Petro Kanonik is a commander of the group of Ukrainian officers at the Common Coordination Control Center of Ceasefire.
Before the renewal of hostilities he was in Donetsk, where he, together with Russian officers and militant representatives, were trying to control the regime of ceasefire.
Kanonik has considerable diplomatic experience. In peace time he was the Vice-Commander of the Verification office of Headquarters – non-combat, military-diplomatic subdivision. There he was dealing with international conventions, including the problems of Black Sea Navy.
“Ukrainska Pravda” has figured out that the Coordination Center continues its work in Donetsk despite the escalation on the front.
In his interview Kanonik told, what Ukrainian servicemen are doing in the occupied city, and also what is going on in Vuhlegirsk and Donetsk airport.
– Petro Ivanovych, you are still in Donetsk. Which means, despite the warfare, your center continues its work?
– We are the hostages of fate. There is no protocol signed for us, we have not obtained any mandate, we don’t have any relevant immunity.
But we work, because we are servicemen. There is no any written order that we are here. We should be in Debaltseve, in C sector. In reality we are in Donetsk.
– Do you have any contacts with Russians now?
– We continue to work every day. Officers are 24 hours per day on duty in the same room – Russians, Ukrainians, and militants from Donetsk.
We receive information about the shellfire of settlement N. We try to figure out and obtain the confirmation, if this is true or not. After that we take steps to stop the fire. And later we obtain the reports, coordinate, take a joint decision about the shelling intensity from both sides.
– Is the OSCE located with you?
– No, the OSCE center is located in the hotel Park Inn. We work with them, meet from time to time. Earlier they visited us more often.
– What else is your center doing?
– Now we work on the problem of kidnapping of our POWs, kidnapping of our wounded, make the complete lists of their localization, their needs etc.
– So, you started to deal with POWs after the escalation?
– No. We were always dealing with POWs. It is just then we only had the possibility to deal only with the ceasefire, we were doing that first of all.
Regarding POWs I contacted with Donetsk ombudsman Darya Morozova, and she promised me to help in this question. Later she said that she is urgently ordered out, and recommended me to call Viktor Medvedchuk.
Even if it will give some result, and I will rescue a few people, this will be normal.
– Have you made a contact with Medvedchuk, when he was in Donetsk?
– No, that time he was here secretly, he met with Zakharchenko and Plotnitskiy. Together they have built some common vision before the visit to Minsk.
And then they were behaving hard-nosed: the attacks against our military forces started. Already in Minsk they were trying to press Kuchma. They also declared their readiness to stop fire and move on the level of implementation of the first stage of Minsk memorandum under the condition that the demarcation line will start from exactly the moment when they occupied additional territories.
– What kinds of problems you were able to solve besides POWs?
– Maximum participation of OSCE and the Red Cross in these processes, issues with “200” evacuation. Today we deal with the problems of the creation of a humanitarian corridor. On Tuesday we reached an agreement on a humanitarian corridor from Debaltseve and Vuhlegirsk for one day.
Besides, we made possible for ATO forces to take our dead from Vuhlegirsk.
– Being in Donetsk, you see the attitude of local inhabitants to Ukraine. How is it? Are there any attempts to poison mind of local people against Ukraine even more?
– Here the propaganda started with the Boeing; that a Ukrainian Su-25 shot down the Boeing. I refer to the “Bible” – “Flight operational manual of the airplane Su-25”, printed in 1987 by Army Publishing Office in Moscow. This is the most correct assessment.
In its first volume it is clearly written about the missile R-60, that it might be used as a missile of “air-air” class. It says, that the launch range to the flight altitude 3 000 m makes 1 500 m, if more than 3 km – it should be calculated using formula h/2.
Maximal flight altitude of Su-25 is 7 km. It turns out that 3,5 km is a maximal launch range of the missile. Plane Boeing was shut down on the altitude 10 600 m. Su-25 can flight maximally up to 7 km, plus 3,5 km; this is already lower than the desired elevation.
There is another lie. Their vice-commander Eduard Basurin claimed that our planes Su-24, front-line and ground attack aircraft are bombarding Horlivka.
I answer him: “You said, that 50-kg bombs FAB-500 were used (non-fragmentation bomb – Ukrainska Pravda). FAB-500 – this is not 50 kg, but 500. After one such bomb there will be a crater from 8 to 12 m in diameter depending of the soil density, and it destroys half of a city block. Can you show me where is such thing? Silence in response …
Next: If the Ukrainian side is shelling Donetsk, blackout measures would be undertaken. The City of Donetsk has never being darkened. The light are always on all over. If our guys would shoot, lights should be turned off. There was never any shell landing around me in a diameter of several kilometers.
But from here the shells are flying out non-stop. I have precise calculations, as agreed upon with Russian and Donetsk sides: how many shells, how much came out from here on the Donetsk side, how much was fired back. It turns out to be 30-40 tons of reactive missiles are shelled from Donetsk on our positions in the most silent days. And in the toughest days it is up to 150 tons. If we multiply by the number of days, it will make near 5000 tons of shells they fired on us.
– Is this all during the whole time since you are in Donetsk?
– Yes. I arrived here at December 11th. In a week it will be two months since I am here. With such methods of absolute numbers and other evidence, it is possible to destroy the (mis)information system. It is equally a pity for me, how all inhabitants of Donetsk, Vuhlegirsk, Kramatorsk, and Mariupol have become the victims of this war.
– After escalation on the front is anybody responsible for your safety? Are you guarded by anyone?
– Militants’ police of Donetsk side are my so-called protection. They have threatened that they will shoot my whole group if even one shell will fall on their settlement.
But we were put up against the wall, too. It was a patrol, which apprehended us. We were together with Donetsk officer. A patrol pulled us out of the car. They saw me in Ukrainian uniform with Ukrainian flags on the shoulders and they demanded to cut them off. They then put me up against the car saying they will shoot me now.
– What was the Donetsk officer doing in that time, the one who was guarding you?
– They put him up against the wall too. He pulled out his ID and showed them, but nevertheless they studied it long time and called somebody to check. And I was appealomg that “we are peacekeepers, guys, what are you doing?” It turned out, that some former Ukrainian “Alphas”, “Berkuts” were among the patrol.
– From Kyiv?
– Yes. They are here, in Donetsk. I would like them to talk to Yatsenyuk, Turchynov, to anybody …
There are many guys here, who want peace, and who were illegally dispersed all over the world. If someone will offer them to come back, if their hands are not covered with blood, they are ready to go back to Ukraine.
– Are they the members of power ministries?
– Yes. They are “Alphas”, “Berkuts”. I was trying to deal with their problems on the beginning, when Ukraine was just starting to confront the Russian Federation, in Crimea and so forth. That time Yatsenyuk and Turchynov announced them enemies, and they were disbanded.
– How do they explain their presence on that side?
– Their reason is that “they were prosecuted”.
– It means, they escaped the prosecution by going to Donetsk?
– They escaped the “illegal harassment”.
– That’s why they serve there now. But they are ready to turn back, if they will be forgiven? Do I understand correct?
– Some of them are ready to return not after forgiveness, but after removal of “unlawful accusations”. Who is guilty will be forgiven, but who is not guilty – what they should be forgiven for? Especially after President published amnesty decree for those who fight on that side.
– Tell us about the situation on the front. Is Uhlegirsk already totally controlled by the militants?
– I cannot say that. I think there are our forces there, too. But I don’t have a right to say anything concrete.
I have to say you that we still have control over some parts of the airport. Who told you that we are not there? Moreover, at January 30-31st we removed the last group from new terminal – 4 men. Just nobody knows about that, and nobody wants to know.
We have very strong guys.
I told Zakharchenko once, when he talked large a bit: “Sasha, such guys will come in here, will take you, carry you out, like our wounded were carried out from the terminal, and will bring you where needed.” He went ballistic that time in the airport, was running back and force, throwing knives into the tree, jumping on the colonel Shcherbyna (it was on January 15th, when Zakharchenko promised to take airport in 30 minutes – “Ukrainska Pravda”).
It is possible to talk to him, and there is such possibility. But if he obtains strict instructions from northern neighbor, he can do nothing. He is a technical man. I told him that it is not impossible for him to be pushed aside in the best case – if the adjoining state will wish – like Strelkov/Girkin or Bezler were removed.
– What is going on in Donetsk airport now? Is there anybody left?
– I think there is no one in the terminal. There was no sense to continue to defend the terminal, because it was only ruins left. “Grads” were shelling from Donetsk that time. I calculated 150 tons of shells were fired towards the airport and Pisky. The Flight control tower was demolished, and new terminal was destroyed in fact.
There were “Uragans” and “Grads”; also new imported weaponry was used, of which I even don’t know.
– And what is going on now?
– I have direct contacts with those field commanders, which were staying at the airport. They already exchange our prisoners for their people. I am dealing with that now as well.
– Are the fallen guys? Are they carried out from there?
– No, not all of them. Unfortunately, it is a big problem. Today we were asking to do that, clean it finally. The problem is – they refuse for some reason. Something is holding them; they are afraid of something, do you understand?
Today we were allowed to take only our dead servicemen from around Vuhlegirsk.
– Are there many servicemen in Donetsk?
– It is a huge amount of military here. And all brand new, from Russia. And after that Lavrov is yelling “Give me the evidence (presence of Russian army and equipment – Ukrainska Pravda)!”. What evidence? 26 of MSTA-C3 (Russian mechanized howitzer – УП) just passed on only one street.
– Are you pointing the Russian part of your common center on that? What do they say?
– First they did not recognize that at all. I was busy with the negotiations in the Donetsk Office and I forced general Vyaznikov to leave the room (head of the group of RF representatives major-general Aleksandr Vyaznikov – Ukrainska Pravda). Because when I told that tanks have passed “under Russian flags”, he answered that this is a provocation, that there are no Russian flags there.
I said to him: “Walk out and look at the building of Donetsk Office – everywhere Russian tricolors are hanging”. Aleksandr Hug (vice-chairman of OSCE special monitoring commission) turned him back.
I told already to Mr. Vyaznokov: whenever he shows up the war immediately levels up.
They were yelling at me about Russian military technics: If their tank would pass here the asphalt would be ruined. But after the motor convoy passed, including MSTA and tanks – I took his hand and showed him: “Look. And you were yelling that one tank would ruin whole asphalt. Here the first convoy passed without flags, a second under Russian flags, a third also without flags”. “Yes, I saw that”, – he responded. But he just stated that, that’s it. And we have recorded all that.
This is not very simple, believe me. Here with time one becomes callously indifferent and gets used to it all. Because you cannot explode every day, every minute – this would be too much.
First it was painful, later it was a sense of pity to be useless or almost useless. After that it became a habit and I just played a role of a `figurant’.
Oksana Kovalenko, “Ukrainska Pravda”
Translated by Andrii Gryganskyi
Original: http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2015/02/4/7057430/