A number of villages in the ATO zone close to the front line have lost all signs of Ukrainian statehood, except of the flag. Absence of a municipal infrastructure and medical help, lack of meds and food, absence of state bodies and law, ineffective “admission” system – turned those settlements into a no man’s “grey zone”.
Problems of the “grey zone”, — within the round table “Invisible cities and villages. Life in settlements near the front line”, which took place in Kiev on May 22d – were discussed by volunteers, human rights activists and government officials.
Where are you from?
“The problem of “no man’s” settlements, which are beyond responsibility of both sides with no government bodies, concerns just a few villages, — Konstantin Reutskiy – a volunteer of a charity foundation “Vostok-SOS” tells. – We don’t have an overall image but suppose that there are 10-15 settlements along the front line. In the Donetsk region there are — Pavlopol, Telmanovo, Kominternovo, Vodyanoe, Pishevik, Chernenko villages. In the Luhansk region there are – Lopaskino and Lobachyovo. Here we are talking about 1-2 thousand people. The number seems not so big, but imagine yourself a safe region of Kiev, which happened to be on the front line, what is very possible in a closest future. Imagine that you cannot go to a store, call the police or ambulance, address any hospital or state body, moreover – you have to hide from shelling in basements for a long time and be afraid for your life all the time”.
According to Konstantin Reutskiy, except these settlements there are a lot of villages and cities on the territory, controlled by Ukraine. Thousands people live there without necessary for life elements of infrastructure.
“People have been suffering every day for a year now, and their problems are not resolved. There are no government’s representatives, who can explain what people can wait from Ukraine, how Ukraine can help them. Complete control over them was given to local authorities, which unfortunately were connected to separatists on that territories. A part of officials have escaped, some are demoralized and don’t perform their duties. People can live without electricity, water and gas for months. In winter people lived in Popasnaya and Debaltsevo in cold basements without electricity, water and gas, with a lack of food. I address the government’s representatives: we cannot afford ourselves to act exclusively within legal boundaries. They are not perfect and don’t answer challenges of war. Every official has to go beyond these boundaries and improvise to satisfy people’s needs. Just as volunteer organizations do, which don’t have such possibilities as the government and cannot resolve all the ATO’s problems”, — Konstantin Reutskiy says.
Volunteer of the charity foundation “Vostok-SOS” – Yuliya Krasilnikova pointed that the government doesn’t evacuate local population from settlements which are under a fire.
“There are cases, when people cannot organize evacuation themselves. For example, in Lopaskino village, Novoaydar district of the Luhansk region: there is only one car for 63 local residents. Regional administrations don’t provide such villages with transport. There are often no medical institutions in such places. In the past people could call ambulance from nearby regional centers, but now ambulance doesn’t go there. Situation is even more difficult because of a lack of petroleum. In such cases residents throw themselves upon soldiers’ mercy, who take people to hospitals or provide medical aid right away” – a volunteer tells.
According to Yuliya Krasilnikova, no one goes to small settlements, volunteers prefer more promoted in media cities.
“When you come to such “godforsaken places” the first thing you hear is: “Everybody had left us, we don’t know whether we still have government or not, nobody needs us”. Mobile shops work in some villages, where people can buy food and cloth. But there are no products for small kids, no children’s nutrition. Those products people can get only from volunteers”, — Yuliya tells.
“One more problem is an almost absolute absence of the law and control mechanisms on controlled territories, — Konstantin Reutskiy tells. – Arbitrary rule reigns there often. Local residents suffer also from Ukrainian soldiers. It happens because of absence of control mechanisms and discipline in the army, and absence of law enforcement military service, which hasn’t been organized yet. People sometimes can rely on decency and nobility of soldiers. More often they have those qualities, but, unfortunately – not always”.
Coordinator of the charity foundation “Vostok-SOS” Aleksnadra Dvoretskaya reported that the Donetsk regional administration attracted attention of soldiers to violation of a discipline in armed forces, crimes, including those which were committed by Ukrainian soldiers and addressed with a claim to military men to impact the situation.
Have no permit? Go back under the fire!
“According to official data, 3663 buildings were damaged by the war in the Donetsk region. According to data of the Donetsk Administration there are 192000 of pensioners on the occupied territory, who didn’t manage to re-register their pensions, and now they don’t get guaranteed by the state benefits. Reading such statistical data you can easily forget that each figure hides a tragic story of a living person. If you will look for reasons why so many pensioners didn’t re-register their pensions, we can presume with a confidence that it happened in most cases because of ineffective admission system”, — Aleksandra noted.
“On January 19th after a serious shelling, people, who were not able to bear it anymore, tried to leave the territory, — Elena Ivanova tells, who lives on the front line territory – Pavlopol village in the “grey zone”. – But all cars from the block post were turned back with kids, back to the village, and only after the OSCE mission’s penetration on the 21st of January, a column of 21 cars escorted by the OSCE leaved the village under a fire. Beforethiscaseeveryonewasturnedback. Where? To the place under the shelling!”
A lawyer of the charity foundation “Vostok-SOS” – Levon Azizyan told us how the same problem is solved in other settlements.
“The same problem arose in Vinogradnoe and Pionerskoe villages in the Donetsk region. It was easily resolved there. Military men received a list of residents of those settlements and Mariupol, who has country cottages there. Residents with a passport with registration can easily pass black posts. Absolutely different situation is in Pavlopol, Chernenko, Pishevik, Lebedinskoe, Vodyanoe and Kominternovo villages. Those settlements are on the liberated territory but they are cut off from Ukraine. Residents of those settlements have to get permits to get away from their village, because last block posts controlled by Ukraine army were set in a gate away from settlements, despite the fact, that there are no fighters and they are released. I mean that the village is released, but in reality it is beyond the demarcation line”, — Levon Azizyan told.
According to the lawyer, there is a special admission system on every block post: somewhere people need passports, somewhere a bribe, somewhere it is absolutely impossible to get passed.
“Five meetings of a work group, representatives of volunteer organizations and SCU have passed. They were organized with a purpose to improve this admission system. But we haven’t advanced in this direction at all, — Aleksandr Gorbatko — the head of the initiative “Donbass-SOS” tells. – First three meetings we spent fighting against the admission system, we were fighting for three days proving that the system is ineffective, but the SCU’s representatives didn’t decide on such step. And now we are working to improve it and ease the admission process for people. At the moment we were told that special permits for a car and photos for a permit will be abolished. Because it’s a nonsense, when a person with a permit and driving license needs a separate permit for a car”.
Moreover, Zhanna Lukyanenko – a representative of the Ombudsman on IDPs’ rights and a member of a working group on questions about an admission system told, that they managed to come to an arrangement about a free pass of the demarcation line for parents with children, even if they didn’t have permits. A point about life saving from combats or conflicts with representatives of the “LPR/DPR” will be included to the list of reasons for the front line crossing.
Denis Matsola for the Informator.lg.ua