[ Life ] Watch right and cover
[ Life ] 'Nimble,' fire on tower, on the tower
[ Life ] 5 tanks by the radar
[ Life ] 'Nimble,' fire on tower
[ Life ] Go on, 'Nimble'!
[ Life ] Everest, take 15.07...
[ Life ] One more! Fire on the tower!
[ Life ] Everest, Everest, target 16.05, we must keep going, keep going
[ Life ] Go on
[ Life ] Got it? - Yes
[ Life ] Next
[ Life ] Everest, take 15.07...
[ Life ] 50 to the right, distance, 20
[ Life ] Commander, 20 enemy tanks coming this way from Tonenkoye
[ Life ] Move out now. Shoot to destroy
DONBASS WAR Day 2521… The Airport, part 1.
[ GEO ] DONETSK AIRPORT FEBRUARY 2012
Donetsk Sergey Prokofyev International Airport
[ Natalya ] When I started work at the airport,
it still had the old terminal, we worked there
[ Natalya, Donetsk Resident ] The new terminal went up in front of us
[ Natalya ] And in May 2012...
the new terminal opened, the first flight
the city administration was there
[ Natalya ] A trial flight, with passengers
Please, observe the line! Stay behind the line, please!
[ Natalya ] We checked and tested all technical items, saw how it all worked in practice
[ Natalya ] It was all so exciting
[ Natalya ] We were proud that a new chapter in
Donetsk Airport's story appeared before our eyes
[ Natalya ] We really thought it would last and stay with us forever
[ Natalya ] But in 2014, after two years, it was gone
[ Stanislav Obishchenko, Journalist, Donetsk ] I'm Stanislav Obishchenko.
[ Stanislav ] I was born and have always lived in Donetsk
[ Stanislav ] I joined Donetsk TV back in 2008 as a live television director
[ Stanislav ] We had a separate computer, a
monitor, and we watched all the live Maidan feeds
[ Stanislav ] Even then, we could see that a coup d'état was in the making
[ GEO ] KIEV WINTER 2013-2014
[ Stanislav ] Poroshenko was then the Maidan leader,
he supported Maidan, and was there all the time
[ Life ] We're just one step closer to our goal
[ Stanislav ] His words were a call to action in a way,
for the Maidan crowd to keep attacking the police, the Berkut
[ Stanislav ] Poroshenko said that the country needed a new president
[ Life ] We'll only win when Ukraine has a new president
[ Stanislav ] Even then, on Maidan, he was laying
the foundations to become president, for a coup
[ Natalya ] In 2013, starting in the autumn, Maidan
protests had already begun in central Ukraine, in Kiev
[ Life ] Glory to Ukraine!
[ GEO ] KIEV WINTER 2013-2014
[ Natalya ] They held torchlight parades, found Nazi uniforms somewhere, wore them
[ Natalya ] They were jumping, shouting all kinds of slogans
[ Natalya ] We were looking at it, thinking: 'What are they, mad?
[ Natalya ] No, no. Nothing like that will happen here. We don't want it'
[ Stanislav ] The mood in our region was such that if anything was to happen there,
something radical enough, then, we would have to react, and...
so many of my friends at that time, in February, had attended anti-Maidan rallies
[ GEO ] Donetsk March 2014
[ Stanislav ] A response to the Maidan, they
wanted to show that there was a different opinion
to the Maidan view, that some still supported the current government
who were not ready for change, who saw that someone wanted to deprive them of choice
[ Aleksandr Khodakovsky, Battalion commander Donetsk People's
Republic militia ] I'd just arrived from Maidan, I saw...
the force that was gathered there
and the threat that force posed, first of all...
[ Aleksandr ] Radicals who shot at and murdered law enforcers
[ Aleksandr ] It's clear that these people had... mastered violent, murderous methods
[ Aleksandr ] Clearly, that phenomenon, by all logic, should target Donbass
[ Aleksandr ] Because Donbass was unruly, it had to be tamed
[ Life ] I want to ask, do you sympathise with Russia? - Yes!
[ Life ] Now I ask, do you support seceding from Ukraine?
