Hromadske Visited Novoluhanske To Find Out What Was Really Going On

The battle of Svitlodarsk is about the biggest fight in the last few months in Eastern Ukraine, which led to the death of many soldiers. Fighting there resumed on 18 December 2016. This village is very close to Debaltseve, which experienced one of the biggest losses during the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the Minsk Agreement, Debaltseve should be under the control of Ukraine. The peace agreement, however, does not allow for the army to fight back. Two years ago, Debaltseve was taken by the DNR with the help of the Russian military. This area has since become a sensitive one, and little is known about what the fight was about.

On 23 December 2016 in the evening, “Donbas-Ukraine” battalion commander Filin wrote on Facebook: “Today, the “Donbas-Ukraine” battalion executed an audacious operation to take control of Luhanske.” After that, the media reported that the town was liberated from militants.

Local residents previously denied the so-called ‘DNR’ ever being there. “No. If we were under the “DNR” earlier, we would also be under its control now. We receive a Ukrainian pension. What “DNR”? We have no rubles,” said one resident.

Watch Hromadske’s special report, where we traveled to Novoluhanske to find out what was actually going on.