Life in Donetsk: Resilient Despite Obama's Continuing Proxy War

by Stephen Lendman

Obama's dirty war of aggression using Ukrainian and imported mercenary forces continues against Donbass residents rejecting fascism - wanting democratic rights everyone deserves.

Since conflict began in April 2014, Kiev's junta regime committed major war crimes. Russia's Investigative Committee (IC) is set to submit hard evidence to international courts, according to its spokesman Vladimir Markin.

"All the evidence that we have collected has been included in more than 2,500 volumes of a criminal case. And the Investigative Committee is ready to hand over these materials to any international court," he said.

Russia's IC will continue its investigation on whether other junta war crimes were committed. Despite months of devastating conflict, life in Donetsk remains resilient.

It's Ukraine's fifth largest city - an industrial one with nearly a million people. The metropolitan area has over two million. A local unnamed resident describes conditions saying they're "stable."

"The city is alive. It's very clean, decorated (and) roads are being repaired," he said. Fresh surfacing is everywhere. Ads provide information on "important city events and happenings."

"Maybe not a million roses are blooming but definitely 500,000." Junta shelling continues in some areas. Their residents struggle to endure and survive.

Schools at all levels operate normally. Graduates get DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) certificates and free transportation to Rostov to take Unified State Exams for admission into tuition-free Russian universities.

Youths from local colleges need only DPR certificates and acceptable entrance exam results.

Healthcare is readily available for anyone needing it - thanks to Russian humanitarian aid. It's an essential lifeline given Kiev's economic blockade.

Thirty-one humanitarian convoys delivered essential to life supplies - including food, medicines and medical equipment.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said a 32nd convoy will depart for Donetsk and Lugansk from the Noginsk rescue center on July 16. Since last August, Moscow delivered nearly 40,000 tons of essential supplies.

Washington supplied NOTHING. The world's richest country and lead belligerent wants Donbass residents isolated, attacked, starved and deprived of vital medical care - a testimony to US ruthlessness.

Half of Donetsk's pharmacies are closed. The others have Russian supplied medicines and related items. "City transit works like clockwork," said the resident. It operates well despite insufficient gasoline availability.

No military equipment is seen on streets - except an occasional camouflaged vehicle or truck. Supermarkets, other shops, restaurants and theaters operate normally.

"You can get anything you want at (city) markets," the resident said. He found his favorite yogurt. At the same time, economic blockade remains a major problem - like Leningrad's siege during WW II except for life-saving Russian humanitarian aid.

"Everything is more expensive" - food two to threefold higher than pre-war. The problem is wages and pensions haven't kept up with prices.

They're paid on time with "no arrears." Ukrainian hryvnias were used until April. Now it's Russian rubles. In May, healthcare workers were paid in dollars.

Internet service operates normally - including free wi-fi in public places and all institutions. Five local television channels are available plus Russian ones and others. Satellite connections offer more.

Kiev sometimes cuts off cell phone service. Not all businesses operate. Economic blockade prevents imports and exports.

Donbass freedom fighters developed into a well-trained, well-equipped army - a capable self-defense force outmatching Kiev's military. No Russian soldiers are involved.

City residents trust government officials. They're polar opposite Kiev's fascist regime. A state of war exists with no end in sight.

"If the shelling were to stop, everything would be fine," said the resident. "So we live on and hope."

Washington's February 2014 coup transformed Ukraine into a fascist police state geopolitical battleground in Europe's heartland.

It's a platform for possible US-dominated NATO nuclear war on Russia or America acting unilaterally. Lunatics in Washington want regime change. They want Western puppet leadership replacing Putin.

They want Russia ravaged and destroyed like all other countries America attacks. They want control of its vast land mass, balkanized for easier control. They want its resources plundered, its people exploited, a dystopian wasteland used for profit.

On July 15, Obama's Ukraine coup team point person Victoria Nuland arrives back in Kiev to meet with officials Washington installed. The State Department says she's coming "to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues" - code language for continued US-supported aggression on Donbass, prelude perhaps to direct confrontation with Russia.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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