SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — Even before Ukrainian troops rolled into this crumbling city on Wednesday and promptly surrendered or defected to the pro-Russian rebels who had seized it last weekend — as conflicting reports suggest — it already seemed a lost cause.
Since Saturday, the central streets of this former industrial outpost of about 130,000 have been patrolled by heavily armed, masked men, some of whom bear a striking resemblance to the Russian troops who appeared in Crimea shortly before Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula last month.
Most strategic points around town — the city council building, the local police station and the state security headquarters — remain surrounded by barricades of sandbags and tires, guarded by rag-tag, crudely armed teams of local “self-defense” forces in surgical masks.
Amid real anger here, the Ukrainian government’s writ is disappearing.
Local residents say they’re fed up with the new pro-Western government — backed by the months-long protests on Kyiv’s Independence Square, the “Maidan” — that’s shown little interest in extending a hand to the Russified, industrial east.
“For three months, we watched this scene on the Maidan and were against it, but no one listened to us,” said 55-year-old local Olga Vladimirovna, standing near the blockaded police station on Tuesday.
Post a Comment