20.11.2016, Gorlovka.
Recently our filming crew visited the positions of DPR People’s Militia in the area of Zaytsevo and Verkhnyaya Zhovanka villages. The soldiers of the 3rd brigade defend the northern borders of Gorlovka, one of the most tense sectors of the front. Trench warfare and shellings don’t cease for a day.
Shortly before our arrival, Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled Verkhnyaya Zhovanka village, as a result of which a house caught fire. When we arrived, the remains of the building were only a pile of bricks and burning beams. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. The family that used to live in this house had long left the half-destroyed village.
The soldiers showed us around the positions, told about the state of things.
It’s been around a week since the intensity of fire from the Ukrainian side increased significantly. The enemy acts quite boldly, provokes, conducts raids.
The distance to Ukrainian fortifications is at places less than 100 meters. Several times enemy sniper’s bullet whizzed above our heads.
Combat continues almost 24/7. Mountains of bullet cases are being stored in cooking pots to make walking in the trenches easier.
On the other side of the barricades stand the units of the 54th independent motorized brigade of the Ukrainian army, reinforced on this direction by volunteer nationalist battalions and, presumably, foreign mercenaries. Flags of USA and Ichkeria fly over the positions of the enemy.
Chechens fight alongside us as well. On one of the positions we were met by a hardened experienced soldier with a distinctive callsign Nokhcho. He was born in Grozny, since 2014 he fights in the ranks of DPR army. He says that his countrymen who fight on the other side of the front tried to contact him multiple times, threatened him with assassinations. A tired smile was present on Nokhcho’s face as he was talking about his combat path. According to him, he is going back home only after the victory.
The overall impression is as follows: the situation stays tense, the enemy gathered large forces on this sector of the front and it must not be underestimated. Our soldiers are prepared, vigorous, and are as highly motivated as before, which is the decisive factor of our future victory.
