In the past four and a half years life in the occupied territories has changed beyond recognition. This not only has to do with the establishment of a totalitarian political system and a redefinition of human rights and freedoms but also with the fact that time in the occupied territories hasn’t stopped. The separatist media, even though they probably do not deserve much trust, can inform about some of the achievements of the “people’s republics”, however doubtful they may be. For example in Luhansk, the central market was swiftly rebuilt after it was shelled and burned down, so was the city’s Gorkiy Library.
The “LNR” authorities also have quickly rebuilt a local aqua park. Today some people, who live on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, drive their children there for a day of fun. Sometimes this leads to conflicts between people who took a more visibly pro-Ukrainian position and now cannot risk crossing the contact line and people who sympathized with the Russkiy Mir and now can drive their kids there literally every weekend.
On the Ukrainian side, the “construction site of the century” so far is the police district headquarters in the small town of Stanitsya Luhanska, for the opening of which the minister of the interior, Arsen Avakov, himself came to town. This was literally the only building that was renovated after the war and it hadn’t even been destroyed, it just stood deserted for a while. The rest of Stanitsya Luhanska stands in ruins just as it did the past four years, save for the few house owners, whose homes have been restored by the Norwegian Refugee’s Council. The Ukrainian government’s engagement so far has been zero.
Don’t be fooled, the “People’s Republics” have checkpoints on their roads, they regularly violate human rights; abductions, torture, and illegal convictions are frequent, the economy is weak and relies on Russian subsidies, the authorities are guided by criminal interests. However, it is important to show how abandoned the inhabitants of Stanitsya Luhanska, Shirokino and many other front-line towns that have been reconquered by Ukrainian forces must feel. The national media never gets tired of lamenting that the inhabitants of the occupied zones themselves should struggle to reunite with Ukraine, after all, they say, everything is so bad over there and here it is so good. The future perspectives for the occupied territories are very nebulous indeed: foreign peacekeepers, years of reconstruction, the danger that the current powerholders will continue to pull the strings: How could Ukraine offer anything better in exchange?
What everybody seems to forget is that in these past years, kids who were 16 when the war broke out, have come of age in the pseudo republics and are already done with their army service for the “LNR” or “DNR”. They have hardly seen a different world and they have hardly seen an effort by the Ukrainian government, except checkpoints, economic blockade and sporadic shelling. In such a situation a UN peacekeeping mission would just be another trigger for hatred towards Ukraine. They would be seen as a puppet of Kyiv. Add the overall combat fatigue and you get an explosive cocktail, very dangerous to handle.
The inhabitants of the occupied territories for all the past four years have been cunningly fed two different narratives from the two belligerent parties: On the one hand the separatist’s tale that Ukraine is their enemy and came here just to kill them, and on the other hand the Ukrainian side’s story that where they live everything is bad and that there is no future for the Donbas. This story comes from the side that did not undertake any real steps towards changing this situation. What is more, people who can’t return to the territories controlled by pro-Russian militias because of their civic engagement have not experienced much support by the Ukrainian state either. For instance, with its decision of July 25, the Ukrainian Supreme Court has deprived such citizens even of the right to vote. In other words, not only those citizens, who continue living on the occupied territories are cut-off from the decision-making process, but also those who have voluntarily left from there.
One can sadly conclude that notwithstanding the pretty picture of life after liberation that the media keeps painting, in reality, no steps towards this goal have been taken. The hope remains that the next government, following the elections of 2019, will exchange words for actions and that it won’t be too late then. The government will have to find solutions for questions that have no answers: What will be the government’s information policy during the reintegration process, how will the government provide humanitarian aid, what will be the opportunities for the people who lived on the occupied territories?
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The Secretariat of the Coalition «Justice for Peace in Donbas»
04060, Kyiv, Ryzhska str., 73 G