Letter from the Ukraine: Troops lead the way in reassuring civilians

 
Kim Sengupta25 April 2014

An Ukrainian forces helicopter was hit by groundfire and is believed to crash landed with injuries to the crew, the first time aircraft had been hit during the current confrontation in the east of the country.

The attack took place at Kramatorsk from where the helicopters had been flying dropping leaflets in neighbouring cities asking residents to stay away from buildings used by “ Russian extremists”: in preparation, it is thought for an offensive.

The development rakes place with Russian forces carrying out yet another major military exercise across the border after Vladimir Putin warned Kiev that the use of its military in the east was a “very serious crime” and will have “consequences”. There is now feverish talk of an invasion as soon as the Kremlin can engineer an “outrage”.

So far the Ukrainian forces here have behaved with relative restraint, partly due to hitherto lack of numbers, and the rather unfortunate loss of some of their armoured personnel carriers (APCs) but also because a genuine desire not to open fire on fellow nationals.

At a new checkpoint, their most advanced so far, Major Vitaly, the commander spoke of the need to talk to local people, reassure them, listen to their complaints. He added: “ This is something the government should have done. Not only have they failed to do so, they have shown no willingness to do so. It has been left to us soldiers, which is not the way it should be. We don’t think there should be any need to fight, let it be sorted out by talking.”

He had a chance to put this into practice a little later when three men, two of them in mismatched combat uniforms, arrived and demanded to know what Ukrainian troops are doing in the Peoples Republic of Donetsk.

The questions continued in an aggressive vein, the troops remained calm , the parting took place with handshakes. One of the Peoples Army cadre wanted to deliver a parting shot, albeit in a slightly uncertain fashion: “ If you cause any problems we are prepared to fight”. The Major nodded: “Ok, but let’s try to speak to each other first”. He added, voice slightly harder: “ You will find us here, we are not going anywhere.”

The big question was whether such restraint would continue if more attacks, such as the one on the helicopter, takes place.

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