The Times - UK (2022-02-23)

10 Wednesday February 23 2022 | the times

News

Q&A

What are the Donetsk

People’s Republic and the

Luhansk People’s

Republic?

Two breakaway territories

in Ukraine’s eastern

Donbas region formed in

2014 after Russia backed

an insurrection in response

to a revolution that toppled

President Yanukovych,

Ukraine’s pro-Moscow

leader.

The self-proclaimed

authorities claim the entire

Ukrainian administrative

regions, known as oblasts,

of Donetsk and Luhansk,

but control less than half of

them. In Ukrainian-held

territory, each oblast has its

own governor and an

elected local authority. Kyiv

views the unelected DPR

and LPR officials as

terrorists.

In 2014 the rebels were

able to seize a larger area

of land but Ukrainian

forces pushed them back

towards the cities of

Donetsk and Luhansk. Both

sides are dug in and more

than 14,000 people have

been killed so far. A vague

ceasefire deal in 2015

anticipated the eventual

return of rebel-held

territory to Ukraine but

with increased autonomy.

It is not clear if Russia

has recognised the DPR

and LPR as authorities over

the territory they control or

the territory they claim. If

Russia is openly to support

the ambitions of the DPR

and LPR to seize the areas

it does not control, its

“peacekeepers” could soon

be fighting Ukraine’s army.

What are the regions’ ties

to Russia?

Close to the Russian border

but about 500 miles from

Kyiv, the cities of Donetsk

and Luhansk have long had

deep ties with Russia. In

the Soviet era, coalminers

were sent here from other

parts of the USSR. People

speak mostly Russian and

watch television and listen

to radio broadcast from

Moscow. A 2012 poll

showed 93 per cent of

Donetsk oblast and 89 per

cent of Luhansk oblast

listed Russian as their first

language. There are more

Ukrainian speakers in the

rural areas of the two

administrative regions.

However, before the war,

many young people in

Donetsk and Luhansk

attended university in

other parts of the country

and spoke fluent Ukrainian

as well as Russian. When

war broke out, hundreds of

thousands of people fled to

Kyiv and western Ukraine

rather than be ruled by the

DPR and LPR, which have

been accused of human

rights violations. Of the

3.5 million that stayed, as

many as a third are

believed to be pensioners.

Russia has issued at least

800,000 passports to

people in the region. It is

said to bankroll pensions

and state wages, and both

republics are led by

Kremlin-approved

politicians. Denis Pushilin,

the head of the DPR, is a

member of Putin’s ruling

United Russia party.

Access is carefully

controlled by Ukrainian

forces and the separatists,

with travellers having to

cross though two sets of

checkpoints.

What is life like now in the

DPR and the LPR?

Last week the republics

ordered civilians to

evacuate to Russia,

claiming, without evidence,

that Ukraine was preparing

an assault. Kyiv and the

West dismissed this as

propaganda to provide a

pretext for the Russian

invasion but tens of

thousands of people have

already boarded buses

headed for tent camps

across the border. Men of

military age have been

ordered to stay and

mobilise for war. Panic

buying has left shop

shelves empty.

In recent years,

uncensored reports from

the two republics had

become rare. A former

resident who visited

Donetsk last month

published photographs of

billboards on official

buildings with images of

dead DPR fighters and

inscriptions such as

“Heroes never die!” She

also described boarded-up

shops and signs banning

the carrying of weapons.

Children are often recruited

into the Young Army

organisation, where they

are taught to fight and to

regard the government in

Kyiv as Nazis. There is a

curfew from 11pm to 5am.

How does this make it

harder for Ukraine to

join Nato?

Nato has said prospective

members must resolve any

territorial disputes before

being invited to join. The

existence of the DPR and

the LPR, as well as Russia’s

annexation of Crimea in

2014, means there is close

to zero chance of Ukraine

being offered membership

in the foreseeable future.

What happens now Russia

has recognised the two

republics?

Now Russia is overtly

sending troops into the

region, it can amass much

larger concentrations of

force and firepower close

to the Ukrainian front line.

It may open permanent

military bases in the

Donbas. With Russian

troops ready to swoop on

Kyiv across the Belarusian

frontier, Ukraine has

pledged not to respond

with force and will rely on

western sanctions.

