Berezove. A wild field, or How difficult it is to live in such conditions

To the south of the forest zone and the forest-steppe belt lies the boundless chernozem steppe, where there used to be a lot of virgin lands. Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns and Goths, Tatars and Polovtsians, later the Slavs for thousands of years roamed in the vast expanses of the Wild Field. Here passed the famous Kalmius sakma - the trade and military way, through which raids were made on the northern Slavic and southern Tatar lands. Here in 1891-1899 the famous special expedition of Dokuchaev conducted its studies on the creation of forest belts.

In 1933-1934, while the disaggregation of the state farm Gornyak of the Starobeshevsky district, the third largest in the Stalin oblast patch of land of 13500 hectares was allocated: the grain yarn Yelenovsky. Berezove became the easternmost settlement (until 1957 - Gutyria). Located on the watershed of the Dnieper-Azov river systems, only Berezove’s land in the Marinka district carry water to the Azov. According to historical data from 1773, on the site of the Cossack settlement Serednia (in the middle between the settlements of Bahmut and Domakha), now Novotroitske, these lands belonged to immigrants from Naddnipryanshchyna region.

- The village was formed after the Holodomor of 1933-1934, supposedly in 1936, - said the old resident Volodymyr Dzyuba. It was inhabited mainly by Ukrainians from surrounding villages and immigrants from Galicia and right-bank Ukraine, later - from the southern Russian regions.

Before the war of 1941-1945, there was a millionaire state farm here. They brought thoroughbred cows and sheep. But the war came. Old-timers talk about a sabotage group of six paratroopers caught and tortured by the Germans. About 20 local residents were also shot for their beliefs. In 1943 the village was liberated by the advancing Soviet troops.

In the 50's and 60's cattle breeding and plant growing developed fast, new houses and whole streets, roads, school, library, a repair shop, a limestone plant and a sawmill emerged rapidly. In 1946, the village was electrified, in 1969 water supply started working, in 1985 it was gasified. In the early 60's, a military air defense unit was being built, the second level of Moscow's defense against NATO aircrafts. In 1975, on the highway H-20 a beautiful at that time Gothic style shop of glass and steel Steppe’s Gem was built, which became the decoration of the village. Prosperity of the village was associated with the "Brezhnev times" in 1970-1980s and the director of the state farm Zaitsev, who invested a lot in the infrastructure of the village. A huge complex for 30 000 pigs began to be built at this time.

Since 1991, economic processes have been simplified. In 1994, part of the anti-aircraft defense was liquidated, land went to entrepreneurs from Donetsk for the cheapest price. They were trying to establish food production. Cattle breeding was transferred to other villages, the pig complex was modernized in 2000 by Agrotis company. A Greek Catholic church was built, which has a parish in the nearby villages and Dokuchaevsk

In June 2014, the territory of the former military unit was occupied by an advance 51 separate mechanized brigade. There are artillery divisions here. Through Berezove columns of armored vehicles are going to Ilovaisk and Donetsk. 5 local residents were killed and wounded over the course of hostilities. More than 30 detached houses, a kindergarten day nursery and a pig complex were destroyed fully or partially.

On August 31, after a direct hit in the ammunition depot (shells exploded all the night), Ukrainian troops execute a withdrawal towards Vuhledar and the DPR checkpoint appears in the village. Secret agents of the "republics" begin to walk around the yards and "politely" talk the people over. Things proceeded this way until October. In October, the AFU return, two platoon strongpoints are being built in the south- and north-east of the village. A positional war and a war of sabotage-reconnaissance groups begin. This is the place where the most blowing ups of military and civilians by anti-personnel mines are registered: more than 60.

The line of demarcation is currently at a distance of 0.8-1.5 km from the eastern outskirts of the village between Olenivka, Yasne, Dokuchaevsk and Novotroitske settlements. The so-called "zero" checkpoint in front of the "Novotroitske" checkpoint is right there. Since the end of 2015, humanitarian aid has been started to be received from foreign and local charitable organizations: the Red Cross, "We will Help" fund, Médecins Sans Frontières, ADRA, People in Need and others. The number of residents had decreased and is about 440 people compared to 525 before the war.

- "It is not possible to set the water supply for the moment, there are periodic shelling and it is necessary to repair the power lines; Agrotis reduced the workers of pig complex, and subsidiary farming cannot serve as a stable source of income because of the high prices for feeding stuff and the blockade of traditional markets in Donetsk", - the Head of the village Hennadiy Shapovalov says. - "It is very difficult to live under such conditions, but we do not give up!"

- "There is no work, we survive as best we can, - the residents confirm. - We would like the roads which turned into complete holes to be repaired; to finally hear the sound of water in the taps and, most importantly, we are tired of the constant artillery duelling. We want peace, as in Dnipro, Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv and thousands of other cities and villages of our Motherland. We are citizens of Ukraine too".

It is hard to be a patriot when shells fly above your head, which kill your loved ones from time to time. Especially since both sides shoot. If someone went on the offensive, if the prospect of ending this "horror without end" was visible, then probably, the pro-Russian or patriotic Ukrainian sentiments would have appeared. And when the war simply kills, and no one promises to end it – it causes only exacerbation which is often motivated not by real circumstances, but by political preferences. People are tired and see only the mockery of themselves. At the same time, everyone has his/her own version of who punishes them for what.

Nevertheless, life goes on. Several local girls married the soldiers of Ukrainian army. One man had even stayed here, building his own happiness under fire…