Russian troops hope to recapture their ‘new Stalingrad’ with offensive against eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk

The pro-Russian separatists called the “new Stalingrad” Slovyansk (in Russian Slavyansk) after taking power in the city eight years ago. It was the first city to be completely taken over by the separatists in the Donbas. Three months later they had to surrender their ‘Stalingrad’ to the Ukrainian army again and now another battle for the city is imminent.

Igor Girkin, a former officer of the Russian secret service FSB known as Strelkov (“Gunner”), became a folk hero in separatist circles when, in April 2014, he and a group of other veterans of the Russian security services managed to kill Slovyansk. to take.

Torture and murder

Many Russian-speaking residents of the city initially welcomed the separatists, but the mood changed when they began to crack down on the population. The popular mayor of Slovyansk ended up in the cellars of the seized building of the security service. She was later released, but other well-known pro-Ukrainian residents who fell into the hands of the separatists were tortured and killed.

The capture of Slovyansk earned Girkin/Strelkov the appointment as ‘defense minister’ of the separatists. But his star quickly began to fade as his troops fled Slovenia after the Ukrainians launched an offensive against the besieged city in early July 2014.

According to Girkin/Strelkov, it was a ‘tactical withdrawal’, but other separatist commanders accused him of treason. Hadn’t he promised to defend their ‘Stalingrad’ to the bitter end? The fall of the city appeared to be the beginning of the downfall of the separatist-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, but the Ukrainian offensive was halted by Moscow sending troops to aid the rebels.

MH17

Flight MH17 was also shot down, something for which a lawsuit against Girkin is currently underway in the Netherlands. According to the indictment, he and three other suspects arranged the Buk missile installation with which the passenger aircraft was shot down.

Back in the hands of the Ukrainians, Slovyansk took on a prominent role in Russian war propaganda. The ‘atrocities’ of the Ukrainian ‘occupiers’ of Sloyansk were widely reported on Russian state television. One refugee told how she saw Ukrainian soldiers nail a 3-year-old boy to a wooden board in front of a crowd in central Lenin Square, ‘just like Jesus’. His mother had to watch him die and was then allegedly dragged across the square behind a tank until she was dead.

The woman’s account caused quite a stir in Russia, although there was no witness to the incident in Slovenia. It turned out that the Russian ultra-nationalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin had described the same scene in a Facebook message a few days before it was said to have taken place, except that his fictitious crucified victim was 6 years old.

For the past eight years, all separatists’ attempts to break through Ukrainian lines and take Sloveniansk and neighboring Kramatorsk have failed. In the latter city, the headquarters of the Ukrainian troops in the east is located. This time they hope to recapture their ‘Stalingrad’ with the support of the Russian troops. They are slowly advancing south from the city of Izhum, which they captured earlier this week.

In the trap

Western military experts warn that Russians and separatist units will simultaneously launch an offensive northwards from Donetsk and Horlivka. This could trap Ukrainian forces along the frontline with rebel territory, which they say are the most hardened units available to Kyiv.

Fearing the Russian offensive, Ukrainian authorities have called on the local population to get to safety while they still can. A new, massive exodus immediately started. At Kramatorsk station, thousands of people were seen trying to board trains heading west.

For the time being, Russian troops are not making much progress, although they may be able to count on air support in this area, near the border with Russia. Video footage showed a Russian convoy on its way to the front being covered by low-flying helicopters.

But if the Russians and separatists manage to get their hands on Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, it would be a serious blow to Kyiv. Not only because of the symbolic significance of Sloyansk. It would amount to the separatists taking control of almost all of the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Everything indicates that President Putin plans to later annex those areas to Russia.