[ Life ] Yes!
[ Life ] Now I want to ask, which of you, my
friends, is ready to lay down your lives for it?
[ Life ] We are
[ Life ] All of you standing here are probably the best people in Donetsk
[ Aleksandr ] I was saying, we weren't ready,
we had to gather forces and resources because tomorrow, we'd be at war with radicals
[ Aleksandr ] And when we took control of the first
buildings and reached out to our population, the people
[ GEO ] Donetsk Regional State Administration March 2014
[ Aleksandr ] I tried to make them understand what tomorrow was going to bring
[ Aleksandr ] No one will let us rest on our laurels
if we establish a pro-Russian government here
[ Aleksandr ] No one would...
let us isolate or oppose Ukraine in any way, they'd try to break us
[ Natalya ] There was no sense of war, nothing like it
[ Natalya ] There was...
a sense that something would happen, but not exactly what
[ Natalya ] Because in February 2014...
at night...
planes started arriving
[ Natalya ] We were the team tasked with handling planes,
so we called the controllers to ask what was landing, it wasn't listed
[ Natalya ] Not your concern, girls, we don't handle it
[ Natalya ] The airport had glass, mirrored walls, so we saw that...
from the plane's tail...
crates came out
many young men came out of there
[ Natalya ] They were parked so far away that we couldn't see much
[ Natalya ] Rumours began to spread
that someone was being brought in by plane, and then...
they all went to the old terminal hotel
[ Natalya ] Hotel staff asked them, 'Who are you? Where are you from?'
[ Natalya ] They said they'd been drafted and sent here, some strange military service
[ Natalya ] What are you doing in a civilian facility then?
[ Natalya ] You should be somewhere on a military base
[ Natalya ] Those were the thoughts we had
[ Natalya ] And then... In may...
[ Natalya ] They kicked out all the staff, said the
terminal was closed and we'd been attacked by Russia
[ GEO ] Donetsk Airport May 26, 2014
[ Natalya ] A full evacuation of the airport grounds
[ Natalya ] For what?
[ Natalya ] To arrive undetected, at a cleared-out airport...
where there are no more civilian aircraft or people
[ Natalya ] To take off from the airport, bomb the town
[ Natalya ] Add some shells, while they're at it
[ Natalya ] 26th May, 2014 was our last day at work
[ Natalya ] We never went back
[ Natalya ] I couldn't believe it
[ Stanislav ] 26 May, in the morning,
one of the presidential candidates, Pyotr Poroshenko, called a press conference
[ Stanislav ] And by noon, he was saying he'd do everything...
to end the war as soon as possible
[ Life ] An anti-terrorist operation won't last 2 or 3 months
[ Life ] It must and will last a few hours
[ Stanislav ] As soon as the press conference ended, after he'd said those words,
military planes appeared over Donetsk
[ Stanislav ] He's bombing again, firing rockets
[ Stanislav ] Rockets going off, smoke
[ Nikolay, Donetsk Resident ] I quickly changed my clothes,
took my sheepdog, Runa...
and went outside
[ Nikolay ] It was about 15 minutes to 1pm
[ Nikolay ] I heard the terrifying roar of a plane
[ Nikolay ] It was unusual
[ Nikolay ] I walked about six metres on the asphalt,
and I saw...
over our airport, I live about 800 metres away from it,
and there, glinting silver, was a plane...
[ Nikolay ] It was hovering...
over the airport, and...
awful shots were heard, rockets were fired
[ Life ] You heard that?
[ Life ] And now they're releasing these things... - Yes
[ Life ] Decoy flares - Decoy flares fired
[ Life ] Got it, I filmed it all
[ Nikolay ] At first, there was confusion
[ Nikolay ] No one expected it, for one thing...
no one warned anyone
[ Nikolay ] As we'd learn, a second flight was prepared at 1pm
[ Nikolay ] And there was a big store, Metro,
everyone went for normal supplies
[ Nikolay ] Then a rocket was fired
[ Life ] Everyone OK?
[ Life ] Lada!
