Ukraine's Taxi Drivers Navigate Barricades, Curfews and Masked Gunmen

What's This?

A pro-Ukrainian self defense volunteer watches military exercises at their training ground outside Donetsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2014.

Image: Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press

By Brian Ries2014-04-24 15:41:04 UTC

The roads in eastern Ukraine are covered in barricades manned by armed separatists. A nightly curfew is in place, and talk of a Russian invasion hangs in the air.

If you drive a taxi, how are you supposed to work?

That's the question an unnamed taxi driver posed to a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty during a recent drive around the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, where pro-Russian separatists are in a standoff with Ukrainian troops.

See also: 9 Essential Questions About Ukraine, Answered

The ride, which was captured on video, offers a unique view into the city's tense streets. It also shows the fear average citizens have over the unidentified "little green men" — a name that has been used to describe the masked gunmen that have taken power.

“You don’t know what kind of mood they’re in,” says the unnamed driver. “They could be crazy.”

Pro-Russian militia have occupied Sloviansk and other eastern Ukrainian towns for much of the past month. Some of them have taken over government buildings, demanding referendums to leave Ukraine.

In response, Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov sent in troops as part of an anti-terrorist operation — though success have been limited, at best.

On Thursday, five insurgents were killed and one police officer was wounded in an attack at a checkpoint outside the city, causing Russia's defense minister Sergei Shoigu to announce new military exercises in response to unrest in Ukraine.

“The order to use force against civilians has already been given, and if this military machine is not stopped, the amount of casualties will only grow,” he said of the Ukrainian operation, according to RT.com. “War games by NATO in Poland and the Baltic states are not helping the normalization of the situation. We are forced to react to the situation.”

More than a dozen people have gone missing — some of them journalists — over the past few days as tensions seem to increase by the hour.

See also: Pro-Russian Militants Confirm Capture of Vice Journalist Simon Ostrovsky

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russia’s armed forces from the Ukrainian-Russian state border, temporarily halted its anti-terrorist operation on Thursday in the face of Russian threats.

Citing a “heightened risk” of a retaliatory attack from Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported, the Ukrainian military's operation was "paused to reformulate the plan" in the eastern Ukraine city.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Topics: russia, US & World, World