Vast majority of people in Donbass happy to join Russia

Johnny Miller
Press TV, Donbas

The Russian flag now flies over Donetsk, as Moscow claims this region is now part of the Russian Federation. Ukraine continues to bomb the city but the streets in the center are quiet. The frontline is only six kilometers away. In order to find out how people here feel about their new nationality, I headed down the road to the adjoining city of Makeevka. There are more people on the streets as it’s safer here.

This is a common sentiment in Donbas that they are happy being part of Ukraine. But when the nationalists came to power in 2014 and began discriminating against Russian culture and bombing civilians here, they turned to Russia.

Thousands have been killed by Ukrainian shelling over the last eight years here. Hardly a day goes by without more civilians dying. Most of the anger I hear though is directed at the Ukrainian government, not its people.

While the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are more mixed, for peace to come, it’s clear the world needs to recognize that the vast majority of people in Donbas no longer want to be part of Ukraine.

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