#sensitive #issue #Ukraine
Daily strikes in residential areas in eastern Ukraine have raised thorny questions about the deployment of military personnel in civilian areas, as well as the activities of local whistleblowers.
AFP has visited many villages and towns in the Donetsk region that Russian forces are attempting to capture, where civilian areas with no apparent military importance are regularly attacked.
In Pokrovsk, 85 kilometers south of Kramatorsk, the capital of the Ukrainian-held part of the region, a strike last week destroyed or damaged a dozen houses on a single street.
Similar and often deadly strikes took place in Kostyantynivka, Toretsk and even in Kramatorsk, further from the front line.
Many local residents have no doubt as to why these areas are being hit – they say Ukrainian troops are stationed in abandoned houses and schools.
AFP cannot independently verify their claims.
Human Rights Watch, an NGO, has accused both Russian and Ukrainian forces of endangering civilians by setting up positions in residential areas.
The group cited four cases in areas occupied by Russian forces and three on the Ukrainian side in a report this month.
“Russian and Ukrainian forces have put civilians in Ukraine at unnecessary risk by deploying their forces in populated areas without moving residents to safer areas,” the report said.
Asked by AFP on the matter, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said: “It is a war. It is impossible to avoid the destruction of infrastructure or houses.
“Our main task is to stop the enemy, and that can lead to the destruction of infrastructure. It’s impossible to fight this war any other way,” he said.
– informants –
In Kramatorsk, retired lathe operator Yevgen, 70, stood in front of the rubble of school number 23, which was destroyed by a strike, and smoked a cigarette.
The building, which would house 500 children between the ages of seven and 17 in peacetime, was the second school in the city to be reduced to rubble.
Seven other schools in the city have been damaged since the war began, according to Denis Sysoyev, the local education officer.
The school has been used as a food aid depot since the beginning of the war.
But Yevgen said that “the Russians are targeting Ukrainian soldiers. I don’t know if they stayed at the school, but we saw them coming and going here on a regular basis.”
“And in our area there are many ‘well-meaning’ people who want to help and inform the Russians,” he said.
Natalia, mother of three 23rd graders, made the same claim.
She mentioned a Telegram group of local residents, where she said the comments left no doubt as to “who is pro-Russian and who isn’t.”
– ‘To calm oneself down’ –
In every Russian strike, the sensitive issue of whistleblowers is discussed.
“I wonder how the enemy knows the coordinates of the places where the military is stationed?” said Kyrylenko.
“Many people remain loyal to the occupiers and are waiting for the Russian world. You know it’s treason. You’ll regret it later,” he said.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko wrote that “hatred is growing among local residents.”
“Those who are waiting for the arrival (of the Russians), those who have been promised heaps of gold and freedom of expression by their ‘saviors’ are idiots,” he said on Facebook.
“I beg you to calm down. Put aside your resentment and distrust. Turn your anger in another direction, against those who want to deprive you of your normal and peaceful life.”
Galyna Prychepa, spokeswoman for intelligence services in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, said 37 informants had been arrested in the region since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
They are accused of espionage and high treason.
Similar problems exist in southern Ukraine, where the governor of the Mykolaiv region, which is constantly under fire from Russian forces, has announced a $100 reward for anyone who helps identify Russian informants.
On his Telegram account, Vitaly Kim asked for information about “those who reveal the locations of Ukrainian troop positions to the occupying forces” or pass on the coordinates of possible targets.
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