A Donbas Diary: Looking Back at the Early Stages of the Conflict in Ukraine

What I saw was a people who had been through hell, and had adjusted to it, all the while unwavering in their commitment to what they see as a fight for self-determination against the reach of the United States and its vassals, especially NATO….This is just my first day, and I am already seeing that the things we’ve been hearing about Donbas are anything but the common NATO refrain of “Kremlin fabrications.”… The woman is eager to speak with a Western reporter. She tells us that their block has been hit almost weekly for eight years, as they live on the outskirts, near the front… I ask if the Minsk accords, which previously negotiated ceasefires between the separatists and Ukraine, had helped at all. “When Minsk was signed, the shelling here on the edge of the city only got worse.”…“What would you have to say to anyone reading or watching this in the West?” I ask her.  “I want to repeat to America and to Europe: You send weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine kills… You aggravate and escalate the situation even more. You should sit at the negotiation table, and not try to solve this by sending more arms.” … “Putin, yes, made many mistakes. Most of all, he waited far too long to come to help us here in Donbas. We begged Russia to come for years, but at least they have come now.”