In Ukraine’s fractured east, nationalists and other activists behind an ongoing blockade of trade with Russia-backed separatists say they are preparing to defy Kyiv once more. RFE/RL visited the blockaders after they announced plans for a new round of "actions" targeting those they say are profiteering from the conflict.
New Battle Looms On Ukraine's Blockade Lines
![A tent in the main base of the blockade camp. A former soldier in this camp told RFE/RL there is deep frustration on the front lines of the current conflict: "The only way to get back the territories we lost was by force. We [ordinary soldiers] were ready to fight, but we sat in our trenches for 18 months waiting for the order from Kyiv and it never came."](https://gdb.rferl.org/2E29CF0C-9F4E-4C6E-B557-F8B5FCDB70A4_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A tent in the main base of the blockade camp. A former soldier in this camp told RFE/RL there is deep frustration on the front lines of the current conflict: "The only way to get back the territories we lost was by force. We [ordinary soldiers] were ready to fight, but we sat in our trenches for 18 months waiting for the order from Kyiv and it never came."
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The kitchen in the blockade post. There are now fewer than 20 people in the camp, but a Facebook post calling for activists to prepare for the action had been shared more than 270 times within two hours of being posted on the evening of May 30.
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The camp's shower, supplied with water brought by a local volunteer every couple of days. The blockade resembles the scruffy, well-organized camps that sprang up around the Euromaidan protests of 2013-14, but these activists claim they have no weapons on site.
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The camp’s garden, bustling with herbs and spring onions. Food in the camp is basic: At dinner, RFE/RL was offered a kind of porridge flavored with chunks of salted pig fat.