Breaking ice with Russian rebels

Kostya Tszyu in 2000 ... the Russian-born boxer who emigrated to Australia proved to be a talking for the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Source: AP

The head of a monitoring group is hopeful police will be able to access the MH17 crash site 'within days'.

KOSTYA Tszyu was a professional face breaker, but in the pro-Russian rebel strongholds of eastern Ukraine he's an icebreaker — a rare point of common ground in a place where they understand as little about Australia as we do of them.

Having driven south through Ukrainian checkpoints and arriving on the outskirts of the separatist-held city of Donetsk, the main staging post for international efforts to secure the MH17 crash site 80km to the west, and close to the Russian border, a stark scene awaits.

On the highway, under freshly dumped mountains of earth that form defensive bunkers reinforced with warrens of concrete blocks and crosshatched timber logs, separatist soldiers wearing bandannas aim AK-47s at all approaching vehicles.

Edgy scenes ... a pro-Russian separatist holds his gun as he takes cover behind a tree at a checkpoint in Donetsk. Picture: Bulent Kilic Source: AFP

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Under their uniforms they wear blue-and-white striped Russian military-issue singlets.

Though supported by Russia, the separatists want their own new country, albeit one that dwells in the Russian sphere and rejects Ukraine's lean towards Europe.

The soldiers ask for ID and demand we stay in the vehicle as someone more senior is consulted.

As we wait they share vodka in plastic shot glasses, eat boiled eggs and kindly suggest, after a time, that we come behind the bunker because a Ukrainian sniper is operating from woodlands across the open fields.

We are in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, now fully surrounded and outnumbered by Ukrainian troops and the site of the first open conflict in Europe since the Balkans ended in 1999.

An old car arrives — a Russian-made copy of the Fiat, known as the Lada — and the separatists ask us to follow them a few hundred metres to a tollbooth where there are more separatists and more is waiting to be done.

Laughing (for now) ... armed pro-Russian separatists stand guard in front of the crash site. Picture: Bulent Kilic Source: AFP

The two soldiers assigned to sit in the back seat of our vehicle don't talk kangaroos; they talk Russian expat boxer Tszyu.

They understand why we are here; they know Australia has copped a huge blow in losing 38 citizens and residents of the 298 people aboard the Malaysia Airlines jet.

They know most of the world thinks they did it.

A young separatist with passable English asks me who, in my opinion, hit the plane. I turn the question back to him.

The fighter, who has left the Donetsk police force to join the fight and will not give his name, says he has no doubt who shot it down.

"Kiev," he says, referring to the Ukrainian capital, "did this in an act of provocation."

The separatists argue that Kiev downed the plane and blamed it on them in order to draw the west into a war against Russia.

There is no need to take the discussion further: a Ukrainian missile comes sailing in with a whistling scream and strikes the bridge 200m away, sending everyone diving for the trenches.

The separatists get up, slapping off the dust and laughing. That's when you realise these men are prepared to die to break from the Ukraine. And well they might.

Seriously scary ... separatists stand at their checkpoint near the front line. Picture: Bulent Kilic Source: AFP

A young man whom I'd barely noticed is told to remove his shirt and fitted with cable-tie hand and ankle cuffs. He's laid down in the back seat of the Lada. We are instructed to follow the car to Donetsk.

We arrive at a separatist battalion headquarters within the city, where the terrified prisoner is unloaded.

An officer asks to see my media accreditation for the Donetsk People's Republic, necessary to work in the region. I explain that I have none because I have just arrived.

There are shrugs, shaking heads and phone calls, but we are allowed to leave on the promise we get the necessary papers first thing in the morning.

We drive away but then my driver gets a call from the battalion: please come back.

We return to be told the security people have some questions.

We are taken four floors up an unlit stairwell to a door with an eyehole. Our escort knocks and the double-locked door is opened by a powerful young man in a black singlet, nursing a machine gun.

There are two shirtless prisoners facing the wall, hands behind their backs. They look frightened. There is a young blonde woman seated on a bench, rubbing her hands. She too looks very anxious.

Destruction in Donetsk ... a man climbs into his flat in a damaged residential apartment building after the shelling in Donetsk. Picture: Dmitry Lovetsky Source: AP

Severe laws have been mandated by the republic for all law-breakers during this war. And traitors — people working for Ukraine — have gone missing, been taken hostage or turned up dead. Same for the other side.

We are directed into what looks like a classroom and told to sit. No phone calls allowed. A smiling, soft-spoken man, clearly senior in this environment, asks for documents.

He then takes a seat on a stool and examines me. "Would you like a drink? Water? Coffee? Kompot? Cigarette?"

I go for the kompot, which turns out to be a warm Russian fruit drink. The gentleman, talking in the low comforting tones of an interrogator, says that I need accreditation. I explain, again, that to get the accreditation I need to come to Donetsk. I suggest if he lets me go, I'll get it in the morning.

He smiles. "No."

It's after business hours, but he says he will ask the press accreditation people to come here. We must wait.

We are assigned a guard who is not unpleasant, chatting with my driver. But through yellow glass windows to the entrance hall I can see the two shirtless men standing silent, heads bowed. Through the open door the blonde woman keeps looking at me, biting her lips.

The two male prisoners are, from what I can gather, likely suspected Ukrainian spies. It is believed the woman has been arrested for drugs.

We are in the interrogation headquarters of the Donetsk People's Republic and it's not a nice place.

The senior officer proves good to his word. After two hours, someone from the press centre arrives, takes a quick look at my documents and we are able to leave, with apologies for the delay.

Welcome to the DPR.

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