Between Life and Death: Krymskoye – Sokolniki. Photo report from the LPR

18.05.2022, Moscow.

After the conclusion of the Minsk agreements in February 2015, a demarcation line was drawn between the villages of Sokolniki and Krymskoye. It separated the opposing sides. Sokolniki was under the control of the LPR, while Krymskoye was under the control of the Kiev regime.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, the village of Sokolniki was home to about a thousand people. During the eight years of Ukraine’s “compliance” with the Minsk agreements, the village has effectively ceased to exist. All that is left of it is a name on a topographical map of Ukraine.

At the entrance to Sokolniki, you are greeted by a once formidable Ukrainian combat vehicle. It was tamed by the Donbass People’s Militia back in the hot phase of 2014. Moving along the road of the village, you have to strictly follow the track. The roadside is strewn with unexploded shells, ready to detonate at any moment.

As you drive toward Krymskoye, you will not encounter people engaged in farming in this springtime season in Sokolniki. Passing by houses destroyed and crippled by shells, your heart feels all the shrapnel that this long-suffering land has received from the actions of Ukrainian fighters. The soul is filled with sorrow and at the same time with rage at everything associated with the Ukrainian military machine that has been destroying Donbass.

At the entrance to the village of Krymskoye you come across an abandoned Ukrainian checkpoint. It was built according to all the rules of warfare – systems of passages, dugouts and observation points were built.

As you move around the fortifications, you must be extremely careful and look under your feet, as cartridges of various caliber and spent grenade launcher tubes are scattered everywhere.

Just behind the checkpoint is a bus stop that has not seen people from Lugansk who wanted to see their relatives and friends for eight years.

The village of Krymskoye, which has been liberated from Ukrainian militants, is no different from those villages that are far away from the combat zone. You will not encounter any destruction here, and at the entrance you will see a grazing cow mooing sweetly. And you’ll see its owner on his way to milk it.

Life goes on in Krymskoye. Old people gather on the benches. They discuss when their pensions will be paid and other everyday issues. You don’t see the “scars” of war in the eyes of these people. After talking to the local population, you get the impression that the front line has been hundreds of kilometers away, and not just a few meters from their homes.

This is how the towns and villages of Donbass have become a reflection of the actions of its residents to defend their land and the hostile actions of the Kiev regime.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency