1. Introduction
The anti-terrorist operation zone (ATO) can practically be divided into two zones: the zone of active hostilities, and the zone of ‘villages near-the-frontline’ where Ukrainian troops are stationed, but where no direct hostilities are taking place. The situations as regards supply in the first and second zones differ, as different needs and different opportunities for delivering aid exist.
In the vicinity of the front line, the situation is more complex. Depending on the intensity of shelling, getting to certain locations can be difficult, and hence, there are problems with the supply of goods. This applies to both soldiers and civilians. The soldiers, however, are more mobile, and currently, every unit has ‘their’ volunteers, which means that during periods when the intensity of shelling is reduced, soldiers can count on supplies.
Civilians who have not decided to leave and still reside in the territories being shelled by the so-called ‘separatists’ can use the stock that they have accumulated in their homes. Also, using the experience acquired with regards to the frequency and timing of shelling, they sometimes go to the few shops which remain open where prices are currently 1.5-3 times higher than usual. Medicines and other necessities which cannot be bought are usually offered by soldiers or volunteers who bring aid should civilians address them for help.
Most of the humanitarian aid and assistance for soldiers gets to the “near-the-frontline’ area from the rear. That is where military bases and warehouses which store goods imported by volunteers are located. Villages in the ATO zone behind the front line are also the places where, predominantly, the so-called ‘displaced people’ appear. Here, they are usually accepted by the local community and either rent apartments (or settle in apartments, made available to them free-of-charge) or venture further towards the centre of Ukraine. Usually, that’s where they can access necessities (basic items, food, medicines).
Another problem is delivering humanitarian aid to the territories occupied by pro-Russian forces, the so-called Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Since the beginning of the military operation, this task has been dangerous for Ukrainian volunteers due to the risk of kidnapping or being shot. For this reason, most of the volunteers avoided exiting the zone controlled by the Ukrainian army. More frequently, it was done by religious organisations, which had a greater chance of convincing militants of their neutrality in the conflict. For example, the ‘Tvoya Peremoha’ organisation, associated with the Protestant community from Slavyansk, delivered bread to small, poorly-stocked villages on the pro-Russian side in the autumn of 2014. However, the main way to get humanitarian aid to the population remaining outside the occupied area was by travelling to the appropriate (Ukrainian) side of the frontline.
Since 21 February, 2015, this possibility has been limited by the obligation to have a pass, issued by the Ukrainian side only in justified cases. This means that any person wishing to cross the ‘border’ must submit a relevant application, including personal data, and their reason for wishing to exit the territory of the so-called Donetsk/Lugansk People’s Republic. The same applies to people who want to leave the territory occupied by the pro-Russian armed forces – they must report to the post occupied by the Ukrainian forces in order to file their application, which is then processed by the local police.
The obligation to have a pass has limited mobility between the zones for both civilians and volunteers, thus limiting the possibility of potential delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.
At the same time, Ukrainian legislation seeks to ensure the safety of volunteers, who render support to civilians and soldiers in the ATO zone. On 1 April, 2015, the Law on Volunteering was amended, and now it officially defines two new areas of voluntary activities related to emergencies, such as states of war, anti-terrorist operations or social conflicts: aid for refugees and internally displaced persons as well as assistance to Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations (including volunteer battalions). According to the provisions of the Law, volunteers have the right to provide assistance in the area of military operations on behalf of the organisation that they represent. In case of a volunteer’s death or disability due to injuries sustained while carrying out activities in the conflict zone, appropriate compensation is provided for (a detailed analysis of the content of the amendment is attached to this report).
2. Problems with breaking through to the front lines with aid: restrictions within army structures
Soldiers on the front line as well as volunteers who help them, often express the opinion that “if something arrives at the headquarters, it usually stays there“. The best items (according to them) are usually taken by those who are at the rear while only unwanted remaining items reach the front line. Moreover, practice has shown that items of aid are not delivered to the front lines from the headquarters in an organised manner – soldiers can get a new jacket or other things only when they leave the so-called ‘forefront’ and go to the rear and personally appear in the warehouse. Items are taken directly to the soldiers at the frontline only by volunteers; the more experienced volunteers try to act by bypassing the headquarters.
This method of delivering assistance, however, was recently restricted by the directive issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on 24 June, 2015. Access to the positions on the front lines for both volunteers and non-accredited journalists, became restricted. This has been justified by safety reasons. However, in practice, this may mean that aid which has, thus far, reached soldiers directly, will be received at the rear (for example, the A sector which covers the city of Svatove). Volunteers have already begun to express their dissatisfaction with this decision and questioned the motivation behind it.
The fact that volunteers frequently operate outside of official channels (they deliver clothing and equipment directly to soldiers), they also justify by the restrictions that relevant provisions of the law impose on the army. According to the regulation issued by the Ministry of Defence, soldiers carrying out duties in the ATO zone are entitled to one complete uniform. This has been confirmed by a representative of the staff of the ‘Aidar’ battalion who stated that officially, everyone has one complete uniform and if it’s damaged or gets dirty, a soldier has no other clothes to put on. Aliona Chorna, a volunteer responsible for the distribution of uniforms, provided officially by Canada to the Ukrainian army, quotes an officer of one of the brigades: “as soldiers already had one issued uniform at that point, official acceptance of the uniforms would have brought about their transportation to the warehouse”.
