Hello to all Kyiv Defenders subscribers. Today we met with Ilya to talk about how our boys are serving at the front, how our victory is coming soon, and how we will definitely win if we all unite and support each other.
Hello, Ilya!
Hi.
Tell me, please, how long have you been in Kyiv? Are you being treated, resting or on rotation?
I’ve been in Kyiv for about three months now. I’m in rehabilitation after my leg operation. Now I am also doing work, but more so-called “rear” work.
Where did you get injured? How did it happen?
I was wounded in the Zaporizhzhya region. It was in my combat gear, but I didn’t take care of it at the time, so my condition has deteriorated over time.
I have the impression that, in general, all our boys who went to the front are not at all sorry for themselves. I recently visited the Superhuman Centre, where people are fitted with the latest prosthetics. Half of them go back to the front with prostheses and you can’t stop them.
Yes, that is our Ukrainian spirit.
Will you take care of your injury?
I’m already doing it, I’m already running and jumping.
What brought you to the war? Do you remember the 24th of February? Did you think you would be there on that day?
Not really. I never thought I would be in any kind of close military circle before the full-scale invasion began on 24 February. Then the morning came, my mum called and I was like: “Wow, wow”. I looked at the telegram and thought: “Wow, wow, wow” and I froze. I froze until about 10 in the morning, then I came to my senses and met my parents. My brother’s wife was still pregnant at the time. She gave birth the next day, the 25th. We took her to the maternity hospital and I was in the middle of a ‘dry spell’. I’m grateful that I had friends from the Kryvyi Rih branch of Centurion whom I called. I said: “Guys, I need a weapon, I need an enemy, I need to do something, let’s do something. I mean, I was already in such a panic that I was ready to crash into enemy vehicles. There was no point in accelerating and crashing. They told me that they were leaving right now, that I should take my things and leave. I thought: “Great! Wow! Let’s go! Cool!” I got what I wanted. I had to get into this military circle as soon as possible, to be combat-ready and ready. The same night I got into this military business, I was already standing at a checkpoint. It was kind of an emotional blow.
During your time in the service, how many other fierce comrades-in-arms were there, fired up, ready and running from scratch?
A lot of them, for example from my hometown, Kryvyi Rih, quite a few people left. All young, all promising. Unfortunately, some of them are no longer there, but all of them were. There were friends from my hometown whom I had not expected to see there, and we met right at the place of action. I open the door and see Ryaba, a friend from my neighbourhood whom I have known since I was 13. My circle of friends is made up entirely of motivated guys, thousands of them.
Remember your first rotation? What did you do? What did you want to do? Maybe my mum’s compote, I’m just making that up, but something of your own?
I remember my first turn. I didn’t want to do anything, I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to do anything, I just wanted to lie there and talk on the phone. I just wanted to go to bed and lie down. I didn’t want anybody to tell me anything or talk to me. Just to abstract myself from the world, just to lie down so that nothing would disturb me.
You mentioned a comrade nicknamed Ryaba, and the question immediately arose: what was your call sign when you arrived there? What is the principle of giving or receiving it?
In my situation, when I arrived, I was asked: “What is your call sign? I said: “I don’t know, I don’t have a call sign”. He said: “That’s OK, what’s your nickname? I said I didn’t have one either, I hadn’t thought of one. I had never had a nickname or a call sign in my life. And then the commander of my platoon, who had the call sign Kryvyi, got tired of it and gave me the call sign Voron (Raven in English). I don’t know why.
Did he explain why?
He didn’t explain, but it was more of a collective image of my behaviour, character traits and so on. And that’s how you get call signs.
This is a kind of Cossack history, isn’t it? When a man or a boy came to the Sich, he lost his identity.
That’s right. He gets used to it, and so… For example, on my first weekend, or some rotation activities, I’d come home, and when people call me by my name, I’m like… I even ignore them. I used to ignore it, but now I’m a bit more inclined to accept it. But still, the name Voron has stuck with me.
Does it suit you?
It’s like my second name, as they say. So yeah, it’s stuck with me.
What was the funniest call sign you ever heard, maybe the one that made you smile?
I heard the call sign Pisyun.
Did you ever ask why?
No. It’s a rather comical call sign, but it’s very funny when grown-ups, grown-up warriors, call themselves “Grandfather”.
You said that your desire to get there, to fight, to defend, to fight was incredibly strong. What were you confronted with? The fact that there is nothing? Was it difficult to get something? Who helped you?
When we talk about the beginning of the full invasion, there was panic, chaos and all the people, as you remember, took everything from the shelves. Absolutely everything. I immediately realised what I needed, called my friends and said: Send me a list of what I need to buy and I’ll go and find it. At about half past eleven in the afternoon, my brother and I went to the military stores in my town. At that time I had the idea that if I had a uniform I would definitely be recruited, so I wanted to “pack up” as much as possible and look as good as possible as a soldier so that I would definitely be recruited. But I personally know guys who fought in trainers and tracksuit bottoms, so everything was from extreme to extreme. There was a huge influx of people – volunteers in the early days.
But then everybody was dressed normally, the state dressed them?
The state provides clothes, ammunition, weapons. Then you have to make a choice: do you want comfort or do you want money? For example, at the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, I repeat that my aim was not to join the army, but to go to war. I didn’t even imagine that they paid a salary, so I didn’t know about it. And when I found out that they were going to pay me a penny, I thought: “Wow. We’ll be able to buy equipment with that.” And it was like that for the first two or three months. Absolutely every penny was spent on equipment for the unit, on repairs, on petrol, on drones. That is to say, for the first three months or so, we invested all our money in this, because you have the choice of either wearing what the state provides you with, or you can choose an analogue of American military clothing.
