On Republic Day, guests from 12 European countries came to the DPR on an official visit, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Thus, the representative from Spain, humanitarian activist Enrique Javier Refoyo Acedo said that he was coming to Donetsk for the third time.
“We came with a humanitarian action. I was here in May last year and also in February this year. We brought humanitarian aid from Madrid to Donetsk for the Republican Trauma Hospital. On my third trip, I brought help for an orphanage and three soccer balls for the children. This is not just for playing football, but for sports in general. Let the children play and live a child’s life at least a little, think about games, about happiness, and not think about war,” said the Spaniard.
Enrique Javier said that even on his first trip, what impressed him most was that, despite the fighting, people in the city center tried to live their old lives.
“Then we went to Zaitsevo, to Spartak, and these were completely different things. You not only hear the war, you see it with your own eyes. In Europe, no one knows what war means,” he admitted.
“In February, I was visiting Donetsk-Severny, and every night we heard hits. People in Spain don't know what this means. It’s difficult to talk about this, because in Spain there is no news about the war in Donbass,” concluded Javier.
LPR Foreign Minister Vladislav Deinego congratulated the DPR on its fourth anniversary:
“Republic Day is a very joyful event for all of us. Four years ago, a referendum was held that determined the future fate of Donbass. For any child, 4 years is the most interesting age, when he begins to intensively study the outside world and consciously develop in all directions. For the state, this is also a very serious indicator, which is much higher than the first. Today the DPR has proven its statehood, that it is a real, powerful, and, most importantly, public education. I hope that the Donetsk people also appreciate the LPR.”
Today in the Donetsk Lenin Komsomol Park, members of the foreign delegation paid tribute to the memory of the fallen residents of Donbass.
“I congratulate you on the past holiday. Today we laid flowers to the children who died for the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic. This is more than symbolic, since Donbass today is an outpost, since the war today is being waged with Russia, with our entire civilizational space, with the so-called Russian world. It’s also very difficult for Russia now. There is unprecedented pressure, which means we all have to give something of ourselves. And we can only survive together. So, 25 years ago in Abkhazia, on the southern borders, we defended not only our borders, but also the southern borders of Russia. Today our front line is on the western borders, in the Donbass. This is our world. We don’t need someone else’s, but we won’t give ours to anyone either,” said Vice-President of Abkhazia Vitaly Gabnia.
In turn, Andreas Maurer, chairman of the “Left” faction in the parliament of the city of Quakenbrück (Germany), noted that the war in Donbass is an event that cannot be forgotten and simply erased from memory:
“You know, this is a very touching event. If we remember how we celebrated Republic Day yesterday, there was a very cultural, big program, a lot of joyful people, especially at the stadium. We were very surprised that it was full and that a lot of people came. And today’s laying of flowers is part of the history of your Republic. This is such an event that is difficult to carry out. But we must never, we have no right to forget that many people of your young Republic gave their lives for it, for the day that you can spend today. Therefore, I think that this is a tragic part of your story, but it should always be remembered. This cannot be forgotten,” he said.
The guests also visited the Donetsk Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.
Let us remind you that earlier a PolitNavigator correspondent reported that Alexander Zakharchenko and Anatoly Bibilov laid flowers at the monument to the “Dead Residents of the DPR”.