A dream of the sea Since childhood, I wanted to be a sailor. I loved the sea. We travelled to Crimea in 2006-2008, to Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yevpatoria. As a kid, I would look at the horizon, see ships and tell my father: “I will grow up and go to work on a ship. I just …
Earnings in Moscow Before the war in Ukraine, I used to go to work in Moscow. It was easier to get there than to get to Europe. My goal was to earn money, become independent and wealthy, start a family and build a house. Even then, I could feel the difference in our mentalities. In …
Pavlo Luchkiv: “If you want to change something, you need to do something” Read More »
A premonition of a full-scale war I lived in Kryvyi Rih, happily, with my wife and small child, who was almost three years old in 2014. I worked as a lawyer, had my own law firm, and hosted a TV program in which I tried to explain complex legal issues in human terms. The war …
Part of the army I am from Zaporizhzhia. For the last four years, I had been working as a forklift driver at a company called Silpo. But on February 26, 2022, I was already at the distribution point, holding a rifle, already part of the army. Back on February 22, I quit my job. I …
The need to join the army Before the full-scale war, I was not a military man, I did not serve. I worked in Kherson as a traffic engineer and a CNC machine operator. Kherson took the first blow. On February 24, there was a massive bombardment of targets across Ukraine, and they entered through Kherson, …
Ivan Moldun: “I dream of diving in the sea in Crimea” Read More »
The beginning of the full-scale war Before the war, before the full-scale invasion, I worked in Izyum forestry in the Kharkiv region as a forester. I come from Izyum. It was there that I met the first battles, and there I got injured. Before the war, I really liked to workout – training on the …
Temper and war I was in the military before it became mainstream. I was born in the Kirovohrad region, did my military service in the 25th Airborne Brigade in 2008-2009, I even have a parachute jump. When I was discharged, I stayed at home for a year and then got a job in Kyiv at …
Universal instructor I did not see myself in civilian life after my military service. We were constantly told: “Who needs you there?”. All I could think about was military service. I didn’t know what to do in civilian life. I didn’t want to go to construction, and I didn’t seem to be capable of doing …
Oleksandr Makovey: “I’m a man of principle – if I work, I’ll work for a gold medal” Read More »
Before the full-scale war I am a tractor driver, a gunner, and a mechanical engineer. I studied to become a mechanical engineer, and at the same time, I received a second degree as an artilleryman. In 2015, I was mobilised to serve in the State Border Guard Service in the Sumy region. At that time, …
Work at the railway I am from Kvasyliv, in the Rivne region. I worked at the railway – at the Zdolbuniv locomotive depot – as a brigadier of the battery department. Since childhood, my hobby was shooting. Everything was connected with weapons, shooting, and the war. I dreamed of joining the army. But because of …
Dmytro Polovian: “My paratrooper oath helped me in captivity” Read More »
