KRASNOHORIVKA/MARINKA, Ukraine – Valentina Moskalenko was all smiles beneath her white woven sunhat on Aug. 9 as she described the jubilation she felt when Ukrainian troops rolled in and reclaimed control over the quaint town of Krasnohorivka on the western edge of Donetsk earlier this week.

“I was trembling I was so excited!” the pensioner told the Kyiv Post about the day the government’s tanks arrived, their blue and yellow flags flapping in the wind. “I am for Ukraine. I told them [Russian-backed rebel fighters] ‘I don’t need you protecting my fatherland. It is already protected by our boys.'”