[ Nikolay ] Right after that,
on my right, over the public utilities administration,
a bunch of helicopters
[ Nikolay ] I can't say how many, maybe five or six
[ Nikolay ] They were firing
[ Nikolay ] I want to say that, not far from my
place, at the end of my small vegetable patch,
there are two kindergartens
[ Nikolay ] Four groups each
[ Nikolay ] That's somewhere
around...
[ Nikolay ] 250 people in total
[ Nikolay ] And those kids started crying savagely
[ Nikolay ] It was such an appalling sight
[ Nikolay ] And when...
the last people started emerging,
we saw...
damage to the house, left by shrapnel
[ Nikolay ] Two houses were perpendicular to each other, numbers 98, 100, and then 102
[ Nikolay ] And there were wounded in the trees. I thought...
[ Nikolay ] Could it be shrapnel that came all the way from the airport?
[ Nikolay ] But it turned out that, they'd fired all over from helicopters
[ Life ] A stretcher! - We need an ambulance! Ambulance!
[ Life ] F**k! Where the f**k are the guards?
[ GEO ] Donetsk. Aftermath of the air raid. May 26, 2014
[ Life ] Where's the f**king ambulance? - It won't come!
[ Life ] So we just leave him here? - Why are they shooting people?
[ Life ] Go on, get him in the bus!
[ Life ] Get him in your f**king bus! - Take our bags
[ Life ] Easy, easy! Stop filming. Come here
[ Life ] Easy, get the kid, come here!
[ Life ] Easy, easy!
[ Aleksandr Khodakovsky, Battalion commander Donetsk People's
Republic militia ] The airport was immediately taken under control
by the Special Purpose Battalion
of the Main Intelligence Directorate
of Ukraine's army
[ Aleksandr ] And we, basically, had no access to the airport
[ Aleksandr ] It was patrolled and controlled by
Ukraine's army but not used just by civilian traffic
[ Aleksandr ] Military cargo and personnel were also arriving at that airport
[ Aleksandr ] It was escalating, and we knew we had to do something
[ Aleksandr ] Then, the government took control of the airport
[ Aleksandr ] I objected and said it would cause serious casualties on our side,
the people were not prepared for an assault
[ Journalist, Stanislav Obishchenko ] The first
attempt to storm Donetsk airport, to be blunt, failed
[ Stanislav ] The militia suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw
[ Life ] That's it! He's gone!
[ Life ] We're taking fire!
[ Life ] Lemon. Where was he?
[ Life ] Just escort him out now...
[ Life ] Go to the left or back
[ Life ] I'll go with those who can walk. We'll secure that position
[ Life ] God forbid, they strike from the side!
[ Life ] He won't give up his machine gun!
[ Life ] Black? - Yes! Won't give it up
[ Life ] We're escorting the wounded out
[ Life ] Lepa!
[ Life ] Everybody out!
[ Life ] Lepa!
[ Life ] What's up with you?
[ Life ] What's wrong with your arm? - We got shelled. I got hit. It's ripped apart!
[ Life ] Everything was covered in dust. I couldn't see a thing
[ Life ] I'm just kind of coming to!
[ Life ] Can you walk? - I think so
[ Life ] Is Yalta here? Yalta!
[ Life ] Yalta!
[ Life ] I'll escort the journalist out. - We're all going!
[ Life ] Now there are many killed and wounded
[ Life ] We're trying to get the rest out of here. Well, to get some of them out
[ Life ] So, hi everyone... This is what war looks like!
[ Life ] Where to?
[ Stanislav ] All Ukrainian media presented it
as a crushing defeat of Russian Special Forces,
accompanied by alleged Chechen groups
[ Life ] Look, smoke, over there! - I already said that
[ Life ] Probably the airport... - It is
[ Life ] Need to take Rosa to Luxemburg St
[ Life ] Donetsk Airport was cleared of Chechen militants in a 24-hour battle
[ Life ] People killed in shooting the train station!
[ Life ] Ukrainian forces attacked a Kadyrov group checkpoint in Donetsk
[ Life ] The airport has been secured
[ Life ] The enemy suffered heavy losses
[ Life ] And… we have zero losses
[ Life ] The operation started this morning
[ Stanislav ] After Poroshenko promised a quick end to the war,
the fighting started and Ukrainian media said:
the Ukrainian Army was fighting separatists and terrorists...
