After four years of conflict, the east of the country still does not recover

The recent Champions League final in Kiev once again put Ukraine on the news, a fleeting event that is past and cannot hide the reality of the eastern half of a country that remains deeply fragmented.

Leer en español: La guerra olvidada de Ucrania

The "popular republics" of Donetsk (RPD) and Lugansk (RPL), which during the conflict sought independence from Ukraine to join Russia – as happened with the Crimean peninsula – are mired in disappointment at not having achieved their goal and see how 10,000 people have died in a war that seems not to interest the international community.

This situation causes millions of inhabitants of this part of the country to live in constant uncertainty and without expectations of a good future. The struggle between pro-Russian and Ukrainian nationalists has impoverished a population that is "sad and depressed", according to Andréi Purguín, one of the independence leaders when the conflict broke out in 2014. "People are irritated because there are no improvements, it feels insecure and lives scared in a world of rumors", adds Purguín.

Although it is true that Moscow encouraged the protests against Kiev, it did not take IGNORE INTO account the requests of those who wanted to be part of Russia, and although the Kremlin supported militarily and economically the "people's republics", they still belong to Ukraine.

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To this day, the violence characteristic of war is very low intensity, but there are still ups and downs. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law in February allowing military operations against secessionists. The decree specifies that the RPD and the RPL are "occupied territories" and Russia is qualified as "aggressor country".

In the city of Donetsk, the idea that Ukraine is going to launch an offensive against DPR on the eve or during the FIFA World Cup to be held in the neighboring country between June 14 and July 15 is widespread. Russia will be focused on avoiding any type of violence that obscures the development of this important sporting event. The Russian journalist Andréi Babitski -president in Donetsk- believes that after the World Cup "changes will be seen in the Kremlin's policy towards these regions (RPD and RPL) and perhaps a new strategy to integrate them".

The hostilities have intensified in recent weeks, since May 14 there are 4 dead and 9 injured among the civil population of the city of Gorlovka (about 40 kilometers north of Donetsk), to which we must add another 3 dead and four wounded in the ranks of the RPD. Some of those who participated in the uprising against Kiev in 2014 are disappointed by the existing corruption in the distribution of Russian humanitarian aid and denounce the bribes that the civilian population must pay to be able to cross the checkpoints that separate the secessionist zone from the territory under control of Kiev. To these difficulties must be added the blockade of goods ordered by Ukraine in 2017, which is reflected in the undersupplied markets of Donetsk, where prices are the same as in Moscow but the loss of purchasing power of the population has reduced the average wage to 100 euros per month.

With this panorama, many people of the "republics" would vote again for their accession to Russia if a referendum like the one in 2014 were to take place again. However, the general feeling is that the RPD and the RPL are a nuisance for Kiev as for Moscow.

Latin American Post | José María González
Translated from “La guerra olvidada de Ucrania”