On July 5th the news coming from Slovyansk exceeded the horror we knew was coming when the militia departed. Oleg "the pitchfork" Lyashko led the charge into the almost deserted city, reportedly shooting five people. Of the almost 40,000 people that remained, most tried to stay out of the fight and out of the way, trying to survive the war going on around them without getting involved in it. These residents thought they were safe when the cleansing: killing crews arrived to mop up the city. They weren't supporting the militia.
On the first day of the 'liberation' 116 people between 25-40 were killed without charge or trial. The executions are still going on in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Witnesses say one man was strapped to an APC by his feet and dragged, then thrown into a car and taken away. Crews with dogs search the apartments, and without even asking any questions shoot people in front of their families. One person that escaped reported seeing a six year old he knew nailed to a sign post, as the soldier laughing. The father ran out of the building and was shot as he begged for his child's life. Another child, just 3 years old was crucified on a bulletin board by Kiev Bandera and his mother was forced to watch. The mother was then dragged around by a tank. The woman was the wife of a militia member.
Residents of Slavyansk are being forced to prove their loyalty to the government. To do this they provide information on their "former" family and friends that supported the militia, including phone, social media, addresses, and photos. One woman in Slovyansk, in a bid to prove her loyalty to the junta, murdered her own husband. Corpses lie uncollected in the streets, apartments, and houses. Survivors are being processed through 'filtration' (i.e., concentration) camps, according to people who escaped the 'liberation' of Slovyansk.
Confirmation of this level of atrocity comes from a fighter with Kiev's Donbass battalion: Oleg Dube (Oak). In a cleansing operation in Nikolaevka he wrote on his Facebook page that there were only civilians and no militia in the town. The battalion cleansed the town by throwing grenades into the houses and shooting anything that moved. Dube claims to have watched unarmed residents shot down in the street. According to him he complained to his commander Simon Semenchenko. His commander had him arrested and taken to their base in Donetsk. (Semenchenko is currently involved in an organ trafficking investigation involving junta leaders.)
Zelenopolea
On 7/11 in the early morning the militia attacked the national guard camp in Zelenopolea, a small town near the Russian border. The militia used the Grad (Hail) multi rocket system that Kiev has been using on towns and villages durating their Anti Terror Operation. Grad is designed destroy large swaths of personel and equipment on a battlefield. Thirty national guard were killed and 150 wounded as a result of the attack. The rocket's could be seen lighting up the sky with large plumes of smoke from where I live. As soon as news of the attack came (we weren't sure if it was a cleansing operation or not), some of the people that organized and voted for the separation referendum in May wanted to bandage the wounded. The army forbade anything from leaving town.
When the national guard were finally hospitalized one nurse reportedly fainted at the sight of such devastating wounds including; lost eyes, legs (some with both legs gone due to traumatic amputation done by the rocket blasts) and abdominal injuries.
Kiev has been firing this weapon on cities and villages. Reporters have been fired at with this weapon in an attempt to silence them.
Poroshenko's Reaction
In his address after the militia attack at Zelenopolea, Poroshenko promised that 100 Russian militants would die for every national guardsman. True to his word the junta chief attacked the villages of Dzerzhinsk Perevalsk with the Grad system, killing civilians.
At the same time (4 am) Kiev used the Grad system to bombard the villages of Kurokova, Maryinka and Kositantynivka. Poroshenko's order killed another thirty people in just one small town. With the overnight shelling and bombardment of Donetsk and Luhansk the civilian death toll is expected to be high.
What people are learning is that the only place that seems to be safe is the militia. Using the aftermath of Slovyansk as an indicator, it really doesn't matter what a person's position was on the referendum or the Russian language. Many in the small towns speak Ukrainian, but that didn't help. People in Slovyansk who supported Kiev are being treated like those in the militia: shot and killed, or sent to a filtration (concentration) camp. The militia doesn't seem to be the real target. Throughout the war, Kiev has targeted civilians and infrastructure. to date, official Novo Russia (Southeast) figures indicate that 80% of the casualties have been civilian.
Across the Region
Donbass is already feeling the blockade of food and medication, and soon there will be huge shortages of basic necessities across the region. Crops are ruined in large areas because of the war. Entire towns have been destroyed or uprooted (people forced to leave). If these issues aren't addressed now, when the cold weather gets here mass starvation will blanket the region. Warehouses of humanitarian supplies need to be created.
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