His ratings rocketed!
[ Life ] Poroshenko is leading. 25% of respondents support him
[ Stanislav ] And so it became clear that he would likely become President
[ Life ] I seek peace, and I'll achieve unity for Ukraine
[ Life ] That's why I begin my work by offering a peace plan
[ Stanislav ] But it turned out to be quite the opposite
[ Stanislav ] Huge troop numbers from all across Ukraine came to Donetsk
[ Stanislav ] They were gathered in rank upon rank
[ Stanislav ] It became clear the Ukrainian Army
would use the airport advantage to bombard and obliterate Donetsk
[ Stanislav ] Constant shelling!
[ Life ] Do you hear firing?
[ Stanislav ] We began to receive reports from the airport area
[ Stanislav ] The Donetsk militia witnessed the
Ukrainian Army's shelling of our residential zones
[ Life ] Going to the city again? - Yeah
[ Life ] They're shelling the city!
[ GEO ] Donetsk October 2014
[ CODENAME ‘MOTOROLA’, battalion commander Donetsk People’s
Republic militia ] They're shelling the airport with Uragan
[ multiple rocket launcher system ] rockets
to bring their people in
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] The Ukrainian Army's attacking the
suburbs and airfield area with Uragan systems
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] Fire and smoke everywhere... can't tell what's what
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] Look what they've done!
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] They've shelled the suburbs pretty badly!
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] Three salvos, they've fired three salvos!
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] I don't understand who they're fighting
[ ‘MOTOROLA’ ] Look! All the suburbs are in flames!
[ CODENAME ‘CLOONEY’, Donetsk People’s Republic
Militia ] They attacked residential buildings
on purpose. For example…
[ ‘CLOONEY’ ] I heard them myself, sending
coordinates to the Ukrainian artillery over the radio
[ ‘CLOONEY’ ] They were shelling the streets,
sending coordinates, firing at Donetsk streets...
[ ANDREY, Donetsk resident ] You've seen nothing yet.
If we go to Kievsky Prospect...
[ GEO ] Donetsk, shelling aftermath August 8, 2014
can't say address,
people were hiding in bomb shelters
[ Andrey ] A Grad rocket hit right in the shelter
[ Andrey ] I tell you, my father was hurt
[ Andrey ] Taken to hospital? - Kalinin Hospital... Skull cracked!
[ Andrey ] He's okay now... But a woman was completely disembowelled...
[ Andrey ] Her name's…
[ Andrey ] Raya Kozlova!
[ Andrey ] What can I say to you?
[ Andrey ] There are no soldiers here...
[ Andrey ] It's a peaceful place
[ Andrey ] My mum and I live in Spartak. May I say this?
[ Andrey ] Spartak is gone, Spartak settlement,
Yasinovatskiy, 2 km from here... Gone... My house is gone!
[ Andrey ] I'd been building it for 15 years! Why is this happening to me?
[ Life ] He was hiding there!
[ Life ] He was hit. Why?
[ Life ] Animals!
[ Life ] We heard a bang and ran out!
[ Life ] We can show you our flats
[ Life ] It's so terrible! Scary! They bombed before
[ Life ] We were at my mum's house, hiding in a shed for a month
[ Life ] We thought it was over, that there'd be truce. And now, war again?
[ Life ] I feel sorry for my kid. We've nowhere to go
[ Life ] No salary. They haven't paid child allowance, for 2 months!
[ Life ] I am terrified for my child
[ Life ] Not for myself, but for my child. I'm a single parent
[ Life ] What would happen to my child? It's not about me. Where would he go?
[ Life ] Where? Who would care for him? Who?
[ Life ] What's that? - A Grad launcher shell
[ Life ] A Grad shell? - It landed here
[ Life ] There's another over there. - We'll bring it out and show it
[ Life ] Look at these beauties!
[ Life ] Presents from Poroshenko
[ Life ] Hi Poroshenko!