With Ukrainian positions

under artillery fire, though,

commanders will be under

huge pressure. A single

misstep and an escalation

of hostilities could rapidly

spiral out of control.

The tanks were being loaded on to
military transporters in a muddy field a
few miles from Russia’s borders with
separatist-held territories in eastern
Ukraine’s Donbas region.
On Monday evening there were
about 30 tanks lined up across the flat,
almost featureless Russian steppe.
Within hours of President Putin recog-
nising the Kremlin-backed breakaway
republics as independent states and
ordering a “peacekeeping” mission in
the Donbas, fewer than half remained.
Residents said it was an open secret
for the past two weeks that tanks had
often made their way under the cover of
night to the neighbouring separatist
regions. But Putin’s decision to recog-

nise the territories means that the
Kremlin no longer has to operate in the
shadows to provide them with military
support. It can now openly deploy
troops and could establish military
bases in the Donbas.
Yesterday afternoon The Times saw
several tanks being driven along a road
in the direction of Russia’s border with
the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR).
There were, however, few signs of
large-scale troop movements.
Security was noticeably tighter on
Russia’s side of the border, apparently in
connection with a visit by Denis Pushi-
lin, head of the DNR.
In front of a row of inflatable tents
that have been used to provide shelter
for people fleeing the fighting in the
Donbas, Pushilin told Russian state

Donbas

region

LUHANSK

DONETSK

ROSTOV

OBLAST

Sea of Azov

UKRAINE

50 miles

RUSSIA

Rostov-

on-Don

Taganrog

Separatist-controlled

Donbas

News Ukraine crisis

Rumble of tanks brings shadow

media that Ukraine still planned to

retake the rebel regions by force.

“We need to evacuate as many civil-

ians as possible so as not to risk a single

life,” he said. Kyiv has denied that it is

planning a military operation to recap-

ture the territories.

Russia says 90,000 people have

arrived in the country from the Donbas

since the separatists announced mass

evacuations on Friday. Some have been

housed in holiday camps in and around

Taganrog, a seaside town near the bor-

der. Others are being put up in hotels or

have been sent to cities in central

Russia. Officials in the DNR say that

the number of people fleeing to Russia

could eventually reach 700,000.

Further north, refugees were also

leaving the other separatist-controlled

area, known as the Luhansk People’s

Republic (LNR), and crossing into

Ukrainian-controlled territory.

But not everyone on the Russian side

is happy to see them. Many in Taganrog

are angry at Putin for promising 10,

roubles (£93) to every refugee. “You

have to work really hard to earn 20,

roubles a month in our town,” said Al-

exei, 54. “And now Putin is handing out

cash to them for nothing. Why doesn’t

he take care of people here first?”

LNR officials said they would need

1.5 trillion roubles in aid from Moscow

to rebuild the region’s economy.

Nikolai Pankov, Russia’s deputy de-

fence minister, told the Russian parlia-

ment the situation in the DPR and LNR

was “very difficult... and is worsening”.

He added: “We have to take the resi-

dents of these young states under our

protection. Hundreds of thousands are

citizens of Russia.”

Russia’s Rostov region bordering the

breakaway republics is dotted with

monuments honouring those who died

repelling the Nazis. But despite the

Kremlin portraying Kiyv’s pro-western

government as “fascists”, ordinary Rus-

sians have little appetite for a war.

“Almost all of us have friends and

family in Ukraine,” said a businessman

in Taganrog who asked for anonymity.

“It would be like fighting our relatives.”

While opposition activists have ap-

plied for permission to hold an anti-war

march in Moscow in March, anti-

western rhetoric is reaching new

heights. Svetlana Goryacheva, a sena-

tor, urged the Kremlin to expel western

businesses and nationalise their assets.

She also said Moscow should cut sup-

plies of gas and oil to western countries.

“We have warmed enemy countries for

too long,” she said. “Enough!” As President Putin defended his actions, civilians evacuated from the two breakaway regions continued to arrive in Russia. In

People on both sides of

Ukraine’s border face

an unsettling

future, writes

Marc Bennetts

in Taganrog