“The Ukrainian army mined Mariupol, residents were turned into hostages”
Donetsk, November 28 (PolitNavigator, Mikael Chagalyan) - The Ukrainian army has prepared the most important objects of Mariupol to be blown up in case of retreat, the security forces are not interested in the fate of the local residents - they have actually been turned into hostages.
About this in an interview "PolitNavigator" told the war correspondent Alena Kochkina, which has been working in Donbass for several months. In Kyiv, Kochkina has long been included in the list of “Russian propagandists” - they cannot forgive her for working for “Russia-24”, because the journalist previously worked for “Inter” and even “Channel 5”.
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“PolitNavigator”: Our conversation begins at the moment when the news came about the shelling of a shuttle bus, there were many wounded, most likely dead, and the day before yesterday Graham Phillips almost died. How do you assess this “truce”?
Alena Kochkina: “The truce today means active hostilities in the LPR, in the area of the village of Lugansk. I was recently from there, we held an event to the sounds of explosions and volleys. Well, the DPR, our long-suffering Donetsk: the day before yesterday Makeyevka was shelled, and this is actually Donetsk, there is not even a border between them. Then, the day before yesterday I went to the temple, which is located in the village, near the airport. The soldiers of the “Vostok” battalion did not let me there; they told me, “Alena, we won’t let you go there, there is shelling with incendiary shells, and they are hitting from GRAD.” That is, they are actually hitting the monastery, yesterday another wall fell, and there is nothing left there. And when we fought our way back through this village, the sounds of heavy fighting were heard. And all this happens every day on the outskirts of Donetsk: Kuibyshevsky district, Kyiv, Oktyabrsky village - they experience all this constantly.
Recently we went late at night to the front line, closer to Mariupol. Local residents contacted us, and in order to meet with us, they had to break through Ukrainian checkpoints, and then I did the interview itself in audio format, so as not to put them at risk. So they said that Mariupol was all dug up with trenches, that on the territory of the factories equipment was being shelled - GRADs, armored personnel carriers, and that all the bridges were mined. That is, the result of the truce was that, for example, Mariupol became a hostage city. And I have information that if the Ukrainian army retreats, all this will simply explode, and the local residents do not really care about them.
And this should not be surprising. Odessa also showed that in the southeast they are interested in scorched earth, they don’t need people.”
"PolitNavigator": And who benefits from this?
Alena Kochkina: “First of all, this is beneficial for those who live very far from here, on whose territory there have never been wars, except for internal disputes. So, they need instability, preferably permanent, in territory close to the borders of Russia. And ideally, we need a platform to deploy our technical means to continue the war with Russia, which has been going on for a long time. Translated into military language, we can say that since 2004 there has been an adjustment, as during an artillery shelling. First, the spotter places the mine on the right, then to the left, and then it hits the target. At the moment, the land of Donbass is the territory through which the spotter is working in order to further transfer all this to the territory of Russia.”
“PolitNavigator”: Now the Armed Forces are building up a lot of equipment around Donetsk, including “Hurricane”, “Tulip” and “Peony” installations. Is this preparation for a large-scale war?
Alena Kochkina: “I saw the reports that were delivered by the reconnaissance groups. All Ukrainian troops left the open area for cities and villages. That is, on the one hand, they are warm, on the other hand, they covered themselves with civilians.
Further. I saw footage from places where Ukrainian army equipment was buried, including heavy artillery. This technique is very actively used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces today, and one example is the tragic events near the school, when two children died on the football field, and three are still in the hospital. So, I was on the front line both in Lugansk and here in Donetsk, but I had never seen such fragments and such shells. This suggests that the Ukrainian army will stop at nothing. And even if she herself wants it, they won’t let her stop. Because all this equipment is used to clear the territory, and for nothing else. If the territory is cleared, the war can be considered won. And no one is interested in civilians.
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