Pro-Russian insurgents on Sunday paraded captured Ukrainian soldiers through the streets of the rebel stronghold Donetsk as bystanders shouted abusive slurs and tossed eggs, bottles, and tomatoes at them.
The display came as President Petro Poroshenko vowed to raise defense spending to defeat the rebels during an ostentatious procession of tanks and weaponry through downtown Kiev, meant to mark Ukraine’s 23rd anniversary of Independence from the Soviet Union.
The developments underscore the increasing divisions in Ukraine as it gears up for what could be many more months of conflict. While support and mobilisation for Kiev’s campaign against the separatists has only grown in many parts of the country, resentments fester in much of the east, where civilian casualties and shelling have become a part of daily life.
Several thousand onlookers had gathered in the main square of Donetsk and shouted obscenities at the dozens of captives, some in Ukrainian military garb and some in tattered civilian clothing, that were forced to march past them. They were flanked by armed rebels bearing bayoneted rifles.
One visibly agitated man yelled atrocities as he held an infant in one arm. A woman shouted “Hang the fascists from a tree!” Other women rushed at the prisoners, trying to kick and slap them, and were restrained by rebel fighters.