Exodus from Kramatorsk - cleansing began in the city
Kramatorsk - Donetsk, July 07 (Navigator, Yuri Kovalchuk) - On the night of July 4-5, the troops of the people's militia of Novorossiya left the encircled Slavyansk and, almost in full force, under the cover of tanks, retreated to Kramatorsk. The troops did not stay in Kramatorsk for long - already on the night of July 5, the militias of Slavyansk, and then Kramatorsk, began a mass retreat to Donetsk. One of the Kramatorsk militia fighters with the call sign “Kuznets” told Navigator how the retreat took place.
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“Apparently, the commanders already knew several days in advance that a mass retreat was planned, but they carefully concealed it. We also felt something was wrong - at first we did nothing at all for several days, then the command seemed to go crazy, and for three days we practically did not rest. We were thrown either to strengthen checkpoints, or into an ambush, or in pursuit of containers dropped from a Ukrainian plane, and all to no avail.
On the night from Friday to Saturday we guarded the checkpoint on Krasnogorka. By this time, in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk they were shelling almost every hour for XNUMX hours. However, at night all hell broke loose - Ukrainian troops bombed both cities non-stop for two hours. It’s hard to imagine how many people died during this shelling,” says “Kuznets”.
At about one o'clock in the morning, columns with fighters, fuel tankers and equipment began leaving the city towards Donetsk. Somewhere nearby shots from automatic weapons and machine guns were heard. We realized that something was wrong and tried to contact the authorities, but the phones were silent. In the morning they sent us rations and ordered us by telephone to hold our positions. By this time, local militias began to leave Kramatorsk. There was a continuous line of buses carrying local residents. We saw our commanders driving past us. Soldiers we knew called us to go with them, but we decided to stay at the checkpoint, sending several comrades to clarify the situation.
When we arrived in the city, we found that there was no one left in the central headquarters, and about a thousand militiamen from Slavyansk were stationed in the square. They quickly loaded into cars and buses and left the city. It was reported that Ukrainian troops had already broken into the city.
Most of our comrades have already left. At our location we found our commander “Tanker”. He was pretty drunk and demanded that we immediately return to our positions, threatening to shoot us otherwise. The day before, he sent us to certain death at the airfield, from where, by some miracle, we escaped mortar fire for several hours. Therefore, we took the documents and returned to Krasnogorka. The second detachment went to the checkpoint on Severny. Apparently, they died or were captured. We were one of the last to leave,” said the militiaman.
Indeed, subsequently analyzing the behavior of the leadership of the Kramatorsk militia, one can come to the conclusion that they knew about the retreat several days in advance. In addition, from reliable sources it was possible to find out that the militia forces initially did not intend to defend Kramatorsk, since, unlike Slavyansk, the city can be freely entered from almost any direction - it is impossible to hold all the roads.
In addition, the organization of the local militia itself was clearly not designed for combat operations - many detachments were commanded by people who had no combat experience, or even who had not served in the army at all. The activities of the units were chaotic and uncoordinated; there were practically no heavy weapons, so activity was minimal. In general, the Kramatorsk militia rather created a media picture and helped transport people and aid to Slavyansk, rather than being an independent combat formation.
Obvious proof of this is the airport, which the local militia did not dare to storm. There is information that the command in Kramatorsk planned an assault on Monday, but never decided to do it.
On Saturday, not only the militia left Kramatorsk, but also all those who were somehow connected with the militia or the Anti-Crisis Council. Already at 10 a.m. it was impossible to hire a taxi in the city; the buses were packed with people leaving. At that time, there were still about 70-80 thousand people in the city.
The Ukrainian troops who entered Kramatorsk without a fight are loudly declaring that the danger to the civilian population has passed, that pensions and benefits will now be paid, as well as salaries to state employees, but in reality the danger for the male part of the population is now even higher than during the shelling. According to local residents who risked staying in the city, the Ukrainians are conducting a rapid cleansing operation. They act quarterly, arresting almost all men from 18 to 50. They act methodically, clearing block by block, guided by the testimony of their agents in the city and local residents loyal to the regime.
Most of the men who are taken away for questions have not yet returned home. Many of them will likely not return home soon, if at all. Kramatorsk has fallen, but the fight continues.
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