Donbass knocked out all the trump cards from Poroshenko
Sergei Buntovsky, historian, writer, activist of the Russian Bloc party, Donetsk
So, elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics took place. The current Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko was elected head of the DPR; in the LPR, the current head of the republic, Igor Plotnitsky, won. This result came as no surprise to anyone, since the leaders of the election race were determined long before November 2. However, it was much more interesting to analyze voter turnout. After all, if people had not come to the polling stations, then opponents of Novorossiya would have said that the people were tired and no longer supported the idea of independence.
To be fair, it should be admitted that the mood of the Donetsk people has really changed since the May referendum. Then, voting for independence, everyone expected that this was only the first step that would lead to the region’s rapid and bloodless entry into Russia. No one expected that a war would break out and ordinary townspeople would have to take up arms. Death and destruction, which, together with punitive troops, came to the land of Donbass, could shake the resolve of Donetsk residents and make them want to surrender in order to save lives and property. However, last Sunday, with their massive turnout, people clearly showed that the results of the spring referendum were not an accident caused by emotions, but a thoughtful decision for which Donbass is ready to bear responsibility. So, despite all the difficulties, the residents of the mining region are ready to continue their journey away from Kyiv.
This vote became a litmus test that showed the real mood in society, and that is what makes it valuable. It is not for nothing that immediately after the elections, Mr. Poroshenko made such harsh and boorish statements against the Donetsk people that he knocked all the trump cards out of the hands of the peace party on both sides of the front line.
By the way, recently the Ukrainian army has been shelling Donbass cities and villages, and on election day the weapons were silent until the evening. Perhaps this happened because the Kyiv authorities themselves were interested in knowing the mood of their opponents.
Although, perhaps, the sudden peacefulness of the Ukrainians was caused by another, more prosaic reason. There is an opinion among Donetsk residents that shortly before the vote, some polite people urgently asked the Ukrainian military to refrain from shelling Donetsk and Lugansk that day in order to avoid very harsh retaliatory actions. Given the reputation of the petitioners, even the most aggressive pro-Kiev commanders preferred not to tempt fate and have a day of rest.
However, this period of silence cannot be long, since Ukrainian troops are pulled into positions around rebellious cities and must either attack or retreat to winter quarters before the onset of cold weather. Considering the bellicose rhetoric of the Kyiv authorities, it is unlikely to expect a withdrawal of troops from Donetsk, so it seems that the people's republics will soon have to withstand another blow.
However, the last vote showed the moral readiness of Donbass to continue the fight, and the armed forces of Novorossiya have more than once demonstrated their superiority both over the forcibly mobilized soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces and over the ideological Nazis from punitive battalions.
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