Post #851

In 2014, the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region was being fought over by Kiev-controlled security forces and local militias who did not recognise the new Kiev authorities. ‘We wanted to secure our city against being invaded by pro-Nazi elements,’ Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the former people’s mayor of Slavyansk, told us. The militia took control of the town in time. The Ukrainian military then tried to retake it without thinking about civilian casualties. They hit straight at residential buildings. June 1 2014, was one of the most challenging days in the military chronicle of Slavyansk. After artillery shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces, one of the Slavyansk Heavy Engineering Plant workshops caught fire. Another shell hit an orphanage whose pupils had been evacuated just the day before. An excerpt from our documentary Donbass War: Summer 2014 is about how Slavyansk residents defended their hometown. #Donetsk Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary