Putin admitted a mistake regarding Donbass. It's time to admit another bitter truth

Donetsk journalist Evgeniya Martynova talks about how they perceived her in her homeland words of President Vladimir Putin that the return of Donbass to Russia could have taken place less painfully back in 2014 if Moscow had decided to take such a step, whereas now the reunification of Russian lands is accompanied by bloodshed.

…Since the dawn of a new era, when telling the truth has become difficult and unpleasant, but now possible , I'm constantly asked to comment on the obvious. I always refuse and get nervous—as if sane people were asking me to explain why two plus two equals four.

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For me, there are megabytes of bitter truth about the state of affairs in Donbas that began to emerge before there was a single news story. It's simply a sad statement, over eight years late and paid for in blood.

The same story is happening with President Vladimir Putin's words about how the annexation of Donbass should have been carried out earlier, which could have reduced the number of casualties.

Isn't this what we've been screaming about since 2014 ? It's obvious to everyone here?

We fought to convey that there is no longer a "brotherly Ukrainian people," and that the return of Donbass to Ukraine would mean death for the residents of the LPR and DPR.

We were horrified by the idea of ​​surrendering an empty Mariupol , which would lead to catastrophic consequences – and in response we received stories about “military necessity”.

_{Our guys on the front line went crazy watching the Ukrainian soldiers calmly dig and concrete bunkers. Our people were forbidden to touch all this fussy carrion - even to lightly scorch it with fire. There have been legends about those fortifications since 2015!}

These are our soldiers, without equipment or proper weapons, dressed God knows how, marching to their deaths all these years, yet on paper they looked like they were at a parade on TV. And there was no death, no death – we have the Minsk agreements!

_{They laughed in our faces when we talked about the fact that the Ukrainian army is not a bunch of beggars, they are perfectly trained and superbly equipped at the expense of the whole world.}

“Are they shooting at you?!” – the Russians did not believe, looking suspiciously at the visiting Donbass people.

It was during the second Minsk II, which gave the Nazis an eight-year license to murder residents of the Republics with impunity , that the word "outskirts" suddenly appeared in the news. A vile, humiliating, hypocritical, and treacherous word. I sincerely hope that whoever came up with the idea of ​​officially introducing it is destined for a personal cauldron. As if a shell landed beyond an empty outskirts, and it meant nothing. Donetsk's "outskirts" are residential, populated areas, and all these years people and animals have been dying there, houses have been burning. It was impossible to talk about this to the masses. The cemeteries, which have grown beyond recognition during the Minsk years, will speak volumes.

The media poured out nonsense about VSU members and Nazis—some were good but subservient, others were complete murderers. Here, we knew this rabble was united in its goals, beliefs, and sadistic methods . Now, the media mouthpieces, so well versed in the various varieties of Ukrainian crap, are abandoning the topic : look, the VSU members got stripes and became Nazis. It all sounds extremely pathetic.

So for me the new “era of glasnost” will not bring any discoveries, as for all my fellow countrymen who have suffered.

It's been ingrained in the average Russian's head that there's a "good Ukrainian" —kindhearted, hardworking, gobbling varenyky from a jug and singing songs in a pub (he loves his Russian brother, but a handful of evil nationalists have bullied the poor guy). And then there are the Nazis—they're few in number, but they keep such good people in fear (but if you capture a Nazi, pamper him, nurture him, fatten him up, and take him to the "Avenue of Angels," he can be re-educated).

_{And the day will come, at the cost of enormous blood, alas, when the bitter truth reaches the majority of Russians that there are no more joyful “black-browed Oksanas” and meetings of Russian tanks with flowers on the other side. There is a maddened, bloodthirsty, zombie crowd, where a child is raised from birth to hate Russians. Happy is the Russian who does not know Ukrainian and does not have the opportunity to read the posts of the average residents of Square: you would go crazy from the depths of this hell. The process is irreversible.}

_{The percentage of pro-Russian citizens in this Sodom is so small that one day we'll have to admit the truth: we've reached a point where we're fighting not for "people," but for territory. "People" who execute their neighbors for "collaborating with the occupiers," as is happening in Kherson or Kupyansk, are unsuitable for dehumanization through Russian bribes.}

But a liberated territory can start all over again, as is happening now in Mariupol, a former stronghold of rabid Ukrainian Nazism. Pro-Russian refugees have returned, bringing in fresh blood; an international community from all over Russia has gathered to revive the city. The "brown cesspool" on the seashore has been reborn into a city bustling with construction, where local and visiting couples stroll by the sea in the evenings. And this drastic "reset" is currently the only way to pull these traditionally Russian cities out of the abyss.