geneva, Switzerland. In these talks, Ukraine demands that Russia cease all support for the separatist forces and withdraw its military, paramilitary, and mercenary units, an
d return Crimea to Ukrainian control.

  A battle begins for control of Mount Karachun near Slov’iansk, a key location due to its high elevation and the TV broadcasting tower on the mountain.

  April 21

  Pro-Russian activists in Odesa declare the establishment of the “Odesa People’s Republic.”

  April 27

  In Luhansk, the “Luhansk People’s Republic” is declared by those occupying the SBU building.

  April 28

  A pro-Ukrainian demonstration in Donetsk is attacked by masked men armed with baseball bats, resulting in heavy injuries and the disappearance of some of the participants in the demonstration. The Donetsk police do not interfere as pro-Ukrainian protesters are being attacked.

  In Kharkiv, the tents of pro-Russian separatists are removed by the local police.

  April 29

  In Luhansk, around 3,000 protesters led by armed men in military equipment, helmets, and bulletproof vests, storm the building of the Luhansk Oblast State Administration and take it over, raising the flags of Russia and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LPR) over the building. The local police join the LPR protesters. The Luhansk TV station and the office of the oblast prosecutor general are taken over. Late at night the building of the Luhansk City Council is stormed and taken over by LPR militants.