Christmas in the frontline village of Spartak under Ukrainian fire ..Ceasefire violated

Christmas in the frontline village under Ukrainian fire – Spartak in 2016 – YouTube

Under Ukrainian fire in the destroyed Spartak locality for the third year without running utilities, there are living people, including two children are lacking festive spirits. To wish children a happy New Year and to learn about the problems and grief of local population came Olga Makeyeva, the Deputy Chairman of the DPR People’s Council.

“What a New Year are you talking about if they are shelling? Just at 4 p.m. they will start shelling,” said local resident.

Several families in Spartak locality for the third year in a row lived without water, power, and gas supply and, what is of utmost importance, without peace. Here are neither shops, nor markets, nor schools, nor hospitals, two little girls have to go to school in the neighbouring village.

Every other month authorities organize fairs for local residents at which the latter stock up on food. Occasionally here come volunteers and bring some aid, but it’s not enough. Working prospects are tight here, not numerous citizens work at a public utility enterprise developing their locality.

During the everyday shellings local residents go out very occasionally to make food, to talk to each other and to learn what families were left homeless this night.

“Well, since 4 or 5 p.m. they start shelling and we immediately go down to basements, and stay there till morning. Though when we see girls off in the morning they are still shelling. So, we see them off at 7 a.m., but we go out earlier. It takes time to feed them, and so on… but they are still shelling. And by the time we have seen them off and return home the shellings are ceased already, and it’s more or less calm,” resident said.

In January 2015 this family lost their apartment, shells hit the kitchen and ruined the house, but the Pleshkovs decided not to leave the home locality. Five of them stay overnight in the narrow basement.

“We have been staying here for three years, never left for anywhere and thus we hope that once something will be over somewhere and we’ll be living at home. Although we miss our home already. We would like to return home, to watch TV in a warm apartment”, she said.

Once you’ve come here, it’s difficult to feel the festive spirits. Everyday shellings hardly ever let local residents leave their basements, but nevertheless in the yard there was set a New Year’s tree, those remaining citizens collected Christmas balls by bits and pieces to decorate it, some of them were hand-made.

And all of that is for the sake of two children, whose childhood passes away to the strains of bullets and shells.

“Well, earlier some kind of a cabin was installed over there, Marina and I were walking around when a sniper opened fire at us. We got frightened and ran down to the basement,” a small girld told.

When asked about the New Year, local residents shrug their shoulders. To wish locals a happy coming New Year and to present them with good spirits and gifts came Olga Makeyeva, the deputy chairman of the DPR People’s Council.

She handed in sweets to girls, but spent more time talking to the older generation. Everyone could come up and tell about hisher needs and problems.

“People who had made a decision not to leave their land, to stay in their houses, – are real heroes, and our main task is to help them by all means, to render them support in this difficult situation,” Makeyeva said.

The deputy chairman of the People’s Council promised that all the problems of the local population would be solved if possible. First of all, with warm shoes and clothes, coal and food products. The only thing local residents have been dreaming of for such a long time already is peaceful life. They’ve been waiting for it for three years already.

Video: UNION TV, Yelena Sokolova, Timur Kolesnik. Panorama

DONi News Agency

https://dninews.com/

Ceasefire between Ukraine, pro-Russians violated

The Ukrainian government and pro-Russia forces have accused each other of violating a new cease-fire in the east of Ukraine.

The accusation follows a cease-fire deal on Wednesday between Kiev and pro-Russia fighters. Both sides have reported fire exchanges in the volatile east of Ukraine since Friday midnight. The latest truce was reached with the help of European monitors after a surge in violations that claimed the lives of eight Ukrainian soldiers this week. The two sides previously agreed to a number of cease-fires, which failed to materialize. Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-autonomy protests in the Russian-speaking regions. The conflict has left some ten-thousand people dead.