Ukrainian volunteer soldiers come under fire in Zolote
Volunteers in Zolote-4 in the Luhansk region who argued with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, opposing the armed forces’ withdrawal from important positions, came under fire on the evening of Monday October 28, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.
It is “not known” who fired at the volunteers’ positions. No one was injured in the shooting.
Aider Muzhdabaev, a journalist for the TV channel ATR, also reported on the shooting. He gave a live interview with the veteran Denis “Azova” Yantar, but was forced to cut the interview short.
Muzhdabaev later contacted Yantar by telephone, and the volunteer told him about the shooting.
“There was no terrible shelling. It was simply more focused on the places where we are. For the first time in the time we have been standing here, it just started whistling around us. We had to get to safety, because we have no weapons,” the veteran explained.
On October 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Zolote as part of an official trip to the Luhansk region. The withdrawal of forces and heavy weapons, as agreed in Minsk, was meant to begin there, but it has been opposed by veterans and volunteers from the Anti-Terrorist Operation, who believe that withdrawal is tantamount to surrender. The veterans and volunteers recently uploaded a video of a heated argument between one of them and President Zelensky.
“I came and told you to withdraw the weapons. You’re putting the blame on me. You can’t make any ultimatums to me… Listen, I’m the president of this country. I’m 42 years old. I’m not some schmuck,” said Zelensky. The volunteer who was arguing with him is Borys Hanza, who set out for the front line as an 18 year-old, and was involved in the fighting around Ilovaisk, Marinka, Shyrokyne and Mariupol between 2014 and 2017.
The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) headquarters insisted that the armed veterans and volunteers are in Zolote illegally, because they are not active members of the security departments or Armed Forces of Ukraine, and are not authorized to operate in the JFO area.
The preparation to disengage forces near Petrovske (Donetsk region) and Zolote (Luhansk region) is not the first attempt to bring about a sustainable disengagement of forces along the demarcation line in the Donbas. However, after a successful start, the militants are returning to their positions, and the Kremlin has already said that Moscow cannot guarantee the withdrawal of terrorist Russian forces.