[ NATALIA, Donetsk resident ] A shell dropped, we didn't even hear it coming
[ Natalia ] I was busy... not noticing...
[ Natalia ] I just needed to take another 2 steps to go inside the basement
[ Natalia ] I felt like I'd put my foot in a hole or something
[ Natalia ] I thought that I'd lift myself up from the ground with my arms
[ Natalia ] But then I looked at my leg, and it was lying loose in my jeans
[ Natalia ] Thoughts started racing through my mind:
[ Natalia ] 'What happened to me? Why did I fall? What's with my leg?
[ Natalia ] What if another shell's coming, and I'm sitting here? Got to move quick'
[ Natalia ] My neighbour grabbed me like this…
by the collar and dragged me to the basement
[ Natalia ] I told my daughter I'd lost my leg. She said it was OK, I had my shoe on
[ Natalia ] I said, 'The shoe's on, but my leg's gone'
[ GEO ] Donetsk shelling aftermath August 28, 2014
[ Life ] Put it out! Put it out there! I can smell gas
[ Life ] Is it a 120mm shell or a bomb? Maybe, it's a bomb?
[ Anatoly, Donetsk Resident ] This is Poroshenko's peace plan
[ Anatoly ] The same peace plan he speaks so breathlessly of
[ Anatoly ] Yatsenyuk! Turchinov! Hello to you all!
[ Anatoly ] Hello from Donbass!
[ Anatoly ] Ukraine leads the way!
[ Anatoly ] I've always stood up for Ukraine
[ Anatoly ] But at what cost? What do civilians have to do with all this?
[ Anatoly ] Who are you firing at? Your guys are firing from the airport
[ Anatoly ] We already know who's firing from where, and how they scream in! Goodbye!
Donbass War Day 2521… Airport. Part 1
[ Pavel Chuprina, Journalist (Donetsk) ] I became a cameraman when I came
to Donetsk. I needed a job
[ Pavel ] I saw an ad: cameramen needed at the local TV channel
[ Pavel ] So, a year and a half before the war, I trained and started to work
[ Pavel ] When all those events here began to unfold, I put my camera skills into action
[ Pavel ] My family and I were living near the airport,
in a parallel street to well known Stratonavtov St
[ Pavel ] Then it wasn't all bombed out. We were still trying to live here
[ Pavel ] We sometimes took shelter in the basement
[ Pavel ] As you can see...
it's still there
[ Pavel ] Here's the entrance to our basement
[ Pavel ] When the war broke out, we stored some food supplies here,
along with papers, money... all zipped up in bags,
because it was unclear: if anything happened to our house, our property,
we'd still have the essentials safe
[ Pavel ] We hid in this basement on several occasions,
when we were still trying to live here
[ Pavel ] One day, we heard that our house had been hit
[ Pavel ] The hit was confirmed
[ Pavel ] We came and saw that luckily there was just a huge hole
between the ground and 1st floor. It was created by a shell
[ Pavel ] No huge damage. The house was kind of just wounded in action
[ Pavel ] We boarded up the hole and covered it,
so at least rain and snow wouldn't get through
[ Pavel ] We boarded it all up and left
[ Pavel ] But during another shelling, we got a call, saying that our house was on fire
[ Pavel ] The house was on fire
[ Pavel ] Some walls destroyed, some burned
down, but the walls will survive. It's fixable
[ Pavel ] When there are deaths, it's a different story and attitude to filming
[ Pavel ] As I said, you come to a spot, and you smell burned flesh,
and you realise that someone had been blown to bits
[ Pavel ] I knew they wouldn't show it on TV, but I filmed it anyway
[ Pavel ] I understood it was our history
[ Pavel ] Every time I come to shoot another shelling,
[ Pavel ] I try to capture it all as closely as possible,
to show what is really going on here
[ Pavel ] A picture is worth 1,000 words and it says: war, war, war, war!
[ Pavel ] It has to be filmed
[ GEO ] Donetsk shelling aftermath August 27, 2014
[ Life ] There you go! Next...
[ Life ] One more step, Kolya!
