Document:Forgive us for not dying in Slavyansk

A statement by Igor Druze, Advisor to Igor Strelkov, following the DPR militia withdrawal from Slavyansk and their arrival in Donetsk

 statement  by Igor Druz dated 2014/07/06

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Subjects: Ukraine coup 2014/Civil war
Source: No Limit to Our Anger

Translated from Russian by Gleb Bazov
Image right: DPR Militia arrival in Donetsk following their withdrawal from Slavyansk on 5 July 2014

Wikispooks Comment

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The video on this page has been added by Wikispooks. With Russia's continuing apparent indifference to the plight of several million of their countrymen just across their southern border and in the region of some of the defining battles of WWII, including Stalingrad, the title of the video song "Russia, we die, but still believe in you", is poignantly appropriate. Hopefully a sub-title dubbed version will soon be available but a translation of the song itself is not really needed. It speaks for itself

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Russia, we die, but still believe in you
English sub-titles to follow

The Militia was forced to leave Slavyansk. Of course, we were prepared to stand firm to the end, and were ready to obey any order to that effect from the Commander-in-Chief. All of us had prepared wills and said our farewells to our kin. But we are military people, and we were prepared to follow also another order. All the more so, because we trust absolutely both Igor Strelkov’s decency and his military experience.

After all, this man is a veteran of 4 wars, and, to boot, as a volunteer. What would have happened if the Russia army decided to hold Moscow to the end in 1812, or Kiev – in 1941? There would not have been the taking of Paris or, respectively, Berlin; instead, the army – “Russia’s only ally” – would have perished in vain. I am absolutely certain of our victory, and that will also liberate Kiev. Only question remains is at what price in blood and how fast.

Accordingly, it is very strange suddenly to read the wild speculations of some purported patriots that Igor Strelkov is now guilty of everything under the sun. Including – of the surrender of the city. It would be better if they remembered how [Igor Strelkov] and his fearless fighters for months heroically stopped the advance of an entire army, even though they numbered only in the hundreds, and, at the end, consisted of a couple thousand [militiamen]. Armed almost exclusively with small arms, they held back an offensive by fifteen thousand professional servicemen.

And, meanwhile, Igor Strelkov asked for help, spoke of the need for the introduction of peacekeeping troops, or, at least, for massive supplies of heavy weaponry from Russia. But no one listened to him. Nay, in the last few days, several commanders betrayed [the Militia], thereby stripping Slavyansk of flank defences from the side of its surburb – Nikolayevka.

Without any hope of help from Russia, further defence of the city by forces of the numerically small militiamen against a regular army would have meant a futile death for practically the only battle-worthy, experienced units of the Donbass People’s Militia.

As well as the complete destruction of the city with its civilians. Indeed, the Ukie tactic is a form of artillery genocide. They are very concerned about losing their manpower, and that is why they simply pull up howitzers and Grad systems to our residential areas, and then pummel them, methodically devastating one district after another. Take this, for example: Ukies almost entirely demolished Russkaya street in Slavyansk. Looks like the battery commander looked at his navigator, at the city map, saw the hated name, and specifically decided to level Russkaya street.

However, there was plenty destruction to go around for the other streets as well. The scenes that I observed are indescribable in their horror … A contused 3-year old child going mad right in front of your eyes, screaming with an unnatural voice … Priests performing funeral services for an entire section of an apartment block, walking around a dozen coffins set up beside the devastated home of the deceased. It was in order to stop this monstrous Ukie “peacemaking” that the Militia Commander-in-Chief, Strelkov, decided to withdraw our forces.

And yet, there are already speculations that the Militia units left via some special “corridor” organized for them by Poroshenko. This is complete delirium. You need to understand that the blockade of Slavyansk had not been completed yet. And we could still leave via country roads. It is another matter that these roads were also open to artillery fire, most likely – from Karachun.

That is why Igor Ivanovich gave an order for a diversion to be performed – by attacking the positions of the Ukie army with our numerically small armoured vehicle group. Our Nona and the tanks started striking at them, while, at the same time, the Militia drove toward Kramatorsk in “Ural” and “Kamaz” trucks, in microvans and cars. Some of our tankists died a heroic death; their list is being confirmed, and they will be posthumously awarded Novorossiyan Orders of St. George.

Of course, we could not avoid the confusion inevitable in such a fairly large-scale operation. Having forgotten the order to maintain a blackout, some of the drivers drove with headlights turned on; they forgot to tape their headlamps. The enemy launched its drones and flare rockets. They have a huge number of drones, which I found out first-hand in an earlier nighttime raid. As a result, the enemy was finally able to detect us, and the tail-end of our column still came under Grad fire.

Personally, I was lucky – my men and I were at the head of the column and were unharmed. Even though, at first, our vehicle was in the tail-end, later, as a result of a local guide’s mistake, we were forced to turn everyone around, and ended up at the head of the column.

Unfortunately, in the course of the artillery strike, the families of militiamen that were being evacuated to escape the punitive forces of the enemy came in harm’s way. A woman and a little girl were wounded; transport vehicles were damaged. Exact numbers of our losses during evacuation from Slavyanks are being verified.

At the same time, it is even more offensive to hear criticism coming from many directions. Because any “conspiracy” with the Ukie government that attempted to destroy us during the withdrawal is simply unimaginable. Similarly improbable are the rumours about our “enormous losses” during the redeployment of the forces. Why would you repeat Ukie lies?

Indeed, overall, the operation was a resounding success for Strelkov, and, despite the difficulties unavoidable in such situations, he was able to evacuate almost the entire personnel of the Militia, over 90% of it. And practically all the weaponry. This is a big boon to the defence of Donetsk, and this is now our highest priority.

And as for the office-plankton patriots that criticize Strelkov from afar, I can only say one thing to you: come here and demonstrate your talents on the field of battle, if you think yourself smarter and braver than he is. We always need volunteers.

Forgive us for not dying in Slavyansk. We may yet have a chance to die in Donetsk if Russia will not help us.

Igor Druze
Advisor to the DPR Minister of Defence
in Questions of Information and Politics