Dragana Trifkovic: Ten years of war in Donbass

Dragana Trifkovic, Director General of the Center for geostrategic studies

I recently had the opportunity to visit Donbass again, ten years after my first visit to this region when the war began. That 2014. for years and for the next eight years, the Western public completely ignored the fact that there was a war in this area in which the official army of one country attacked its own citizens. Not only did the West turn a blind eye, but it wholeheartedly supported and helped Ukraine deal with its own citizens. I never trusted the West, but after the wars we went through in the 1990s and the NATO aggression on Serbia, I realized that the West is governed by those for whom no rules apply and for whom human lives are of no importance.

ZWhy are we being attacked by our country's military?

I remember a conversation with people from Donbass that I had ten years ago. They were not familiar with much of what was happening in the former Yugoslavia, and I could clearly read the NATO manuscript at every step. The Western centers of power use the same tactics everywhere, from color revolutions, media manipulation, falsification of truth, the use of terrorism, political indoctrination, the use of youth, etc. Then it became clear to me that they were also building barriers between nations and states, in order to prevent the possibility of exchange of opinions, discussion, understanding. Citizens in Donbass in 2014. showed me residential buildings and schools that were targeted by the Ukrainian army, the remains of mines that were targeted and with confusion, they commented that they did not understand how they could be attacked by the army of their country.

Photo: Dragana Trifkovic, Lugansk 2014. years (personal archive)

End of 2014. year and beginning of 2015. in the year, many cities in Donetsk and Lugansk regions were deserted, there were few people and vehicles on the streets. The atmosphere was torturous, and a special regime was in place in the cities. It was forbidden to move after 20 O'clock in the evening. Basic needs were not easy to meet. There were supply problems, and water and electricity often ran out. Under the tide of war, many residents decided to move where it was safer, mainly to Russia or other areas of Ukraine, depending on the possibilities. There were those who had already decided to seek security in Europe.

When victims become offenders

Those who decided to stay tried to self-organize and adapt to the new circumstances. Organizing in Donbass actually began right after the Maidan in Kiev, when security forces in the region, together with fellow citizens, began to consider how to protect themselves from militaristic-nationalist authorities who want to ban their language, culture, religion. The West viewed these people as criminals, pointing out that Ukraine is building democracy and moving towards joining the EU. Such untruths continued to be repeated even when it became apparent that Kiev was introducing the apartheid system, passing numerous laws banning the Russian language, culture and eventually the Orthodox Church. People in Donbass were going through agony, because they were condemned for wanting to protect themselves, and they had no support from either side. Over time, many began to gain bitterness and disappointment, because they had no support from Russia.

Photo: Dragana Trifkovic and Manuel Oksenreiter (1976-2021) in Donetsk 2015. (personal archive)

But, as Alexandre Dumas said, the secret of wisdom is to know when to act and when to wait. Russia took time to build strategic directions (BRICS, cooperation with China, strengthening defense forces, maintaining economic stability, etc.), that is, to prepare for the inevitable conflict that the West initiated through Ukraine. It had already become perfectly clear to Moscow that agreements on peace with the mediation of the West were not possible, because the Western powers did not respect any agreements, which they did not hide. If Russia had reacted immediately ten years ago, it would have fallen into a trap where it could not simply cope with all the mechanisms prepared from the combined aggression of the collective West to economic sanctions, media-propaganda demonization and color revolution. This is something that Serbia has gone through, which is why it still suffers indescribable consequences.

Photo: Dragana Trifkovic in Donetsk 2022. (personal archive)

The special military operation (SMO) launched by Russia is only part of a historic process leading to a complete change in the world's architecture. This process will take place in the years ahead. What is certain now is that there will be no return to the old. Although many, even in Russia, would like it not to be so. Recently, the president of the Russian Federation said at the Valdai forum: "I would not like Russia to return to the path it was on before 2022, as I already said in my speech. And that was the path associated with such a covert, covert intervention in relation to our country, with the aim of submitting it to the interests of some other countries that still believed they had the right to do so.“

One way to Israel

When it all began, it clearly exposed the entire problem of the Americanized Russian elites, who had for decades held back Russia's development and kept it trapped within the framework of the West. There was no place in them for Russian state and national interests, even for Russian culture and tradition. After the beginning of SMO, many of them fled to Israel on the first planes, from where they continued to carry out their mission, declaring that they did not want to live in a country that was "aggressive" towards neighboring countries. The biggest paradox is that they are saying this from a country that is bombing five countries in its vicinity (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen). It will take Russia a long time to create new elites, but this is a process that is already underway. The new Russian elite will be made up of those who stood for the protection of their homeland. President Putin has repeatedly said about this: "all of them, with weapons in their hands, have risen to defend their homeland. Such people, of course, will not back down, will not let you down or betray you. They have to play an increasingly important role in all spheres of life. The elite are not the ones who have filled their pockets, but the people who have proven their loyalty to Russia.“

Photo: Dragana Trifkovic in Mariupol 2023. (personal archive)

Recently, I visited Donetsk again, a city that has become a symbol of Russian resistance to Western aggression. The people in Donetsk are aware of this, they told me: "we are especially punished by the Ukrainian powers commanded by the West, because we have offered the greatest resistance." Life is still hard, but people have adapted to it. The city is far more vibrant now than it was before. There are many more people and vehicles on the streets. Since the front line moved to the depths of Ukraine, there have been no so many attacks on the city center itself. However, missiles and drones are still flying in the northern parts of Avdeevka and Gorlovka.

Photo: Dragana Trifkovic, Elizaveta Abramova, Editor-In-Chief of the magazine persona strany

and Ivan Kopil, protector of Human Rights in Donetsk 2024. (personal archive)

Traces of aggression can be found everywhere. Children in Donbass collect the remains of Mines and drones as souvenirs and exchange them among themselves. In our editorial office of the magazine "persona strany", you can see a whole exhibition of various remains of ammunition, drones and weapons. There's even an American jewellin in it. All this will remain as a testimony to the aggression launched by the West and in which civilians were the main targets. The Great Exhibition of NATO trophy weapons is already traveling to Russian cities. If the West had not been so aggressive and inhuman, Russia would probably not have had a historic break and turn. And the West will pay dearly for its inhumanity. Time will tell.