When people say that in Ukraine noone wants to fight corruption, they should be more attentive. When people say that they think Ukrainian music is just kobza and trembita, they should look around. When they say that only the authority helps Ukrainian army, they’re damn wrong. What’s more, they’re also wrong when say Ukrainian army doesn’t have intelligent commanding officers. And I bet some Ukrainian designers can be given a head start, because they’re sooo wonderful. So in some future posts I want to present you some awesome Ukrainians. I’m proud of the fact that they live in my country. I feel a bit sad that I don’t know them in person(except for one), but they do a lot of work that all of us can see, hear and sometimes even feel. Just in case you meet one of them somewhere, you’ll be lucky. I wish I could meet them and help them in doing their stuff as often as possible. That’s my dream and I hope it’ll come true :) . Now I’m starting to write a series of posts “Ukrainians whom you should know”. I’ll write there about people who do captivating, awesome and useful stuff. I guess it’d be great if you knew these names. They have played a vital role in new Ukraine’s history.
Soon I’ll also write about volunteers who help the army and people who try to break corruption and make bad guys feel horrible. I’ll also write about angels on the Earth. Yes,they exist and they are doctors of Mechnickov Dnipropetrovsk regional clinical hospital. This post is dedicated to Ukrainian army and people who fight in Donbass. Now, enjoy!
Ukrainian troops
Yes, they’re the best. Every fifth defender of Ukraine’s freedom is volunteer. They decided to be in army far before they had heard of conscription. They share philosophical thoughts with you, and these ideas will definitely make you to deep in thoughts. They defend us. They defend the country. In ordinary cities we can easily take a stroll, sit in a cafe nearby, talk there with friends whereas they spend time in entrenchments. Every single day they withstand cannonades and bombardments. They come from Donbass with their deep eyes. It seems that all horror of the war has left imprint in them. Their moral values usually change a lot after they come from Donbass.
After the beginning of Ukrainian-Russian war Ukrainians(including me) feel proud to say :”We have brave Ukrainian soldiers”. And this is true!
Personally, I look up to them. Their smile is sooo sincere. Their eyes say so much… Their actions speak A LOT louder that their words. And Ukrainian soldiers are just so cute,really! So, I can really call them “OUR DEFENDERS”. Because they DO defend Ukraine from terroRussia. Lots of them paid with their lives… But we’ll remember them. And we’ll certainly NEVER forget them after out victory in this war. Many of soldiers have Facebook pages. If you want, you can have a look at them :)
Here are some:
Ukrainian Commanding Officers
Semen Semenchenko (on the right) and Yegor Firsov (on the left) - both are deputies from Donetsk in Ukrainian parlaiment
He was born in Simferopol, Crimea. He studied in The Admiral Nakhimov Naval Academy and also got financial education, worked as a chief editor of two newspapers and as a leader of a charity fund. Little did we know about him, when the war happened.
At that time Semen with his family lived in Donetsk. The quantity of separatists increased. So Semenchenko and citizens of Donetska oblast’ created a batalion called “Donbass”. It succeeded in many military operations, made separatists to run away from lots of Ukrainian cities in Donbass. Now Semen is a deputy of Ukrainian parliament (in Ukraine when you become a debuty, you should leave your job so he’s not a commanding officer now). But he’s still in touch with his batalion. He helps Ukrainian troops to have everything they need. Semen also helps to create laws that will protect soldiers in their social environment (now the situation with it is a bit bad).
Semenchenko’s point of view is highly regarded,really. The regiment “Donbass” (it used to be a battalion, now it’s bigger) is considered as one of the most disciplined in Ukraine. And I can say that I always listen to his point of view. He is a moderate person, who never says anything emotionally. Moreover, you’ll always know a detailed look on events happening in the war area.
Semen Semenchenko with battalion "Donbass". Photo made in Shirokino, Donetska oblast'
Photo: Inforesist.com
In Ukraine people who are leaders of battalions that fight in Anti-Terrorists Operation are mostly highly respected. That is because they are people who are stick to the truth,who play a huge role in defending our country and creating new Ukrainian army.
Andriy Biletsky is also a commanding officer, but his biography is different from the biography of Semen Semenchenko. What both have in common is occupation. Both of them used to be commanding officers of regiments, now both of them are deputies of Ukrainian parliament and both of them still support their regiments, helping them with everything needed. However, lots of stuff had happened before Andiy Biletsky became the commanding officer.
