There is a reason these things are often called the Donbas Himalayas

Map of mines and terricones/"slag heaps" in the city of Donetsk. Overall there are up to 140 within city limits, 59 of whom are taller than 50m. The tallest is located in the southwestern Petrovskyi district, marked as 112 - it stands at 124m due to an engineering mistake.

𝗟𝘁. 𝗖𝗼𝗹. 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗶𝗶 𝗟𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗸𝗼 3rd Special Purpose Regiment Russo-Ukrainian Border Lysenko will be killed along with most of his squad within weeks of this photo during a failed rescue operation, after two pilots were shot down and stranded behind enemy lines.

𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗼-𝗨𝗸𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 Sector "D" "Dovzhanskyi" Border Crossing Station, located on the strategic Rostov-Kharkiv highway, after two months of heavy fighting. Due to Russian cross-border strikes and an impending encirclement, Ukrainian border guard and army forces retreated on Aug 7th, 2014

𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒔 Ukrainian soldier enjoying his morning coffee at a checkpoint near Debaltseve, July-September 2014

Russo-Ukrainian border, July 2014

"𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻" fighter 𝗢𝗹𝗲𝗸𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿 𝗛𝗹𝘂𝗵𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗱 chilling out with a cigarette. Oleksandr will be killed by Russian army regulars on the 30th of August near Ilovaisk, soon after this photo. ATO Zone, Summer 2014

Bohdan Sokhniuk, a soldier from the 30th Mechanized Brigade, with a turtle. Russo-Ukrainian border, Sector D, Marynivka. Sokhniuk will die defending the border from Russian paramilitary and regular forces within weeks of this photo.

𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟰 Ukrainian paratrooper (left) and National Guardsman (right) at a checkpoint near Sloviansk.

As fighting in the east intensified, the Samooborona lost its purpose. It was disbanded in May, its members redirected to join the National Guard. The 1st Battalion, formed in March, was soon joined by the 2nd. Many other units were formed by ex-Samooborona members as well.

With Russian aggression in full swing, on March 14th many Samooborona members from different Sotnias departed to the main Interior Ministry base in Novy Petrivtsy to form the "1st Reserve Battalion" of the National Guard. A month later, they were sent to the front near Sloviansk.

Following the success of the Maidan, much of the Samooborona remained on the streets of Kyiv. As the entire silovik leadership fled together with Yanukovych, the police could not perform its functions, and so Samooborona organized patrols and guarded buildings like the Rada.

After the fighting died down, commandant Parubii declared in early February that Samooborona numbered around 10-15,000 members strong, a 3x increase from early January. To compare, at the same time head of newborn Right Sector Andrii Yarosh said his organization numbered 500 men.

The fighting on Hrushevskyi street in late January was the first prolonged "battle" of the revolution, seeing the first use of Molotovs and the first deaths. "Right Sector" later on took it as its origin story, but the truth is that they were joined by many Samooborona members.

As indicated in its title and reiterated time and time again by its leadership, the Samooborona was a purely defensive force, tasked with defending, patroling, and policing the massive Maidan encampment. However, in a situation like this, not every Sotnia could be controlled.

The Maidan's main turning point, which signaled to the protestors that there was truly no way back, were the "Dictatorial Laws" of January 2014 which promised harsh sentences for the most minor of political offenses. Fighting broke out on Hrushevsky street leading up to the Maidan.

Not every Sotnia was a combat one - there were seperate Sotnias dedicated to food, logistics, internal security, medicine, and more. Despite subordination to the Samooborona leadership, much of this work was performed independently and organized via social media networking.

Many veterans of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and other former and active servicemen disillusioned with the regime became part of the movement. Some of the Afghanistan veterans formed the 8th "Afghan" Sotnia, others acted in training roles and elsewhere.

Unlike in the, unfortunately, still common narrative about Maidan protesters being far-right bandits, these groups consisted of a wide variety of people. One activist who was on the Maidan from the first days described how this process looked on the ground:

The Samooborona top leadership and the Sotnia commanders gathered every morning for a Coordination Council to plan further actions, voice concerns, and vote on the leadership’s decisions. No action could be taken by the leadership without consent of the Sotnias.

At its head stood the commandant of the Maidan encampment Andrii Parubii, a Batkyvschyna MP. He and his deputies oversaw a growing number of "Sotnias", or "Hundreds" - grassroots groups of activists submitting to the Samooborona structure. Decisions were made in a council format.

The political opposition leaders, who “led” the Maidan in a tenuous alliance with civic activists, began an effort to better organize its defenses and to register the newborn "Samooborona" as a formal, structured organization built explicitly as a cross-party united front.

The assault of 11th Dec. showcased critical weaknesses in the protestors' defenses, namely: lack of clear communication, command structure, coordination. On the 11th it almost led to disaster, as "Berkut" broke into the Maidan, though later surrounded and forced to retreat.

That assault was televised nation-wide. Now, up to a million citizens outraged by such blatant police brutality gathered on the Maidan, intending to stand their ground. A large encampment arose. Another regime attack failed 11 days later.

The Maidan Self-Defence, or the Samooborona, started as a grassroots movement on December 1st, 2014. This followed the brutal attack on the initial Euromaidan protest, the so-called “Student Maidan,” by the Interior Ministry’s “Berkut” Special Purpose Unit two days earlier.

𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗮) Ukraine's Revolutionary Guard The slanderous reputation of the Maidan as a foreign-orchestrated coup, which unfortunately still holds much sway, obscures its true grassroots nature. One of the many elements showcasing it is the Samooborona movement.

In addition to taking care of my ill mother and my dog and cat, I found a couple week old kitten in the middle of the road and took her in. The expenses are serious and right now I have nothing. There are also medications me and mother take. In short, if you can help: PayPal: lapa8578@gmail.com

ATO Zone, September 2014 Lighter red denotes areas captured by the Russian army after the invasion on August 24th.

Forgive me, little city, we're now all alone I've lost sight of you in the maelstrom There's Vitya, my friend, in an APC Diving into icy waters of immortality [...] Hlib Babych (RIP) - The Debaltseve Cross (Хрест Дебальцевський)

"One of the submunitions exploded in the courtyard of a school, where a young mother was walking with her child... Another landed on the central boulevard, killing a woman who had gone out to buy groceries. [...]"