Reportage
Donbass, southern Ukraine: territories still on the edge
Facade of the Donbass palace, a hotel victim of a shell fire in Donetsk.
© Anissa El Jabri / RFI
Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow
4 mins
Almost 6 months after the start of the special operation, as the Kremlin calls it, referendums are still expected by the fall on whether these territories conquered by Russian forces will belong to Russia and pro- Russians.
On the ground, the security situation remains very diverse.
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From our special correspondent in the Donbass,
This is an alert message that fell in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday on the phones in Donetsk “
close your windows!
".
The brewery in the capital of the pro-Russian separatist republic has just suffered Ukrainian bombing over an area of 2 square kilometers, an announcement from the Territorial Defense which fears a leak of chemicals, especially ammonia.
Advice is given to the inhabitants not to go out in the street either.
End of the alert in the early morning: no leak noted.
On August 5, the city center of this city of 900,000 inhabitants was targeted by a bombardment.
The streets behind the theater and a hotel known in particular for receiving the Russian and international press and many official delegations were affected.
According to local authorities, 5 people were killed, 3 injured.
Facade of the Donbass palace, a hotel victim of a shell fire in Donetsk.
© Anissa El Jabri / RFI
During a press trip organized by the Russian army (note, trip to which the RFI correspondent in Moscow was invited) Edouard Bassourine, spokesperson for the armed forces of this pro-Russian republic of Donbass, denounced "
another another crime committed by Ukrainian forces
”.
This manager points to “
the use of 155 mm shells, NATO standard
”.
Located a dozen kilometers from the front line, Donetsk is very rarely affected, but for several weeks the security situation has become very tense.
Rain of incendiary ammunition on July 23, rain of antipersonnel mines on July 27.
The use of this ammunition in civilian areas is prohibited by certain United Nations weapons conventions.
Building and hospital under construction in Mariupol, August 13, 2022. © Anissa El Jabri / RFI
At 135 kilometers and about two hours by car, Mariupol is experiencing unusual activity: the sound of saws and hammers, workers are constructing new buildings, the Russian army a new hospital.
The smell of new and blindingly white in the summer sun of the new facades... A spot of light amid the ruins of the city center.
Here, the Russian army wants to show the press and, beyond that, Russian and international opinion that after the violence of the fighting, it is investing in reconstruction.
Chief doctor of emergencies at the Mariupol hospital, Orleansky Sergey Evgenievich affirms in front of the dozens of microphones and cameras of the press tour:
“
It's a very important facility that's being built.
As a result of the hostilities in Mariupol, almost the entire infrastructure of hospitals specializing in infectious diseases was destroyed.
Only the infectious diseases department of our hospital, which is located on the current territory of this construction site, survived, with 40 beds.
However, the Covid epidemic is not over, another wave can reach us at any time.
There will also be a whole department here for medical diagnostics with X-rays, ultrasound, endoscopy, surgery and resuscitation for 10 beds
”.
This new hospital should be ready in September.
For Mariupol to become completely habitable again, however, it will probably take several years as the destruction is so extensive.
Winter is already looking tough.
Still, the city is a symbol, and must therefore be a showcase for reconstruction and the new Russian order.
For Popasna in the Lugansk region, the scene this spring of a decisive military breakthrough for Russian and pro-Russian forces, the fate promises to be the opposite: "
We will probably not rebuild Popasna, that would not really have meaningless since the city is almost completely destroyed
”, according to the head of the self-proclaimed republic of Lugansk.
Popasna was even more damaged than the port city.
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