Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1532587
groups treated the local Protestant community particularly harshly, accusing them of spying for the United States and NATO. Protestant pastors were arrested, tortured, and killed. Protestant churches were seized and repurposed as military bases, equipment depots, and ammunition storage sites. Given these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that my acquaintance attempted to evacuate his family to safer areas in the west. After successfully relocating his family, he attempted to return home to retrieve some belongings but was captured en route by Oplot fighters. At that time, the Oplot militants frequently confiscated civilians' cars on the roads of Donbas under any pretext. As a result, my acquaintance found himself in Oplot's underground prison, stripped of his documents, his car, and the belongings he had taken from home. He spent several months there as a forced laborer, performing heavy tasks such as constructing checkpoints in the city and unloading ammunition from Russian supply trucks. He was fortunate: he was released through an SBU-mediated prisoner exchange, a rare occurrence, as civilians were usually not included in such swaps. The active involvement of the Ukrainian Protestant community played a crucial role in securing his release. What is most striking about this story is not just his personal ordeal but the broader picture of life within the Oplot Battalion at that time. According to his account, he was imprisoned alongside many different individuals with vastly different backgrounds. One man had been handed over to Oplot by his own daughter while she was drunk, accusing him of pro-Ukrainian sentiments. Another was a member of a rival pro-Russian faction. Among the prisoners was even a Russian- trained artilleryman who had been ordered, along with his self-propelled artillery battery, to break through the border under Russian cover and join a group fighting south of Donetsk. However, his column was intercepted by Oplot, and the artillerymen, including Russian volunteers, were either killed or captured, while Oplot seized their Russian-supplied equipment for themselves. My acquaintance also witnessed multiple instances in which Oplot battalion launched "heated meetings" with rival groups in central Donetsk, using not only firearms but also tanks. These violent clashes were driven by power struggles over territories within the city and control over local industries and businesses. I recount this detailed testimony from a firsthand witness, someone I know personally, to illustrate what the so-called Donbas People's Militia actually looked like at this stage of the war. Given this reality, it is no surprise that after this phase, another one followed… ANALYSIS