[ Elena, Donetsk Resident ] A father and son just drove inside the yard
[ Elena ] When they got out, there was an explosion
[ Elena ] Here are two small craters
[ Elena ] There was a bang and they were both killed
[ Elena ] A wife was left without a husband and a son, and 2 small kids now have no dad
[ Elena ] The father was 60, the son was 33
[ Elena ] That's it. We all came under fire: they hit cars and fences
[ Elena ] Yesterday, phosphorous bombs set everything ablaze
[ Elena ] We tried to put it out with water, our hands and feet...
[ Elena ] We tried everything!
[ Elena ] We survived, but where can I take my husband?
[ Elena ] You've seen his condition
[ Stanislav Obishchenko, Journalist, Donetsk ] The airport was within the city
[ Stanislav ] And having a base inside the heart of the separatists' capital,
they could put constant pressure on it,
and so show the Ukrainian public, maybe even the European public:
[ Stanislav ] 'We're here in Donetsk, inside the separatists' stronghold,
holding our ground, a possible stepping stone for advancing into the city'
[ Life ] We will advance...
and free our land
[ Life ] Refusing a ceasefire is our response to the terrorists, militants and looters
Donetsk shelling in streets of Donetsk amateur footage
[ Life ] There's a salvo. We're waiting for a shell
[ Tatyana, Donetsk Resident ] There's been constant shelling
[ Tatyana ] At 1 am, it was terrible!
Donetsk shelling aftermath August 17, 2014
[ Tatyana ] Near Leninsky District, 20 houses burned down at once
[ Tatyana ] At once! Everything burned
[ Tatyana ] I'd like to ask Poroshenko what he's doing!
[ Tatyana ] May he throw his kids and family in the same fiery furnace we've been in!
[ Tatyana ] Why are we being cut off?
[ Tatyana ] Our blood is not enough for him?
[ Tatyana ] His hands are soaked through with blood
[ Tatyana ] Isn't it time to stop?
[ Tatyana ] How much longer is it going to last?
[ Stanislav ] At the end of August, when things became unbearable,
the republic's administration decided that...
they needed to gather forces and reserves closer to the airport,
to try to clear the place of Ukrainian troops,
and make it impossible for them to shell Donetsk on a daily basis
[ Life ] All right, people, lock and load!
[ Life ] Hello!
[ GEO ] Battle for Donetsk Airport September 27, 2014
[ Life ] Yes, Givi
[ Life ] We're going into the settlement in groups of four. We'll clear the crossing area
[ Life ] Listen up!
[ Life ] They're coming out of the airport in small groups
[ Life ] We move in line, spread out, and don't let anyone escape
[ Life ] God is with us. Do not be afraid!
[ Stanislav ] Despite constant shelling of the city,
seeing neighbours and relatives dying every day,
prior to the assault, the militia offered the Ukrainian soldiers to quit the airport
[ Stanislav ] They gave them an opportunity to leave the city
[ Codename “Abkhazian”, Squad Commander
Donetsk People’s Republic Militia ] They're a pain in the neck!
[ “Abkhazian” ] The school year was starting, but
today they bombed a school and a kindergarten
[ “Abkhazian” ] We can't accept that
[ “Abkhazian” ] They haven't observed the truce, so why should we?
[ “Abkhazian” ] In response to their attacks, we'll conduct an assault
[ “Abkhazian” ] Abkhazian to control tower!
[ “Abkhazian” ] Don't fret, guys, get on the radio!
[ Life ] Come in!
[ Life ] Quiet!
[ “Abkhazian” ] What about our offer to end this peacefully?
[ Life ] They're thinking
[ “Abkhazian” ] How long do you need? I'm telling
you, there are no reinforcements to count on
[ Life ] Copy that, but it's not my decision
[ “Abkhazian” ] Abkhazian to control tower, you've got 15-20 minutes tops
[ Stanislav ] The Ukrainian Army's command didn't accept the offer
[ Stanislav ] The Ukrainian soldiers weren't ordered to retreat
[ Stanislav ] On the contrary, they continued to
shell Donetsk using the airport's control tower
as a vantage point to direct artillery fire at residential areas
[ Codename ‘Feldsher’, Donetsk People’s Republic
Militia ] A really crucial objective was to keep
sustained fire on the control tower,
from which the Ukrainian military
was correcting the aim of their artillery and artillery batteries in Peski
[ GEO ] Battle for Donetsk Airport September 30, 2014
[ Life ] Hey, brother!