According to the relevant provisions, in cases where a uniform is damaged in the course of duty including performing combat tasks in the ATO zone, the Ministry of Defence is required to issue a new uniform. However, a correspondent of the Open Dialog Foundation (ODF) has not confirmed the enforcement of this right in practice – soldiers are sceptical about the possibility of applying for a new uniform. According to officers, it would be months before such an application is granted, and the only opportunity to obtain necessary items, without unnecessary and lengthy paperwork, is by requesting the help of volunteers.
The same situation arose when it came to the supply of spare parts to the repair bases of the Armed Forces, located in the ATO zone. According to a commander of one of them, which services the 80 Mechanised Brigade vehicles, orders sent to the competent structures in the army are fulfilled to an extent no greater than 15 percent. The interlocutor told the ODF correspondent that frequently, they don’t receive the parts they request, but – as he said – they get what the army has in stock. This is why mechanics and drivers of vehicles themselves purchase necessary parts with their own money or ask volunteers for help.
3. Suspicions of corruption
The issue of providing aid to soldiers also raises other kinds of doubts related to the distribution of obtained uniforms and equipment. More and more frequently opinions are voiced that both within the army structures and in volunteer battalions mechanisms are in place that allow persons to make money on supplies allotted to them by the state and material aid, delivered by voluntary groups. It is difficult to prove whether such assertions are true, but the fact that so many individual cases have been cited suggests that such activities are undertaken by some, at least.
A case in point is the ‘assistance from Canada’ – approx. 30,000 uniforms and 7,000 pairs of military boots, officially transferred by the Canadians to Ukraine. According to Bohdan Kovalev who coordinates the cooperation in this field at the Ministry of Defence, the main role of volunteers is to control the system in accordance with which uniforms are issued, in order to avoid irregularities. Kovalev believes that the problem is not with the system itself, but with the human factor – for example, officers and private soldiers who have a desire to get rich. That is why it is volunteers who segregate, count and catalogue every item of clothing, receive applications from units, issue appropriate numbers of uniforms to individual branches. The ODF correspondent was present during their work in Odessa and was able to observe that the commanders of units were unhappy, to say the least, with the presence of volunteers – activists themselves believe that this is because they hinder the conduct of their ‘business’.
A. Chorna recalls the case of an officer of one of the army units who asked for 300 uniforms from Canada for his brigade, but when it was explained to him that he must submit a list of clothing sizes for his soldiers, and then present photos of the latter in the new uniforms for confirmation, he withdrew his request and, as reported by the volunteers, ‘disappeared’. A situation which raises doubts was also described by volunteers from Starobelsk. One of the soldiers requested the purchase of an expensive optical instrument. It transpired that at that time, his service in the ATO zone had come to an end and so he requested that the equipment be sent to him to Kiev. When volunteers offered to transfer it into the hands of the soldiers, appointed by him, who were in need of the instrument in the ATO zone, he insisted that it be sent to Kiev, and after the volunteers refused to transfer the instrument into the hands of a person who is not present at the frontline and requested again that he nominated recipients who serve in the ATO zone, he ceased communication with them.
The ODF correspondent was told in the ‘Aidar’ battalion that the Ministry of Defence had transferred 800 uniforms to the battalion. During the two-week stay in the battalion, A. Góralska saw the ‘state’ uniform only once, and at the time it was being worn by her interlocutor who served as a logistician. None of the soldiers with whom she spoke had ever even heard about the possibility of acquiring uniforms from the Ministry of Defence; they were all dressed in uniforms from donors or had bought their own. According to the headquarters, all 800 sets were distributed to the soldiers of the battalion.
The same applies to bulletproof vests and protective helmets, which, according to the Ministry of Defence, should be issued to all soldiers called to arms within the next wave of mobilisation. According to the Ministry of Defence, each of the soldiers should receive basic equipment; still, frequent requests for this kind of support, addressed to the Open Dialog Foundation and other organisations helping soldiers, coming from the recruits and their families, contradict the official declarations. Separate cases, gathered by the Open Dialog Foundation, prove that many soldiers are going to the front line without proper equipment. The answer to the question as to what has caused this situation is currently the object of our interest. The results of the Foundation’s activities in this area will be published in a separate report.
The cited cases can prove the veracity of the belief, formulated in private conversations, about ‘business’ conducted by some of the soldiers/officers in some volunteer battalions and divisions of the army (these opinions are repeated, for example, in relation to the ‘Aidar’ battalion and the now defunct ‘Shakhtyorsk’ battalion). It is difficult to prove that such practices take place, but the fact is, that in the vicinity of the town of Shchastya, many civilians wear military jackets; it is also common knowledge that such clothing can be bought at the marketplace.
According to volunteers, working every day in the ATO zone, there are divisions and battalions which limit their list of needs to a minimum. On the other hand, there are those which ‘need everything’ – in relation to the latter, there is a suspicion that the surplus is sold on the ‘black market’.
The same situation applies to aid for displaced persons. In the city of Svatove, the city Mayor Yevgen Rybalko stated in an official conversation that “when five quilts for refugees arrive, three of them are delivered to the needy, and two are taken to the local marketplace”. According to him, ‘volunteers’ in the city are often those with a dubious reputation, who suddenly became committed to the refugee cause on a large scale. He also stated that such a mentality is typical for a large part of Ukrainians and that it will be very difficult to fight against it.