War. Stories from Ukraine

Ukrainians tell stories about their life during the war

“I’ll do more good things where I am now. Where should I go?”, Oleksandr Zakletskyi, 43, Kyiv

by | 21 March 2022 | Kyiv, War. Stories from Ukraine

 

Oleksandr Zakletskyi is 43. Now he is defending the city in the Kyiv Territorial Defense unit. He says he knew that the war was coming back in 2008: if Russia attacked Georgia, Ukraine would be next.

Oleksandr is a Maidan activist. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and started an invasion into the eastern regions of Ukraine, he could not go to the front because his mother was ill. However, he has got military training and was actively engaged in cultural diplomacy.

Oleksandr was planning to go to Antarctica on the Noosphere icebreaker in 2022, as a press officer and marine ecologist, to organize underwater research. However, he did not have the time to get all the appropriate documents. So when the war started, he was in Kyiv.

“If I happen to be here, I’ll do more good things where I am now. Moreover, a friend of mine once called me one of the guardians of Kyiv. Where should I go? Why?” he says.

The first days of the war were the most difficult. He was so stressed he could not eat. But on the very second day he contacted his friends from the Territorial Defense and joined them. 

Now his day looks like this: he wakes up at 6:30, has breakfast and gets the to-do list for the day from his commander.

“I have been working for an art gallery for 8 years, it is really helpful now: no task is too weird for me. Before the war, my life was like: one day you open an exhibition wearing a luxurious suit, and the next day you fix a sewer. Now, the situation looks very similar. In addition to checkpoint tasks and humanitarian aid for those in need, we arrange bomb shelters to make them more suitable for long-term stays. To do all that, you need to be physically strong and have a social capital. For example, those spaces need electricity. I contacted an energy company and we quickly got a power cable we needed. Or such a ‘petty thing’ as professional kitchen knives for territorial defense cooks. I found them through restaurateurs I knew, and that was really helpful: cooking became easier and faster. That may seem insignificant in such tragic circumstances but basic comfort at all levels releases a lot of energy for defense, active actions, and hope. And this is the foundation for victory. I have a huge contact list on my phone: from a pipe cleaning service to pointe shoe manufacturers. During the war, I used almost all of them. You never know whose unique competence will be needed tomorrow.”

Oleksandr says that he saw such unity among Ukrainians only at the Maidan. For example, an old woman came to him. She could not join protests but she brought boiled potatoes with onions.

The same is happening here. Everyone helps in any way they can. Everyone resists: “If love is God, we felt the breath of God at the Maidan. And now we feel the breath of God. The way Ukrainians become cheerful and angry in the face of danger, how they know how to love each other in terrible moments and help in any way they can—this is what inspires all defenders.”

Oleksandr has three dreams after the victory. The first is to go to Zmiyinyi Island and see a new Parthenon temple with 13 border guards. “They are our 300 Spartans. And I want to see ‘Russian warship, go fuck yourself’ on the white marble.”

The second dream is to go back to the Ukrainian Crimea and drink some green tea from a Crimean Tatar clay bowl.

The third is to put on an incredibly beautiful hat and hug all his friends at the Book Arsenal, a literary festival in Kyiv.

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