'Is there an end?' The residents caught in the crossfire in eastern Ukraine

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/30/eastern-ukraine-donbass-residents-caught-up-in-war

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Vasily Nikolaevich, a 63-year-old resident of Mariinka, a small town in Ukraine just 20 kilometres away from the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, was in his vegetable garden when he heard the sound of shooting coming from the neighbouring street.

He finished his weeding, walked into the house, and told his wife he’d wager for return fire within 20 minutes.

In Mariinka, locals no longer run into their basements every time they hear shots: here, in what has become the frontline in the fight between pro-Russian separatist rebels and Ukrainian army forces, life goes on.

Related: Life on the frontline of the Ukraine conflict

“It was loud and coming from different weapons from two different directions some 50 metres from my house,” he said, sitting on the edge of his hospital bed.

A few weeks later, Nikolaevich had been standing next to his outdoor shower when there was an explosion right in his garden, just a few feet away, knocking him out. When he came to he was almost deaf, with serious injuries to his leg and head.

His wife tried to call for an ambulance, but the networks were down and the call would not go through.

So, Nikolaevich got up, found his bicycle, and rode to the nearby checkpoint. Several Ukrainian servicemen quickly dressed his wounds, and one soldier drove him to safety, where an ambulance picked him up.

In hospital he seemed cheerful, if reflective: “It could’ve been worse, a tiny bit closer and I wouldn’t be talking to you,” he said. “Also, now I know that this whole idea of a shell not falling twice in the same crater is absolute nonsense. My house was hit on 22 September last year – the roof had a huge hole in it, all the glass in the windows was gone. So, we thought, OK – we’ve had our share of the trouble, and had it all fixed.

“Now we need to put in the glass in the windows again. The house walls are damaged by shells fragments again and the fence is all destroyed. Well, what can you do? With those checkpoints all over the place, and the both sides firing at each other on a regular basis, we should be grateful for being alive.”

Civilians bearing the brunt

More than a year into the armed conflict in Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces continue to engage in hostilities despite the fragile truce established by the Minsk agreements. Though the fighting has lessened in its intensity, civilians are still bearing the brunt.

In May, the UN reported that Ukraine was now home to an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced people, but conceded that the unofficial figure was likely to be much higher.

Those who live in the vicinity of military targets, like checkpoints or armed personnel quarters, are particularly at risk from attacks.

It’s been more than a year and it’s becoming simply unbearable

A nine-storey apartment building in Avdiyivka, a town controlled by Ukrainian forces some 10km north of Donetsk, used to be nicknamed “the ornamental place” by local residents, thanks to its colourful facade.

Now, that nickname carries a sense of irony: the building suffered particularly severe damage from recent shelling, sustaining a succession of direct hits. Today it stands pockmarked and partly-destroyed by the frequent attacks.

It’s an obvious target: Ukrainian soldiers use the apartment building next door as a base, with military vehicles parked outside and some weaponry in plain view.

For those living in neighbouring buildings – many of which are hit as rebels try to attack the Ukrainian base – they’re stuck, with nowhere else to go.

The “ornamental place” was hit again on 18 July – with a shell exploding in an apartment on the eighth floor, killing a 73-year-old woman, Anna Kostina, and her 20-year-old grandson, Sergei Malashkov.

“Granny Anya had a fractured hip, she could barely walk,” a neighbour said. “So we took care of her all winter, bringing her boiled water for tea and some food. Her grandson, Seryozha, had a disability and could not speak.”

When the shelling began at around 4:30am, residents living on the lower floors made it to the basement, but those high up just sat in the hall in the dark. When it was finally over, they went out to assess the damage and saw that Kostina’s apartment was gone.

“We saw Seryozha’s body in the hall, it was all bloody. Apparently, he tried to run for it,” one of the women explained. “We left him there and entered what was left of Granny Anya’s flat. At first we could not see her amid the debris… I even thought, what if she’s alive and someone else got her ahead of us and actually got her out… and then, I saw a fragment of her face in a pile of debris.”

Practically every civilian in this area – whether controlled by separatist forces or by the national army – makes the same plea: could the military move their checkpoints and quarters away from their homes?

The laws of war require all parties to the conflict to avoid deploying their military forces in densely populated areas – or to remove civilians to the extent feasible from areas under their control.

“I live in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, and the separatists have a fire position right under my windows, imagine the fun,” said Lena, another resident in Avdiyivka, who has to travel through the frontline to get to work.

Related: Thousands flee Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine – in pictures

Or rather, used to work: the cosmetics company was located just a few steps away from the “ornamental place” , and was hit on the evening of 17 Julyand again the next morning, part of the same attack that Granny Anya and Seryozha were killed.

“So, you’ve got the military here and you’ve got the military there – and you’re in between,” said Lena, lighting a cigarette. “It’s been more than a year and it’s becoming simply unbearable.

“Is there an end to it?”

Tanya Lokshina is deputy director of the Moscow office at Human Rights Watch

A version of this article first appeared on The Moscow Times