Writer Maxim Zamshev saw a “new Russian reality” in Donetsk

– Maxim Adolfovich, how many writers traveled to the DPR this time? Where were you, for how many days and who was in the group?

– We were in the Donetsk People’s Republic for three days. There are eight people in total – me, the poet Alexander Chistyakov, journalist Oleg Pukhnavtsev, head of the political department of Literaturnaya Gazeta, poets Roman Sorokin, Sergei Zlydnev, artist and poet Alexander Tsurkan, and Donetsk journalist and writer Alexey Chalenko.

We spent the first day in the Donetsk Republican Library named after. Krupskaya, where a round table was held dedicated to the falsification of history. There we discussed the absurdity to which the authors of Ukrainian textbooks reach; our Donetsk colleagues told us how they live, how history is taught in schools.

On the second day we went to the libraries – it was a long drive through the territory of the Republic towards the South – Khartsyzsk, Novoazovsk, Mangush.

– What was there?

– Creative meetings, and members of the Writers’ Union of the DPR (now this creative organization operates in the status of a republican branch of the Russian Writers’ Union – I.V.) science fiction writers Fyodor Berezin and Vladislav Rusanov and poet Igor Lysy came with us.

– What is the state of libraries in the so-called Donbass “province”? Recently, Olga Lyubimova “bragged” that library and collection premises had been updated in the new territories. Can you confirm these words?

– These were just model libraries, they are very modern. And the funds in the DPR have actually been replenished with new books in Russian – previously there were not enough of them, there were serious problems with acquisition.

– Mariupol, as we know, suffered greatly in 2022, but the neighboring villages mostly survived. How did Mangush appear before your eyes, which remained under Ukrainian control before the start of the Northern Military District?

– The villages look very good. For them, thank God, the course of hostilities turned out so well that there was no destruction. Specifically in Mangush there were no strong battles.

– Have you seen Mariupol? What’s going on there now?

– We were only passing through there, passing by Azovstal…

– What impression does the former all-Union metallurgy giant make?

– Azovstal, of course, gives an infernal impression: absolute ruins. But it was difficult to expect anything else.

There are still unrestored neighborhoods in Mariupol, but those that have been rebuilt look like luxury housing.

– No worse than the new blocks of high-rise buildings in Moscow or the Moscow region?

– No worse! We also passed a huge multifunctional medical center. It can be seen that the provision of medical services in the city is also returning to normal. There is still a lot of work to be done, including providing housing to those who need it, but the work is progressing at a very serious pace.

– The route to the seaside village of Sedovo from Donetsk to an unrecognized period in the history of the DPR was very good. What can you say about the roads in the Mariupol area?

– The roads there have already been built. They are complex just near Donetsk.

– Was it easy to cross the former border between Russia and the DPR?

– No problem at all, there is “customs” there, of course, they check your passport, but no difficulties arise.

– Has Donbass changed since your last business trip there?

– We were in Donetsk in May 2022. In Lugansk in September 2023, but this city is a completely different story.

In general, things are less alarming in Lugansk than in Donetsk.

We talked a lot with ordinary people there, and this is what I noticed. Of course, it’s not easy with water and shelling. But people, it seems to me, still feel hope that this is the right course of history for them.

And look – a new Russian reality is being formed there. Firstly, there are no homeless people in Donetsk – not a single one. Secondly, there are almost no everyday drunken situations, at least the minimum of them happens. It is possible that it is because people are afraid to go out, but this is a fact.

Plus, at the moment, among the DPR fighters, I see the locals, there is a strong nobility in the sense of the rules of warfare. Even despite what the opposite side tells us, despite the terrible blow to the market at Tekstilshchik, the fighters have no desire to take revenge tit-for-tat, no intention to fight with peaceful Ukrainians. It feels very good.

You walk around the city – you can hear gunfire, and “art”, and explosions – the locals probably know how to distinguish between attacks on us and retaliatory ones (in Donetsk “slang” this is called “incoming” and “outgoing” – I.V.). They don’t pay much attention, they go about their business. There are shops and cafes, at least in the center.

People try to live a peaceful life one way or another.

– We see in action films how journalists or UN/OSCE guests are transported in beautiful armored jeeps in armed conflict zones. How was your delegation’s security ensured?

– We traveled on a regular bus. No special measures were taken.

– Was it scary?

– Probably not. You’re just listening to what precautions you need to take if the air raid alarm sounds. You keep all this in your head, I can’t say that you feel fear every second.

– How did the Donetsk people and Donbass people in general greet you? Is literature needed in those places where guns and not muses still speak? Do the population of Donbass need daily or spiritual bread more?

– The people we talked to thanked us very much after the performances. Understand that a person needs everything – there is no such division that bread comes first, and then spirituality.

It’s a big mistake and humiliation to say: let’s take them food, and literature later. Moreover, there are no shortages of food in the DPR – everything is in the stores.