Liz In Ukraine

I met Artem in Chernihiv.  He’s a big bloke in every sense of the word; with a squaddies sense of humour. 

He was on Snake island.  “Were you there when the soldier said “Русский военный корабль, иди нахуй”? asked one of our group. 

“Listen, for sure if you believed every soldier then there was about three hundred on the island that day” he said with a huge grin on his face and a massive twinkle in his eye.

 Prior to the war he ran his own coffee shops and worked as a body guard on the side.

Losing his eye has done little to stop his determination to maintain a free country for his son and “my sons’ sons”

Now as well as helping to train his old military unit, he also assists the reintegration and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers via sports, he cooks for displaced persons, those on need and service personnel and he was involved in the evacuation of Chernihiv,

With approximately 50 other people he helped 26.000 civilians escape to safety at the very beginning of the war.    Surrounded by russian troops and with no safe ‘green’ corridors bringing in and dispersing aid and evacuating civilians was a continuous and changing learning curve. 

The russians would quickly target and shell groups of civilians congregating in one area to collect food or supplies.  Done possibly by observing so many cell phones in one point, distribution of aid became faster and widespread over many drop points.

With the mantra of ‘improvise adapt and overcome’ decisions were made dynamically and at speed avoiding the delaying relay of messages up and down to higher command.

On one evacuation mission Artem noticed a young mother with a baby of 4- 6 weeks being crushed in the panicking crowd.  He physically fought his way to her and placed her in his own car to get her and the child safely out of Chernihiv.  He expressed regrate that he still does not know if the mother and child are still alive. Artem as a native Chernihiv resident is proud that “we had many, many routes on road and on water in a boat.

Artem discussed many things, his battle to try to ensure he stays unemotional when faced with burned bodies.  He hates that he can tell the difference between the small of a burnt adult and a burnt child. He will never ‘unlearn this’

 He went on to explain that there is no feeling like the happiness achieved when a soldier receives and smells warm fresh bread

I asked if it was true that soldiers on the front line really have as many cats and dogs and TikTok would have us believe, and it is true. They are not just mascots they’re warmth, companionship, and even protection. “Cats can sense danger,”

Artem doesn’t want to be fighting, hew would rather be at home with his wife and son but he is all too aware that without the fight and resistance there will be no home for him and his family.   He is painfully aware that if russia overruns Ukraine then Poland and Hungary will be the next to suffer the evil eye of the russian war machine.

Finally, I asked Artem “When you win and the war is over, where will you go on holiday?

Without hesitation he states the beaches of Crimea.  Despite the painful memories, he dreams of taking his wife and son there — to feel the sand, the sea, and the freedom they fought for.

Read more about Artem Here