Ilya, you are not the first soldier from the front, from the battlefield, to say that he spends his own money, earned on the same battlefield, to support his brigade or his unit. And why is that?
Because you have a choice: either you walk to your position from a resting place on your own two feet, carrying an RPG, pipes, some BC, food and construction materials. You carry all this in your hands for about 15 kilometres, maybe 20 kilometres from the town of the contact line to your resting place. Or the volunteers will find you a car and you will be driving. It can be a matter of comfort and it can be a matter of life. When we touch on the issue of drones, as you have noticed, this is already a structure of its own, which we cannot do without. With drones, for example, it is a matter of life and death.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard that the guys at the front are using their own salaries, the money they’ve earned on the battlefield, to support themselves. Why not rely on the state? Why not rely on volunteers?
My upbringing doesn’t allow me to do that, I feel out of place. I’m not used to asking for help, maybe it’s a self-sacrifice complex, I don’t know. But I have chosen this path for myself and I feel so good about it.
And what is your general assessment of the volunteer movement that has developed in Ukraine? Have you been observing it since the post-revolutionary years of 2014-2015, because that’s when it was born? But now it seems that it has finally developed into something strong, powerful and functioning properly. Is that how you feel?
My personal opinion is that without volunteers it would be much harder, ten times worse. I wish there were no families in Ukraine who did not take part in our victory. For some reason I went, and I’m not calling for everyone to go, but… I went to take part in the war, and my parents are helping as much as they can. I know people who don’t relate to it [the war] at all. Maybe that’s a kind of defensive reaction, because maybe they can’t find themselves, can’t help in any way.
Does it bother you that society is divided by the war?
That is not my job. I have enough responsibilities and tasks to think about. It’s not about the fact that somebody else is drinking in a club somewhere and I’m not. I mean, if I wanted to, I could go. It’s just that I don’t want to.
What do you think civilians need in a war? Do you think everyone needs tactical medical courses?
Absolutely. The country is at war, what other arguments can there be? Tactical medicine is a mandatory skill that every Ukrainian citizen needs. Everyone needs it. I urge everyone to do it.
How do you assess the volunteer movement in Ukraine at the moment? How big is the contribution of volunteers to keeping our guys in combat, in shape and in good spirits?
I think the volunteer movement is the strongest in the world. Why is that? It’s very nice when people raise money for a soldier’s rehabilitation or for food or whatever. I often notice that people are embarrassed to donate 5 hryvnia, because they think it’s a ridiculous amount. They are even ashamed to transfer such a sum. I often tell my friends that this is a wrong idea. So don’t be shy, donate even one hryvnia, even 50 kopecks, and we will win!
Do you think every Ukrainian can help the army on his own? Or is it better to rely on volunteers?
There is no such material base that you can choose something of high quality for your comrade or colleague. There are many pitfalls, so it is better to turn to volunteer organisations that already have experience in this field. They will do the job better and faster.
Let me ask you about the language. Russian words often come out of your mouth, and if you were born in Kryvyi Rih, you heard Russian on the street or maybe even at school. Has there ever been a language problem in your life? I notice that on social media and in the media there is a lot of this language issue. People just want to argue about it. Is there a language problem in the trenches?
No, there is absolutely no such thing. There are delicate military situations where it is necessary to speak in Ukrainian. It can be a very serious case when your comrade in arms is confused. In such a state, a person does not understand where, who and what. He can’t hear anything, he has tunnel vision, and it’s very important to use trigger words in Ukrainian so that he identifies you as a fellow soldier and doesn’t open fire on you or anything like that.
But in the same trench, a man from Lviv and a man from Kryvyi Rih will never raise the language issue. Isn’t that right?
That’s absolutely true. I have never heard anyone on the contact line say: “Why not the state language? Nobody even thinks about it.
In preparation for this interview, we posted a questionnaire on social media and asked our followers to add questions they wanted to ask but were perhaps too shy to do so. I was amused by the questions about whether the military wear uniforms on ordinary days, and what does it give them? Is there any advantage?
As practice shows, they do. But personally, I try to take it off as soon as possible, because when you take it off and put on civilian clothes, it’s like your responsibilities fall off. You feel like a human being. You take it off and it’s like, “Whew! Finally. I can rest now.”
What do the military do when they hear an alarm?
That’s a good question. For example, I wake up every time I hear an alarm. If it’s a high-rise building, I go down to the ground floor and find a safer place. It would be very sad for me to realise that I could die from a missile that accidentally or not accidentally hit me and I just ignored it and did nothing about it. I don’t like it when war is treated as murder, it’s not about murder.
What is war about?
It’s about work, very hard work. It’s a mixture of blood, sweat, tears and dirt.
What hurts you most about war?
The most painful thing about war is when people die. Especially when people close to you die. I have a lot of brothers who have died in this war. That is probably the most painful thing for me.
Are there prisoners?
Yes, there are prisoners. By the way, there are thousands of captured Ukrainian soldiers right now. So don’t forget to shout about them, talk about them, remember them. This will help us to bring them back from captivity.
Thank you for this conversation. Thank you for your time and inspiration. Please do not hesitate to contact the volunteers. We will definitely help you. Recommend Kyiv Defenders to your friends and colleagues. I wish you a speedy recovery, rehabilitation and, if you wish, a return to the front.
Thank you very much!
I think your call sign is very appropriate. Only Voron looks like that.
It’s great, thank you.
