Residents at Risk as Ceasefire Crumbles: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 78)
VICE
On September 5, the Ukrainian government and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) came to a ceasefire agreement after talks were held in Minsk, Belarus. But before the ceasefire went into effect that evening, both sides launched attacks on each other. The DNR assaulted Ukrainian positions in the city of Mariupol, while the Ukrainians attacked DNR checkpoints on the road leading from Mariupol to Donetsk.
VICE News headed north of Donetsk to the town of Yasynuvata to check on reports that the town had come under fresh artillery fire that left residents living in their basements and without basic amenities.
As the ceasefire held the next day, civilians in the village of Telmenovo were picking through the ruins of their homes, which were hit by shelling in the hours before the ceasefire began. We also traveled to Novoazovsk to speak with a local DNR commander who had little faith the ceasefire would hold for long.
