By Anna Molchanov, Deputy editor of the website Obozrevatel [“Observer”]
11.21.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Go ahead and die. We won’t see it anyway.

The situation in occupied Donbas was hard even before today, but now the faceless term “humanitarian catastrophe” does not convey even a small fraction of what is actually happening.

The process of dehumanization has done its dirty deed in the end. And the hatred towards the “war guilty” has firmly stuck towards the citizens of the East – like a label.

The residents of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts have become the “centers” of evil. Some of them – unwittingly.

But yet they are ours. Ours?…

Hatred towards them – [is used] as an excuse and a justification. So as not to notice the horror that is happening in the 21st century. In Donbas. In OUR country. In Ukraine.
Closing our eyes, really tightly. Remember, like in childhood? Then it’s like there is no monster in our room…

Only today it is alive. And it is quietly, connivingly eating away at hearts and souls from the inside. Of those who say: “it’s their own fault.”

Read some short news items from this “branch of hell.” From where it is very difficult to survive. Without help and the right to hope.

And then, perhaps, you won’t be able to say: “Die. We still won’t see it anyway.” I want to believe that we won’t [say it].

Because the question now is already not about who is to blame (we know this anyway). The question is, how do we live with this later on?

* * *

“Here, a letter came through the post: We are glad to inform you that the project Donetsk Fashion Days has become a partner of the international competition Admiralty Needle, St Petersburg. And next to the “Amstore” in Donetsk today, grandmas approach you asking to buy them “Validol”… and crying. Do you know where these two realities intersect? I don’t. “

* * *

“Advise me, please… today my mother-in-law ended up in hospital and the first question was: “do you have money?”… and she is an invalid – she’s missing a leg and tomorrow they will perform an operation on the other one… they haven’t paid her pension to her, or to anyone, for a long time! Question: where can this person get money so she won’t lose her other leg?”

* * *

“A family that lives in the village of “Zhovtnevyy” needs a roof over their head, they can pay only for the bills. The house was destroyed in the summer, all this time they were living in the basement, but it has become cold, there is a child there – a boy, in 2nd class. There is no food since they don’t get humanitarian aid. Help!!!”

* * *

“Guys, please, help. There is a woman, 66 years old, no winter footwear, size 39, full leg. No money to buy it, and they don’t pay pensions. Thank you for your understanding.”

* * *

“…We took advantage of the ceasefire and almost reached Donetsk on foot, to a granny we know. She gave us shelter, but it is very difficult to survive without food products and medicines. We do not qualify for humanitarian aid, because our place of residence is Avdiivka, but they also don’t pay pensions, neither here nor there. There are no jobs, I work odd jobs for products, or help the neighbours, our reserve supplies over this 4 month ordeal have run out… believe me, life is very scary if the parents don’t have medicine for blood pressure… there is not enough simple food either… we need Kasark 16, or 32, Lerkamen 20, Quinax, mum is going blind without it, with a film over her eyes, – this is every day, and sometimes the blood pressure is over 220. Mezim, Ranitidin, we need vitamins, because there’s no money even to buy an apple, never mind anything else. Thank you in advance even for sympathy, who knew that it would come to this, now I understand the truth – if only there would be no war. My poor elders, they are both 82 now, they need warm slippers, they’re freezing, they don’t even really understand anything, except that it’s bad now…”

* * *

“A friend called from Mospyne. In August he went to Pavlohrad, because the Mospyne mine stopped working and he was left without a livelihood. He came to pick up some things… and told a story that gave me the chills. His neighbour, a lonely grandma, committed suicide the other day. Left a note where she said that she does not want to slowly starve to death – and therefore requests “not to blame anyone for anything.” The grandma did not go on the pension tours. Several days ago she killed the last chicken from her once-large farm. Drunken separatists took her goat in the summer… she lived alone, making ends meet, and now decided to leave like this – when she found out that the government in Kyiv had decided not to issue her the pension that she earned working all her life.”

* * *

“…We are collecting help for a mother and a baby (girl, 11 months, bottle feeding) from Debaltseve. In August a shell hit their house. Now she lives with friends in Donetsk. We need clothing and footwear for the mommy and child, and more…”

Relatives and friends react as they attend a funeral ceremony for students Andrey Eliseev (18) and Danila Kuznetsov (14), who were reportedly killed in artillery shelling on November 5, 2014 in Donetsk, Ukraine, buried November 7, 2014. An explosion in the sports field of a school in the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk killed the two school children and wounded four others. EPA/PHOTOMIG

Source: Obozrevatel.com