The National Guard turned the Great Patriotic War monument into a target for training (PHOTO)
Donetsk, September 27 (PolitNavigator, Mikael Chagalyan) – In the military reports of the last two months, the village of Stepanovka appeared almost twice a day. Located 85 kilometers from Donetsk, the village was of great strategic importance in that area of hostilities.
Subscribe to the news "PolitNavigator - Kyiv" в Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
From mid-July, fighting began with particular ferocity, and Stepanovka changed hands several times.
You can see what the village has become, in which there is practically not a single intact house left. At a minimum, the houses are damaged, at a maximum, they are destroyed to the foundation, and this is the majority of them.
Today, a walk through the village is reminiscent of a trip to a museum, where the exhibits include damaged and burned military equipment. Literally at every step you can see a destroyed tank with a torn off turret. Or an armored personnel carrier with deformed metal parts.
Damaged heavy equipment can be seen on the side of the road, near the remains of a residential building, in the school yard, in the courtyard of a kindergarten, in the central square, and between residential buildings. I was especially impressed by the pile of shell casings lying on the playground.
The fighting here was very heavy. Local residents already call their village among themselves “the village of Stalingrad,” and there is every reason for this. They say that there were hand-to-hand fights, and the area of the monument to the Soldier Liberator changed hands several times a day.
As you can see, the monument suffered greatly, but it survived. Unfortunately, most of the damage was not received in battle. Residents living nearby said that some National Guard soldiers “trained” by shooting the figure of the Warrior with machine guns and heavy machine guns. But this did not last long: then they had no time for entertainment.
There are no longer hostilities, people are gradually returning to what is left of their homes, and everyone is trying to establish a peaceful life together. It is true that it is not clear what is easier, to restore the village or to rebuild it.
But the idea of an open-air museum is worthy of attention. People should always remember what war is, especially civil war, and what its consequences are. And everyone who visits Stepanovka will begin to perceive life in a completely different way.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.