On August 16, on the second anniversary of the outbreak of combat in Zhdanovka, the residents of this mining town in 30 km to the northeast of Donetsk city honored the memory of the killed compatriots, the press service of the social movement ‘Donetsk Republic’ informed Donetsk News Agency.
“Today, a mourning rally dedicated to the town residents killed during the hostilities in 2014 took place in Zhdanovka town. The youngest residents also expressed their desire to return peace to their homeland. They drew a symbolic drawing representing peace", the representative of the press service said the Agency.
The mourning rally took place near the monument to the Soviet soldiers-liberators. The memory of killed Zhdanovka residents was honored by a minute of silence. After that, the flowers were laid at the memorial, many participants laid stuffed toys and photographs of children, who had lost their lives in shelling by the Ukrainian troops.
The event was attended by several hundred people including the Head of the local administration Sergei Litvinov and the Head of the Organization Department of the Central Executive Committee of the ‘Donetsk Republic’ movement Olga Arutinova.
“We always thought that the Great Patriotic War (the name used to refer to the part of World War II which started with the invasion of Nazis into the Soviet Union and ended with the Red Banner over Reichstag and defeat of Nazis from the hands of the Soviet people – Editor) is something that will never come back to our land. But we were wrong, two years ago a peaceful city with no soldiers and military equipment was shelled for the first time (by the Ukrainian army – Editor). We shall always honor everyone, who had died here, and we shall never forgive those, who had done this”, the press service of the Organization Department of the ‘Donetsk Republic’ cited the Zhdanovka mayor.
The combat on Zhdanovka territory began on August 16th, 2014 and lasted for 35 days until the complete liberation of the town by the People’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic. During the conflict in the town, 19 civilians were killed and 126 buildings were damaged as a result of the shellings.