In the first part of the interview, "Gubarev had swastikas on the walls of his room, and devils have been carried to Donetsk from Russia ultras "Shakhtar" Vitaly Ovcharenko has told to ONLINE.UA about his fan past and the first skirmishes with separatists in early 2014.
In the continuation of the conversation with the journalist Yaroslav Grebenyuk, Ovcharenko recalls the guerrilla struggle in the capital of Donbas captured by terrorists.
How we've hunted titushky in DPR: memories of a partisan from Donetsk. Part 1
How we've hunted titushky in DPR: memories of a partisan from Donetsk. Part 2
Our "evening patrols" have ended in one day. In evenings a few "tens" (separatist patrols) with the flags of DPR went down the streets. And we wanted to attack one such "ten" to wrest away their DPR flag. We have attacked and started to beat them, and then a car drove up, a man came out and started to shoot at us from a Makarov gun. We took a run; I still remember: we were running through the parking lot where the cables were stretched, one of ours stumbled on the rope and fell. I have picked up him on the way by the scruff; we run farther into yards and channeled off. (By the way, I do not even remember the face of that guy, who he is - maybe, he would read the interview?)
This happened in early May. And I thought, it is enough - then I could be killed invariably.
- Did you try to find a weapon?
- My friend of the ultras, he then fought in the battalion "Azov" to the last time, offered to make a raid on the garage where separatists had an arsenal, machines and so on. But because we have no weapons at all I thought that this raid will be fraught with severe problems. And it was frightening, indeed: that's so hard just to step on the stage more serious than frays.
In short, on May 17, I went from Donetsk, as it turned out, just in time: I heard that then they came to my home and asked for me.
- So tell, after all: who has arranged the take-over in Donbas, how did you understand at the time?
The movement was coordinated by strangers, Russian militants. And members of the Party of Regions, Communists, members of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, and other parties, former members of the security forces,and the Afghan War veterans helped them. Fight Club "Oplot" established by former law enforcement officer Zhilin actively supplied titushkys to Kharkiv and Donetsk; that movement then grew into a separatist battalion "Oplot". Alas, the Donetsk organization "No one except us" has participated in that. But we must remember that many of its members also fought for Ukraine. An important role was played by all sorts of Cossack and reenactment organizations; they were actively engaged in propaganda, recruited young people. Developed a "regional patriotism" in schools. In the town of Khartsyzk veterans' organizations actively worked with youth: on May 9, there were red flags, armored troop-carriers, and that had already annoyed just before the war.
Miners helped them. They were shipped like cattle to buses and was taken to stand at the rallies. They were like slaves. When somebody talks about the special miner's spirit, I say, "Shit - that's what the miners' spirit!"
Prior to that, the Party of Regions used them, and now - the separatists. They screamed that Ukraine had closed, and now I want to ask: "How mines work now? Did they build Donbas for you?"
And so it happened: all of those Donetsk supporters of "federalization", "special statuses", and others have tried to play their game, and Russian hauled weapons at all that time. We still got a war.
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