we're on our away to meet the donbass
Battalion they're a pro Ukrainian group
who've been fighting the pro Russian
forces in this region for security
reasons though we can't say where we are
by the looks of things it's in the
middle of
nowhere so what kind of operations have
your group Taken part in so
far
[Laughter]
for the training
[Laughter]
session
uh you can see where they picked this
spot it's really really remote it's very
far away from sort of builtup towns or
anyone looking to possibly find out
where these guys are basing
themselves so they've taken us pretty
deep into uh the woods near their base
where they're sort of doing their
firearms training now uh there's a small
Squad of them and uh so lying taking
turns Li on the ground firing the
targets behind them these guys have been
called the little black men which is a
sort of spin on the little green man
that was the name given to Pro Russian
forces in Crimea and uh as you can see
they all wear black someone have' got
the Ukrainian flag on their armbands
that kind of gives away their
allegiance some of them have had
military training before some haven't
and so those that haven't I guess are
getting training here at this base to
make sure that they're up for the task
uh in any coming battles they have to
face
uh Nal why did you choose to join the
donbass
Battalion and what were you doing before
you joined the donbass
battalion
so man could you tell me a bit more
about your organization and what its
objectives
are
B
color so this is a sort of name
uh building on the base where they of
sleep and eat uh the guys here have just
been given new patches that sort of say
the name of their Battalion on and
they're all sort of all pretty happy
with themselves and comparing the
patches and figuring out where they're
going to put
them so finally yesterday we were able
to meet the dbass Battalion at their
base they uh we managed to get some
interviews and saw them do some firearms
training today they've invited us on an
operation they haven't told us what that
exactly is yet so we're about to find
out so more and more guys are turning up
more cars full of guys with guns some of
them have got like uh different assault
rifles guy behind me's got like an old
what looks like a World War II rifle so
it's a bit uh rag tag some of them are s
different sets of uniforms usually these
guys are dressed in black but some of
them in camo gear as well um but they're
all kind of gearing up ready for this uh
this uh this operation though though
they though they've told us it's meant
to be a safe one they're packing a lot
of weapons for what's supposed to be a
safe
operation so what can you tell me what's
going to go on in this operation
[Music]
today
[Music]
details of the operation were still
vague as we approached the town we
assumed we were heading straight to the
administration building but instead the
Convoy of cars stopped outside the
police station and the disembarked and
swept into offensive
positions so that they've got inside the
police station they've got all the
police who are inside they've lay them
down on the floor uh at gunpo they're
taking all their sort of identification
checking who they are they're currently
trying to find out where the boss of of
the police station here the head of
police they can't find him so uh they're
kind of basically interrogating them one
by one trying to find out where he
is
[Music]
for
[Music]
for
so a couple of uh locals angry angry
pro-ukrainian locals came in and
basically almost interrogated the uh the
police uh screaming at them we know we
pay our taxes why why do you now support
the separatists the Don People's
Republic why don't you defend us uh
they're now taking two of the uh
policemen they've captured to the
administration building the local
government building to uh hoist up the
pro Ukrainian flag and take down the
donx People's Republic one no one was
harmed inside we didn't see any police
getting attacked or anything but uh they
had all their documents looked at their
mobile phones taken off them just so
they couldn't communicate but uh they
look pretty pretty nervous like
really
scared
so this is the local uh administration
building soort the local government
Council if you will and uh the donx
People's Republic flag is flying next to
the donbass region flag they intend to
take that one down and put up the
Ukrainian
[Music]
one
so the unrest in this region has been
kind of characterized between local
Administration
buildings Changing Hands between Pro
Ukrainian forces and pro Russian forces
like there's nothing really once these
guys leave there's nothing stopping pro-
Russian locals people that support the
Don People's Republic to come back here
tear down the Ukrainian flag and put
theirs
up Alex could you tell me what's going
on here exactly
for
so Sam is telling us uh for our security
we should probably leave the area may be
worried that the pro- Russian forces
might turn up
now the Ukrainian military's slow and
cautious anti-terror operation has so
far failed to dislodge the rebels from
their strongholds in slaviansk and donet
with their ability to do what the
Ukrainian military can't the dbass
Battalion and other groups like it could
help turn the tide in K's favor or
equally they could destabilize and
already volatile region with the
presidential elections coming up in the
next few days it's likely that Sean and
his men will be called upon to further
assist the Ukrainian military in making
sure it goes ahead so I guess we'll find
out whether their flexibility can help
or hinder the
situation
buha