[ Life ] How you doing, son?
[ Life ] You're a real hero, kid! You should get a medal!
[ Life ] Of course, for sure! - Got it
[ Life ] Here!
[ Life ] Find a piece of wood, a thick stick
[ Life ] Step away from the gun
[ Life ] At the planes?
[ Life ] Not at the planes
[ Life ] Almost there
[ Life ] Commander, we won't let you down! - Well done, guys!
[ Life ] Excellent! - I'll get another
[ Life ] No, wait!
[ Life ] Fire!
[ Life ] More to the right, 50 - And that one?
[ Life ] Hit whatever the hell they have there
[ Life ] Commander, where do we aim? The tops, sides?
[ Life ] The bottom, aim for the bottom
[ Life ] Got it
[ Life ] Hit the top, if you can - Got it
[ Life ] I'll fire with a D-30 [ 122-mm howitzer ]
and Nona [ self-propelled 120 mm gun-mortar ]
[ Life ] Your gun's ideal for this
[ Life ] It fires straight - Yeah, straight
[ Life ] That's it - We'll turn it and start firing
[ Life ] Bring the next one
[ Codename ‘Donbass’, Donetsk People’s Republic Militia ] I didn't take up arms
to fight against Ukraine or the Ukrainian people
[ ‘Donbass’ ] I'm not fighting for this to be
Russia, but to stop civilians from being killed
for just making a certain choice, that's it
[ ‘Donbass’ ] People should have the right to choose what they want and don't want
[ ‘Donbass’ ] Armed people came and started
shooting civilians for defending their viewpoint
[ Life ] Move! Don't lag!
[ GEO ] Battle for Donetsk airport October 2, 2014
[ Life ] Dad, hi! I've stopped by the local airport, I'll be home soon
[ Life ] Wow, that's good! Really good!
[ Life ] Fantastic!
[ Stanislav ] For Poroshenko, holding the airport was a political issue
[ Stanislav ] So, when things went badly, Ukrainian propaganda was set in motion
[ Stanislav ] The Kiev media began to call their servicemen 'Cyborgs' -
super soldiers ready to take on any enemy
[ Stanislav ] And, even today, some repeat the terms concocted at that time in interviews
[ Life ] Ukrainian servicemen dubbed 'Cyborgs' are heroically repelling attacks
[ Life ] Several years ago, they raised our flag over a terminal and recorded a message
[ Life ] Donbass is Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! Glory forever!
[ Codename ‘Transporter’, Unit Commander Donetsk People’s
Republic Militia ] The Cyborgs didn't distinguish
between kids, servicemen or seniors
[ ‘Transporter’ ] They fired Grad rockets and tanks many times
not caring whether their targets were civilians or militia
[ GEO ] Bomb shelter Donetsk Hospital Nr 18 October 12, 2014
[ Life ] Hello - Hello
[ Life ] Meet our guests
[ Life ] Guests come every day
[ Life ] But it makes no difference - Come in
[ Life ] So, this is Evdokia Germanovna
[ Life ] Oksana, she's a teacher
[ Life ] And this is Ekaterina Petrovna
[ Life ] Her husband is seriously ill. He's in that room with their 2 kids
[ Life ] Her flat's been blown to pieces, and Germanovna's too
[ Life ] They've got nowhere to live
[ Evdokia, Donetsk Resident ] It's totally ruined, there's no roof
[ Evdokia ] On the 4th floor, there are two
holes this big from a bomb, you can see the sky
[ Evdokia ] The building has no roof
[ Evdokia ] The roofing is smashed, only the rafters are intact
[ Evdokia ] Farther down in building 28
[ Evdokia ] When winter comes and it starts snowing,
everything will be covered in snow and water inside
[ Evdokia ] And the roof? I wish they'd cover it somehow... I don't know
[ Evdokia ] Everyone left, leaving everything behind... You can't live there
[ Ekaterina, Donetsk resident ] Our neighbours gave us this stove
from their home
[ Ekaterina ] It's on, boiling water, all day
[ Galina, Donetsk Resident ] Our neighbourhood is shelled every day
[ Galina ] We go out very seldom
[ Galina ] We rarely leave the bomb shelter
