AMERICAN FREE PRESS’s own Olga Belinskaya, a native of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, conducted a series of raw, unedited interviews with ordinary, peaceful people from Ukraine’s war zone, who told Olga what life was really like in the war-torn country.
Over the course of this year, Olga will be interviewing more residents of her former homeland, giving AFP readers the cold, hard truth, not the sanitized, New World Order-approved pabulum oozing from the mainstream media.
In this the third in the series, Olga spoke with a married, pregnant 26-year-old college graduate on February 4, 2015.
Olga: Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Donetsk in 1989. I studied and worked there also. I graduated from the University as a Master in Physics. After graduation I worked as a teacher in school then started to work as a toastmaster. I am married, and I am a mother-to-be.
Olga: Can you tell a little bit more about your current situation?
Since the war had started, we had to leave, as constant bombing is not good for my psychological state as a mother-to-be. We had stayed in Donetsk till August, 2014, but in the end of August I started to suffer from major depression and panic attacks because of constant bombing. I was afraid to go out; windows vibrated because of bombing. Cluster bombs were used in these attacks, dropped on the city. I do not understand why is this information is absent in western media resources.
Olga: What’s the state of your water, food, electricity, and gas?
Those who stayed in Donetsk are in a terrible situation. There is not only an economic blockade (we are not allowed to bring any humanitarian aid through the border of conflict zone, banks do not work), but also bombing does not stop even for a second. Civilians, children, women, elderly people, suffer. Many families do not have money even for groceries, because Ukrainian government stopped all the payments to citizens. Many factories do not work because of bombings, so people do not have any money. Every day in Donbass a lot of people are killed and injured only because they live there. This is genocide. There are problems with electricity, water, Internet, mobile networks due to the bombings. Sometimes it is a week without water, sometimes it is three days without electricity.
Olga: How is life without banks?
Those who have job and therefore salary can buy stuff, others have to cross the conflict zone border to simply withdraw money from the card.
Olga: Why do you and others remain in a war zone?
Our parents lived all their life there. Our grandmothers and grandfathers live there. They have worked all there life to have their own home. Why should they leave everything and run away? Elderly people cannot leave for sure: firstly, they are too old for this, secondly, to whom and where would they go? Our parents cannot leave their parents. Friends stayed there for same reasons: nobody wants them anywhere else, not a lot of people help them. Ukraine donates 400 hryvnyas per month for those who will leave conflict zone (that is about $25), while monthly rent in the big city is about 2500 hryvnyas (from $154 and up). Another problem is that it is very difficult to find a good job while being from the conflict zone as Ukrainian media influenced the opinion of Ukrainians about people from Donetsk. If you are a Donetsk resident, then you are a terrorist and separatist. We have been divided into humans and sub-humans. Premier-minister Jacenjuk even called people from Donbass like this. And that is only because people of Donbass did not want to be a part of EU and did not support the closure of factories that export their products to Russian markets.
Olga: Where do people go if they decide to leave?
Somebody stays in Ukraine, somebody goes to Crimea or to Russia. We left to Russia.
Olga: How is it for you?
It is very hard for us. We had to move to a foreign country. We are not citizens. I am pregnant and about to deliver: I cannot work, and I would have to stay with the baby after delivery. My husband works, but he cannot make a lot of money without citizenship. We are able to rent a flat and to buy food now. Psychologically it is very hard. We are alone here: we do not have friends, family or even acquaintances. Also we are very worried about people who stayed in Donetsk.
Olga: Do you have any tips for those who may find themselves in a war zone? How can someone prepare? What is the most important thing?
Advice for those who might appear at war? This is a strange question. I hope that God will save everybody from such an experience.
Olga: What is the most important thing for you now?
That the war will finally be stopped.
Olga: If readers want to help in any way, what would you suggest?
I would recommend people to advise their government to leave other countries alone. We experience all this now because USA has some issues against Russia. I had to leave my home because USA wants to keep its superpower status. You can go out and protest to support us and ask for a peace in Ukraine.
Olga: Who needs the help most?
Everybody who is in the conflict zone as well as those who left and asked for an asylum.
Olga: What is the real tragedy of this situation?
In the city where we live now in Russia there is a family that left from Luhansk, a married couple and mother of one of the spouses. They had to leave granny in Luhansk, as she refused to leave her house. One month after her house was bombed, she died. Nowadays Donetsk schools, kindergartens, hospitals are bombed in Donetsk. They kill civilians. You have to open your eyes! How did people deserve all this?
Olga: What do you think about the official story coming from news commentators and politicians?
They really misinterpret all the facts. This is all lies. They say that pro-Russian terrorists are those who are killed, but in reality they kill civilians. They also say that terrorists bomb Donbass, but this is Ukrainian army who does it.
Olga: Have friends and family changed the way treat each other, and if so, how?
After the war has started, we despise all the rest of Ukraine. We despise them because they do not want to see that civilians are killed here, they tell that we deserved it, that is how it should be, that we are non-humans because we did not want to enter to EU. How about our right to decide ourselves what we want and what we do not want? We wanted to be a federal republic as a part if Ukraine, now we do not want to be Ukrainian anymore. People are killed only because they do not want to be a part of EU. This is nonsense. And USA finances those murders.
Olga: Did attitudes of strangers change, and if so, how?
People started to be more kind and patient to each other. They try to help each other as much as they can.
Olga: How do you feel about the politics?
I hate this sold Ukrainian politicians (Jacenjuk, Turchinov, Poroshenko)—they are killers. And Obama is a killer. They are ready to kill children, elderly people and women just to get more money. They are evil.
Olga: What do you think about this war and where it is going?
I think that these people realize ideas of Allen Dulles: they made Slavic people to kill Slavic people. They clean territories. They want to start a war between Russia and Ukraine.
Olga: Do Ukrainian soldiers go into the shops with you; do you meet them in the street?
We did not see them in Donetsk. I despise these people. I do not know how can they live calmly after what they have done?
Olga: Who is a threat to civilians besides the Ukrainian army and the militia?
USA and all those who depend from them. Please do not give weapons to Ukrainian government! Stop financing this war! Who gave you a right to intervene in life of another nation? We are not native Americans! Stop financing fascism in Ukraine!
Olga: Is there more crime now?
Yes, criminal cases are way more often now. We are back to the dark 90s.
Olga: Do you agree with U.S. policy makers who say it is necessary to send “defensive weapons” or “lethal weapons” to help the Ukrainian government defend from attacking Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine?
Which pro-Russian rebels are you talking about? Is it the case that your politicians call all Ukrainians who live in Donbass pro-Russian and think that this fact gives them right to kill everybody here? Hypocrites! Please stay away from us together with your financial and political interests. I would like all American people to wake up and see that your government intervenes in the other countries politics and starts war conflicts there. We do not want to be bombed.
Olga: On the Internet, videos and photos show burnt cars, dead bodies, destroyed houses. There are people who think that this is propaganda or too depressing, so there’s no need to watch. Are these videos real? Should foreigners watch?
This all is true. Please watch it. Please see what happens in reality.
- AFP INTERVIEWS: Ukrainians Speak #2
- AFP INTERVIEWS: Ukrainians Speak #1
- NWO Genocide in Ukraine: Victims Pleading for Help
Olga Belinskaya is a native of Ukraine and is AFP’s former bookstore manager. She is currently a peace and monetary reform activist now based in Virginia.
