The commander of the “Donbass” Defence Unit Semyon Semyonchenko gave an interview to the Russian TV channel “Dozhd” in which he explained why he decided to take up arms, in what way the situation in Sloviansk, in his opinion, is similar to the Russian Chechen war, and whether Ukraine can ever be the same. This interview was conducted by Timur Olevsky. A translation of the interview was published on the Ukrainian Volunteer Defense Force ‘Donbass’ FB page. 

Olevsky: Who are the people that support the separatists? It is commonly assumed in Ukraine that separatists that are fighting right now in Slavyansk are people from Russia, that Russians are behind this all. Who are those people in your opinion?