[ Galina ] But there's a woman, thank goodness, who goes and buys things for us
[ Galina ] Only the DPR brings us food
[ Galina ] The woman in the third room isn't receiving her pension, she has a bad thyroid
[ Galina ] She's thin as a beanpole
[ Evdokia ] They started this war, Poroshenko needs this war
[ Stanislav ] Some pictures from Donetsk, real ones showing the shellings and victims…
went out on the Internet and, of course, some Ukrainian servicemen saw them
[ Stanislav ] I've heard more than once that they considered them staged
[ Sergey Kovalenko, Soldier
Ukrainian Armed Forces ] Sometimes, I watched Russia's Channel One
[ Sergey ] They showed hysterical old women shouting
that they were living in basements every day
[ Sergey ] People in Russia saw it and thought, 'Thank God there's no war here'
[ Sergey ] And, at the same time, Putin's rating was rising
[ Sergey ] The people still live in the Soviet Union
[ Sergey ] They can't accept that Ukraine has become independent
[ Sergey ] So they support Putin
and consider Russia's involvement in this war, even if indirect, to be just
[ Stanislav ] When Donetsk residents saw interviews
of Ukrainian servicemen broadcast from Kiev,
[ GEO ] Donetsk Shelling in streets of Donetsk amateur footage
it caused bewilderment, to put it mildly
[ Stanislav ] Everyone here knew who was shelling the city and from where
[ Natalia ] There were days when the barrage was so heavy you couldn't raise your head
[ Natalia ] We could hear the shelling, we knew Ukrainian troops were there
[ Natalia ] We learned to count how long it takes for a shell to land
[ Natalia ] You hear a bang, a dull thud, and start counting seconds
[ Natalia ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… If it landed in the
20th second, it means their positions are nearby
[ Natalia ] If in the 40th or 120th , it means they're far away
[ Natalia ] Whistles… yeah
[ Natalia ] If it whistles, it's going past, not
at you, but its shrapnel can still reach you
[ Natalia ] It'll land somewhere nearby but not in your courtyard
[ Natalia ] When it's at you… as they say, you won't hear the bullet
[ Natalia ] They stopped at nothing
[ Natalia ] They shelled every neighbourhood to make clear what they could do to us
[ Natalia ] 'Like that, see?'
[ Natalia ] They probably didn't expected any blowback…
but there was
[ GEO ] Battle preparing for Donetsk airport October 20, 2014
[ Stanislav ] The battle for Donetsk airport raged for several months
[ Stanislav ] The last Ukrainian units were knocked out of the terminals in January 2015
[ Stanislav ] While the city was being shelled,
thousands of civilians were killed or injured, and over 5,000 buildings destroyed
[ Life ] You can make shot glasses out of the shell casings
[ Life ] Just a sec…
[ Life ] Attach the rest
[ Stanislav ] In fact, Donetsk airport turned into a mini version of the entire war,
which has been raging for 7 years in Donbass now
[ Stanislav ] Meanwhile, Ukrainian politicians are making a name for themselves
and advancing their careers through this war
[ Stanislav ] And, Ukrainian troops, with no thought as to what they will hit,
open fire after getting coordinates
[ Stanislav ] The civilians on the other side
of the frontline live under constant shelling
[ Stanislav ] They are losing their relatives, children, parents…
[ Stanislav ] And the militiamen, who are trying to protect their families,
are trying to move the frontline and these Ukrainian troops with their artillery
farther from their homes
[ Life ] We're about to storm the airport - What are you going to do?
[ Life ] The artillery will cover us as we advance, everything seems well-planned
[ Life ] How many troops do they have?
[ Life ] Honestly, I can't say, I don't know - Roughly?
[ Life ] We'll see - Now, we'll see, we'll go find out