Biletskiy was born in Kharkiv. ( I won’t deep into his education, everything is fine here). He’s been a nationalist since university times. In 1999 he created civil organisation called “Patriot of Ukraine”. Although english Wikipedia writes that this organisation has racist and neo-Nazi beliefs, it’s not true. At that times the situation with crime and law in Kharkiv wasn’t good. In short, law enforcement system was a friend to lots of criminal guys. So “Patriot of Ukraine” wanted to cope with that themselves. Biletskiy personally coordinated, planned and participated in all organisation’s activities. Together activists identified points of drug traffic, detention of illegal immigrants,etc. On the 26th of November 2013, during Euromaidan, members of “Patriot of Ukraine” took part in creating “The Right Sector”. Biletskiy was a political prisoner during Yanukovich regime. I guess I'll write more about it, but not now.
On the 5th of May 2014 Biletskiy became founder of "Azov" battalion and most of its members were also a part of "The Patriot of Ukraine". "Azov" took part in lots of operations in the Anti-Terrorist operation. Andriy led his detachment to successful liberation of Mariupol from the Russian separatists. Now he's the deputy of Ukrainian parliament. But indeed he is seen on Donbass more often that in the parliament. He remained loyal to his national obligations. This is more important, I guess.
Photo: ru.tsn.ua
It was the middle of January 2014. After waiting for one month and a half for a respond from ex-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanuckovych we realized that nothing will happen. Yanuckovych simply ignored people. We started to realize that it was in vain that we protested. At that time on the Euromaidan there were some people who wanted everything to change. They wanted to move forwards, to face changes. Of course,they were a bit more radical that others. People like them wanted to come to the President’s Administration to ask the question:”Why do you ignore us? Why can’t you punish those who are guilty in violent police crackdown on Euromaidan?”
(If you forgot how was it, here are videos:
It’s in Ukrainian, but you can at least have a glance of what was it like:
And Wikipedia article:
But the criminal regime didn’t want to listen. Protestants went to Hrushevskogo street and saw it had been blocked. When they saw they cannot speak their mind as people who live in democratic country, they said they are fed up. Many people like them soon created “The Right Sector”. Soon, after start of “events’ that happened on Hrushevskogo street, leaders of “The Right Sector” said that they are responsible for this. That’s how Ukrainians got acquainted with Dmytro Yarosh.
He is from Dnipropetrovska oblast’. Before creating Praviy Sector, Yarosh was a member of different nationalistic organisations and movements. Then he became leader of Praviy Sector. During Euromaidan this organisation played its role. All this thanks to Dmitro Yarosh.
What’s more when Ukrainian-Russian war started, he created DUC (From Ukrainian “Dobrovolchiy Ukrainskiy Korpus” - Ukrainian Volunteer Corpus). DUC is a paramilitary voluntary assosiation of citizens of Ukraine established in 2014 at the initiative of Praviy Sector and Yarosh. People in DUC are really brave, they fight in the hottest battles in Donbas. They fight shoulder to shoulder with soldiers of Ukrainian vountary battalions like “Donbas” and “Azov” and with soldiers from Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian military journalist once said that DUC went directly into the hottest points of war zone. That’s all about our guys from DUC. They’re also Ukrainian troops! They’re our brave men!
Dmitro Yarosh has also written 4 books and says he’s a follower of Stepan Bandera.
Another intresting fact is that in Russia a case was brought against Yarosh. He’s accused of extremism. (One of the most popular accusation in Russia which is used in order to throw in prison oppositionists and true Russian patriots. Moreover, you can be accused of this if you posted anything (on Russian social network "Vkontakte", for instance) which Russian authority doesn’t like.) But that’s a popular action that is done by Russia against Ukrainian patriots. Perhaps, they are jealous that patriots can freely walk around everywhere and patriots in Russia are all in prison? Who knows, but that’s a true fact about Yarosh. :) Actually, Yarosh’s name is used as a Boogy Man for Russians. Most of then truly belive that he is the leader of Ukrainian fashism. We always smile when we hear this lie :)
As you see, these people play a huge role in creating a real proffesional army. There are lots of names that I didn’t mention. I hope I’ll have time and I’ll tell you about them. What about these names? When I hear them, I feel great pride. These people started a whole new page in Ukrainian history. I feel so proud that I am now witnessing it. When I get older, I’ll certainly tell about them to my children. Let they also feel pride of Ukrainian army. Because it’s the best. Our Ukrainian troops and commanding officers are modern hetmans and cossacks. They’re the bravest people I’ve ever heard of. Ukraine loves them. Let they all return alive home from the war and help us to build new country. If this opportunity appears, I’ll try my best to help them!
Soon I’ll write about Ukrainian volunteers, who help army. They do it even more effectively that the authority does. So wait for news for The Ukrainian Telegraph!
Have remarks,suggestions, responses and impressions? Leave them in comments!
