05.10.2016, Gorlovka.
“Donbass with Texas” filming crew spent September 29th on the positions of the 3rd motorized rifle brigade of DPR People’s Militia in the area of Zaytsevo village north of Gorlovka. This part of the front is considered to be one of the hottest ones, the distance to Ukrainian army’s trenches is at some points less than 150 meters.
We stayed for the night in one of the trenches. The soldiers treated us with strong tea, which helps them fight sleep during their watch. The rain somewhat complicated the tasks of the watch guards. Ukrainian army fired at our positions by small arms several times, but fortunately this night nobody got hurt.
For over a year Zaytsevo almost daily is mentioned in frontline reports as a target of Ukrainian artillery shelling. Over 3000 residents lived here before the war, now the population of the village is no more than 1600 people, approximately 190 of whom are children. The frontline divided the village right near local school № 15. Artillery shells and bullets left the school damaged: all windows of the school have been blasted out, the walls are full of holes, the roof is full of “craters”.
The enemy constantly conducts rotation and now, according to militiamen, “Sheikh Mansur’s Name’s” battalion of Chechen militants is among the units on the Ukrainian side. The fascist regime, which captured the power in Ukraine, draws Nazis and Islamists of all kinds from all over the world like a magnet. And all of this “black international” is funded and armed by the West.
Commander, call-sign Zhelezny, has quite an interesting trophy. This 7.62 caliber Kalashnikov assaults rifle he retrieved from a burning Ukrainian tank in Uglegorsk. What is peculiar is that it’s magazine was produced by American company TAPCO. Of course this is not proof of “American presence”, since this kind of magazine can be bought in gun shops for 20 dollars. However, in that same Uglegorsk, Debaltsevo and Donetsk airport M-16 assault rifles, modern American radars and many other abandoned military equipment of NATO countries was found.
Despite that the last two weeks were much calmer than the previous ones, not a single night passes without machine gun fire in the direction of DPR army positions. Ukrainian snipers are active as well. Heavy artillery of the Ukrainian army is quiet for now, but automatic grenade launchers, RPGs, anti-tank grenade launchers, IFV guns and other “moderate” lethal weaponry continues to be used. Which is why the positions of our soldiers are well-equipped, durable blindages are built, a network of trenches had been dug.
You will be able to see more on the situation on this part of the frontline and the daily life of the militiamen in the forward positions in one of the upcoming “Donbass with Texas” reports.
