The drive from Kiev is long, the landscape monotonous. The scenery belies the intensity and the selflessness that war brings.
On the contrary, each tree that files past, each service station by the side of the road, brings me inexorably closer to the unsurpassable banality of it all.
The few words I catch in the conversations of my Ukrainian companions remind me that, at least in their minds, there is a war at the end of this road.
This is the first time I’ve chosen to enter the east without going through the camp of the “Insurgents”, or “Terrorists” rather, according to Ukrainian rhetoric. My travel companions are civilians who support “the defenders of the Ukrainian nation.” With their personal savings, they buy clothing, combat boots, and cigarettes for the volunteers of the national guard on the frontline in Mariupol. The strategic city on the Sea of Azov. Taking Mariupol would allow the rebels to establish a junction between Donetsk and Crimea.
You have to whisper a password in a soldier’s ear to cross the checkpoint of the Mariupol airport, which has been transformed into a fortified camp. The main terminal has become a dormitory, the bay windows are blocked off with sandbags. Andrey, a big, burly guy, commands the airport sector of the national guard. During the Euromaidan protests he was part of the anti-riot police force and clashed with protesters on Maidan Square, but when he speaks about February 22, 2014 and the slaughter on Instituska, he is adamant: the police didn’t open fire on the demonstrators, according Andrey, it was foreign snipers who fired, first at the police, then at the demonstrators. “We had numerous gunshot wounds in our ranks,” explains Andrey. Tonight, at the same table, 3 former Berkut and 3 “Banderites” (from Bandera, a controversial figure of Ukrainian ultra-nationalism) who clashed on Maidan Square a year ago, share a meal; the bottles of vodka are emptied at a pace that I am unable to follow. Yesterday’s enemies are today united in the same fight: “defend the Ukrainian nation against Russian aggression.”
The contempt for the people of Donbas is hardly concealed in their comments. “If they prefer Russia, let them leave for Moscow.” The division between the pro-Western west and the Russian-speaking east is deep, it was solidified after the protests on Maidan Square and the law adopted by the new Ukrainian government prohibiting Russian in schools.
Mariupol is a strange city. Located on the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius river and 635 km south-east of Kiev. It’s trying hard to look like a beach town that could accommodate tourists, but the yellowish toxic fumes emanating from two the large industrial complexes, “Ilyich Mariupol Steel and Iron Works” and “Azovstal”, dash out all fantasies of summer.
In the tramway, dating from 1933, you come across people from all the social classes of Mariupol, steelworkers, people who work in offices, retirees, students, rockers and housewives dressed as if everyday were Sunday. It’s also an efficient way to discover the city and its inhabitants.
Donetsk, the pro-Russian capital, is only a 1h30 drive north of Mariupol. A network of trenches and underground passages were developed for months in the north and the west to defend the city. But the actual front line is located in Shyrokine, on the coast about 25 km north of Mariupol. The seaside city was completely destroyed by artillery fire during clashes between Ukrainian and DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) forces. It’s a barrier that protects Mariupol, a promontory that gives tactical advantage to whoever holds this position. The men of the Donbas and Azov battalions perform rotations every 3 to 4 days to fight at Shyrokine.
The 25th of May. A rally for Ukrainian heroes is organized on former Lenin Square, recently rebaptized “Svoboda” (Freedom) Square.
Around a hundred Mariupol residents have come with their families to show their support for the Ukrainian fighters who defend the city. Children pose proudly, the assault rifles too heavy in their hands, next to the soldiers of the Azov and Donbas battalions wearing mesh and black sunglasses, while young girls take selfies in front of a missile launcher.
The men of the Pravy sektor are not present, they are the only ones to have refused integration into the national guard of the Ministry of Defense.
Andrey Cherven, commander of the Aratta division, says that he refuses to submit his men to the Ministry of Defense due to ideological differences. “Poroshenko is constantly asking for international aid, he begs for assistance from foreign countries while Pravy sektor, with 3 million trained men, would be capable of defending the nation. For the moment we have 50,000 men able to fight, but the government refuses to support us, yet it would be enough to simply allow us to carry arms…
It was by coming to Mariupol that I finally become aware of the gap between Ukrainians. When I ask my translator Iryna to accompany me to Donetsk, which she knows perfectly well because she worked there as a tour operator, she replies that she wouldn’t go to Donetsk with me for all the gold in the world, and that she would prefer to stay alive.
-Jérôme Sessini