The Cold War – Redux (Duplicity). Ukraine Part 7.

I recently wrote a Cold War trilogy, The Red Effect, The Black Effect and The Blue Effect, portraying what I believe could have happened in the 1980’s, had the Soviets, and the Warsaw Pact, taken the decision to attack West Germany and plunged the world into a third world war.

I now ask myself the question, are we heading down that very route now? To answer that, I have written  the first book in a new Cold War trilogy, or the ‘Cool War’ as it is sometimes referred to. The first book, ‘The Cold War – Redux (Duplicity)’, is out now, and the second, The Cold War – Redux (Deception), will be out for Christmas.

Where does my story start? I felt the only way to find the answer to that was to go to the very melting pot that could turn the Cool War, into a Hot War, the Ukraine. I have made three trips so far, and a number of my Posts will relate my experiences while there.

Cold War Redux (Deception), Is due out Christmas 2016.

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The flag of Ukraine.

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Back to Kiev again. It is a city I could never tire of visiting, despite the cold weather.

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Early January, the weather was pretty bleak

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The temperature during my visit varied between about 2 degrees to -20 degrees.

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Shirt, two fleeces and skiing jacket were called for.

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It was just a short stay in Kiev at the beginning as my true purpose of visiting Ukraine was to travel to the port city of Mariupol.

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So, a 7 hour journey by train first. As you can see, the weather followed me to Zaporizhia.

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Then by road. Jarick came with me and we were giving a lift by some soldiers from one of the units in Mariupol.

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My passport, as usual, created some discussion. But being with Jarick and two Ukrainian soldiers ensured there were no problems as we passed through four checkpoints on our four hour journey.

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A British Army ‘woolly-pooley’ as a gift was well received.

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Back in Mariupol again. I always look forward to a visit to this part of Ukraine.

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But, the true purpose of my visit was to complete more research for my Cold War-Redux trilogy. Above is my trusty steed for my visit to yet another Ukrainian Army unit.

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But, before we go anywhere, Jarick’s mum insists that I need feeding. Borsch, is great, but is incredibly filling!

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But, I still had to eat more.

Jarick’s mother is unwell at the moment and I wish her well.

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Now off to the front. Note the hi-spec dashboard.

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The officer taking us is a Major in 36th Brigade.

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As ever, my good friend Jarick, wearing his extra thick jacket, accompanied me.

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We then had to pass through the Red-Zone.

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Civilians are banned from this area.

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The road to the front line, mined and well defended.

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We eventually, after a very smooth ride……., arrive at our destination.

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I can only show a few of the photographs I took, for obvious reasons.

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A cold and bleak landscape.

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Temperature below -10.

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36th Brigade is part of the Mariupol Divison.

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36th Brigade, along with the 79th Airborne Brigade, and others, are responsible for the defence of Mariupol.

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The unit flag. The pro-Russian separatist lines were less than a 1,000 metres from here.

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The major, on the left, was the one who drove us here. My good friend Igor on the far right.

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I took some items they would find useful, tooth brushes, toothpaste, razors, coffee, biscuits, etc. This was just a sample of what we brought for them.

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I then descended into one of the bunkers, where they live when off stag. Behind the curtain, wooden steps lead to the surface. The bunkers were deep, the roof supported with logs covered in a thick layer of earth.

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Now it was warm. The log-burner spewed out some delightful heat.

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Even the unit cat was happy.

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They welcomed me with open arms and provided refreshments.

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This was effectively their home and I felt very privileged to be allowed to intrude.

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As you can see, very patriotic. The soldier on the right is a Lieutenant, with Igor on the right.

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A great photo with their unit flag.

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This was designed to sleep four officers while off stag, the rest would be hunkered down on the defence line.

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Small, but home from home. A generator providing them with some amenities.

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And in your spare time, you could always make a bracelet out of grenade clips.

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But now time to go. I had to head back to Kiev in a couple of days.

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The road journey to Zaporizhia was quite treacherous, and it was questionable that we would make it to the railway station on time. But we did.

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Back in Kiev.

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Jarick’s lovely wife cooked us a great meal. The photos don’t do it justice.

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Although a country at war, life still goes on in the capital city of Ukraine.

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I was fortunate to be there, early January, when celebrations for the new year were still in progress.

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While in Kiev, I met up with some friends from the Parachute Brigade and brought them some military fleeces and Britsh Army ‘woolly-pooleys’.

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Also a high-spec scanner, enabling them to monitor the pro-Russian separatists airwaves.

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The jumpers, and the trauma bandages, were well received.

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The headless Wolf presented me with a ‘Cyborg’ badge, along with a special forces blue-striped t-shirt and airborne beret. The beret had been worn by one of the survivors of the battles for the Donetsk airport. Very few survivors came away from the battle, and those that did were subsequently know as Cyborgs.

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This time a shot with the headless Wolf, Jarick and headless Khoral. Very proud and humbled to have received these gifts. I was also given a airborne badge that had been worn by one of the brigade paratroopers in every battle since the invasion of Ukraine.

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Beret, badge and t-shirt. Wolf is ex-Spetsnaz and the paratroopers are elite soldiers, hence the blue and white stripes.

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What is left of the Donetsk Airport Terminal.

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The control tower under attack.

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Yet another great trip and I will be going out there again very soon

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Don’t forget, Cold War Redux – Duplicity is now available. Cold War Redux – Deception, out Christmas 2016.

9K37 Buk. By Ajvol  – Own work

It was, and is still, a very complicated situation in Ukraine. So, if some of my information is incorrect, then please flag it to me and I can amend the content. Thank you for reading this latest Post.

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