Nobody saw anything

When a BUK is fired it produces noise and clouds of exhaust. The launch is deafeningly loud; a BUK attack is accompanied by a “substantial noise both during the missile launch and its flight,” according to a study by the Association of Russian Engineers. Or, as the aerial-weapons expert Rupert Smid said: A blast, a prolonged sound, a sonic boom, and a second explosion in the sky.

The missile is launched out of a fireproof container, leaving few visible burn marks on the ground; the launch vehicle in turn leaves marks on the ground that are identical to those of a tank.

Did the inhabitants of Zaroshchens‘ke see or hear anything?

Eastern Ukraine, late October. The drive begins in Donetsk, a pro-Russian separatist stronghold. Fear of war has frozen life in the city of over a million. Shopping malls are closed or have been looted. Banks are bolted shut, cash machines are empty. The streets empty before nightfall. Despite a ceasefire that began on September 5th, explosions can be heard from the battle for control of the city’s airport.

Zaroshchens‘ke is about 50 kilometers to the east via the N21 road. It connects Donetsk and Luhansk, the two primary strongholds of the pro-Russian separatists, and is controlled by their fighters. As was the case on July 17th. The road passes through flat territory. The asphalt bears the scars of the war: traces of tanks and explosions. The asphalt is initially thick, before Luhansk it becomes a dirt road.

Checkpoints have been set up before every town and turnoff. Armed men in makeshift uniforms inspect the cars. There is a noticeable number of women in camouflage among the fighters, they carry Kalashnikovs on their shoulders. The landscape is flat; we see heaps of coal and rubble along the horizon. Donbass is a coal-ming region. But most of the mines are closed.

Zaroshchens‘ke is an inconspicuous village. Flat wind-skewed farm buildings lie along two streets; nearby are vegetable gardens and stables. Behind them is the path seen on the satellite photos presented in July by the Russian Defense Ministry. The clay path bears traces that could be from a tank. Deep marks in the ground can be seen at two points. Something heavy must have been here.

But the overgrown field shows no traces that suggest a missile launch. Only one thing is noticeable: a deep furrow has been dug behind one of the marks on the ground. The rest of the field is unworked and completely overgrown.

The villagers will not be named in this story. The people in eastern Ukraine need to be protected from possible consequences. The inhabitants of the separatists’ territory are afraid – of the pro-Russian separatists and of the Ukrainian army. They don’t want to say anything wrong.

Above the field a 70 year old retired woman lives in a little cottage. Her white hair is tied back, her rugged face has been tanned by the sun. The old lady lives alone. No, she says, on July 17th she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. No unusual noise, no condensation trails, no suspicious vehicles. Definitely not from the Ukrainian army. “The Ukrainians weren’t here, they don’t dare come to these parts.”

The lady is an ardent follower of the Russian separatists – and buys into the most abstruse conspiracy theories. She said, US oil companies wanted to exterminate the population of Donbass through fracking. After this failed, the US and the Ukrainian fascists drew the country into war. Only Putin was able to prevent a genocide of the Russian-speaking Ukrainian population, she said.

But many villagers have other worries. “I have cows that need to be milked every day,” says a women who stands by the gate of her farm in a headscarf and jacket. She was also in Zaroshchens‘ke on July 17th and did not notice anything. She received an excited call from a relative in Moscow after the press conference. But no: “All nonsense, nothing happened here.” Up until now they have been spared from the war, only one rocket flew over the town at the end of July. “We ran into the basement with the children,” a resident said.

The villagers gather on the street. Nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything. There was no BUK missile fired in Zaroshchens‘ke on July 17th 2014. Definitely not by the Ukrainian army because separatists control the fields around Zaroshchens‘ke.

The Russian general’s lead is a red herring.