Ilya Barabanov, special correspondent for the Russian business newspaper Kommersant, reports from Novoazovsk, after midnight tonight local time.

The Interpreter has provided a translation.



Novoazovsk. Photo by Sergei Grits/AP

Special correspondent Ilya Barabanov witnessed the occupation of the town and is convinced that the advance on the positions of the Ukrainian forces in the south is really on a wide scale now.

Yesterday after a short artillery preparation, the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic occupied virtually without a fight the strategically important town of Novoazovsk, 40 kilometers from Mariupol. Thus, the militiamen have come out on the Azov Sea.



The artillery shelling of Novoazovsk began some time around 10:45 am. There were virtually no Ukrainian soldiers in town by that time. They had begun to leave it even the day before, as the northern and western suburbs came under fire. When we entered the town, we only encountered one BTR with the Ukrainian flag. The main forces, according to soldiers, had left Novoazovsk in organized fashion early that morning.

Shooting was going on right nearby, but the target this time was apparently the northern districts of the town.

“It’s better to move to the hospital basement,” some medics advised us as they passed by. “We have tea and Wi-Fi, and we’ll all be safer there.”

The shelling ended 40 minutes later, after which we decided to drive further, toward the Russian-Ukrainian border.

In the seaside village of Sedovo, to which refugees from three regions of Donetsk Region had been fleeing in recent weeks, where there were active clashes, they did not seem to notice the approaching war. The beaches were packed with people, two local residents were boiling some ukha [fish soup] nearby and the lamp posts were covered with advertisements about rentals by the day for vacationers.

Two women from the village of Kirovsk, Krasnoliman District of Donetsk Region told us that they had come with their families to Sedovo four days earlier and ever since then had been waiting to cross the border.

“I have a daughter who only completed 11th grade, she was going to the institute in Rostov-on-Don, but there is shelling at home, so we had to leave,” one of them said. “The DNR people seem to have left Kirovsk, but the army hasn’t stopped the shelling.”

From Sedovo to the border is less than 10 km through the villages of Obryv and Kholodnoye. In Obryv, there was the same peaceful life and working cafes and people on the beach. But we didn’t manage to get to Kholodnoye. The road was blocked by some well-armed people in masks, without identifying insignia, with white arm bands. To the right of the highway, several vehicles could be glimpsed, on one of them the red flag of “Novorossiya” had been raised.

When we asked if we could pass through the checkpoint, one of the fighters shook his head and gestured silently without lowering his weapon that our car should turn back.

It turned out to be easier to get to the Novoazovsk checkpoint a few kilometers to the north. In just a few kilometers from the border — on the turn to the Odessa-Novoazovsk highway — our car was stopped by more motley people in camouflage, introducing themselves as “DNR militia.” After checking our ID, they quickly let us through.

“Only be careful at the crossroads, it’s going to get hot soon,” one of them advised us.

Turning toward the border, we immediately bumped into a convoy of several tanks and trucks. The vehicles had started up and were loaded with people, and the same read Novorossiya flag was on the sides.

The man in charge at the checkpoint introduced himself as Aleksandr.

“The border is open, we’re letting through everyone who wants, including refugees, in both directions,” he said. “You, for example, would you like to go back home right now?”

According to him, fighters had occupied the border relatively recently, but he couldn’t supply an exact date. Aleksandr forbid us to photograph the checkpoint and the positions. He left us his phone number in parting and urged us to return to Novoazovsk not by the direct route, but through Sedovo again.

We drove back to the city hospital in Novoazovsk.

“Colleagues from the villages occupied by the DNR called, and told us that a vehicle convoy is headed our way,” the workers shared with us. “You had better think about the cellar, you can definitely sit through it here, but you might not reach Mariupol.”

As it turned out, Ukrainian forces had left for the village of Bezymyannoye [Bezimenne], 20 km from Mariupol. When we drove out of Novoazovsk toward Mariupol, a tank was turning toward the western outskirts of the city with the same red flag on the side. The soldier sitting up on the tank waved his hand: “Go away.” The city was virtually occupied without a fight.