11 years ago, pro-Ukrainian activists and Russian supporters clashed in Donetsk. Shakhtar ultras and current military man Vitaliy Ovcharenko recalls how it happened

Donetsk has been under occupation for 11 years. It was a creeping occupation that began in the spring and summer of 2014, when the power vacuum in Donbas was gradually filled by “people’s mayors and governors”, pro-Russian activists, petty crime, and openly Russian agents. A graduate of the Donetsk National University Vitaliy Ovcharenko was one of those who attended pro-Ukrainian rallies in Donetsk in the spring of 2014. At the request of Babel, he recounts what happened in Donbas eleven years ago.

I am not a Donetsk resident. I was born and raised in Lyman, but in 2005 I moved to Donetsk to study at the university — and lived there for nine years. It was difficult for me to sit still, so I got involved in public life. I started working at a center that was engaged in education on European integration issues. I joined a youth organization that promoted Ukrainian identity in Donbas. I was also and remain a part of the “Shakhtar” ultras community.

In February 2014, I had just defended my dissertation. It seemed to be the last academic council before all the “Donetsk Spring” events. Then people from the border regions of Russia began to come to the city en masse. They were looking for “Bandera members” and believed everything that Russian propaganda had forced on them. Representatives of local crime came from the regional towns. Then it became clear that something was about to happen in Donetsk.

Pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists knew each other well in Donetsk. There were conflicts between us, but we knew how to negotiate. We could continue to negotiate. But when Russians and their curators started coming to the city, everything changed. Pro-Russian activists felt free.

As a member of the patriotic ultras movement, I experienced this firsthand. Information about all the fans got to the Donetsk police, and later to the Russian mercenary fighters. They chased the activists around the city, looking for us where we lived. The same thing happened to other organizations. Most of those who supported Ukraine were forced to leave Donetsk back in March 2014. The mayor [Oleksandr Lukyanchenko] simply watched as pro-Ukrainian citizens were beaten and intimidated.

At the rally on March 13, I lost my friend and colleague Dmytro Chernyavsky. We studied together at the university and went to pro-Ukrainian rallies in Donetsk until 2014. That day, I was also at the rally. Dmytro and I managed to say hello and talk. When the fight started, I saw someone being stabbed, but I didn’t realize it was him. Then I went to the pro-Ukrainian rally in Kharkiv, and on the train I found out that Dmytro had been killed.

I continued to go to all the rallies in Donetsk, including the last one, which took place on April 28. The city lived a normal life. Even when pro-Russian marginals seized the Donetsk Regional Council building in April.

In the spring of 2014, people started disappearing. At first, there were warnings not to “glow” too much, and then the person would simply disappear. I only caught the beginning of the occupation. At that time, it was only felt by activists — we were being hunted. You had to walk around, understanding that you might be recognized, you had to somehow change your appearance, avoid crowds. Enemy symbols were already hanging everywhere.

I stayed in the city until May 17. I lived at a different address. And then I just ran away. I got on the train, bypassed Russian posts and patrols, and got to Pokrovsk. I was a little nervous on the way, but when I arrived and saw the Ukrainian flag, I just sighed. It was hard to reach me in Kyiv. The only thing that worried me was my family, who remained in the occupied Lyman. But then the occupation was not so cruel and did not last long.

In 2014, I joined the army. I chose the pseudonym "Donetsk". I wanted to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but with Donetsk registration it was not so easy, so I joined the "Artemivsk" relief battalion. I fought from September 2014 to April 2015. Due to a back injury that I received during the fighting, the doctors advised me to leave the service and rest. The battles for Debaltseve and the night of breaking out of the encirclement were the most memorable. It was cold, the shelling was heavy, and we fought hard, carrying wounded comrades.

After that, I lived in Kyiv, returned to work, and tried to live a civilian life. But after the Donetsk competence, it was difficult. All these years, I was an activist and could not tear myself away from the East. In 2017, I began to fight collaborators because I saw that there were not enough effective mechanisms at the state level. I initiated the bill “On the Protection of Ukrainian Statehood from Manifestations of Collaborationism,” but, unfortunately, it was withdrawn.

The most terrible evil is collaborationism. Several of my classmates and acquaintances became collaborators. They openly declared this back in 2014 and have not changed their views even in 2022. Some of them are now fighting on the side of the enemy. I also knew the pro-Russian activist Pavel Gubarev personally, we went to boxing together. I exposed many collaborators from Lyman and handed them over to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). I also fought with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, especially priests, who continued their “work” in the Donetsk region all these years. Many of them joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine as agents.

In 2022, I rejoined the army. Firstly, I performed tasks in the Kyiv region, and then in my native Donetsk-Lyman direction. I participated in the liberation of Lyman in October 2022 and in the Kharkiv counteroffensive. I joined the Kursk operation — in battles already on the territory of Russia.

When Lyman was occupied for the second time in 2022, my family left. They still havenʼt returned there because itʼs a frontline city, and Iʼm a public soldier and activist.

It was embarrassing and painful for me to go to the deoccupied Lyman and see my native places broken. Like the stall that had been there since my childhood, or the house of my friends that was no longer there. It was terrible to understand that less than a day ago, Russians lived in my house. They were in my house… and now the locals were afraid of people in uniform.

I have no doubt that Donetsk will be liberated. Now all the locals who hold on to their identity are forced to hide it. The situation is getting worse every day. In recent years, Russians have been coming to the city en masse, changing the culture and population. The occupation continues. But there are still many of our people there who are waiting for the return of Ukraine.

We also believe that Donetsk and all Ukrainian cities will be deoccupied. To make this happen faster, support "Come Back Alive."