Themes by tag: military

Valentyna Makarenko is a military servicewoman, a machine gunner and a musician. The woman joined the ranks of the Defense Forces after her father, Vitalii Filipov, callsign “Paton,” was killed in the fall of 2022 in Kharkiv region.

The woman decided that his death should not be in vain. Valentyna joined the army in the same military registration and enlistment office, where the documents confirming her father’s death were processed. Valentyna got the position of a machine gunner, and now she wants to retrain to be a combat medic, because she wants to save the lives of Ukrainian defenders. As of now, the military woman completed training in Chernihiv oblast and joined the fourth separate tank brigade. After the war ends, Valentyna dreams of returning to music.

For reference: Valentyna Makarenko is on the front line. The soldier is ready to communicate with journalists online.

• military
• women

Mykhailo Oliinyk is a composer, pianist, and music producer. He was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk in April 2023. Mykhailo is a member of the Cultural Forces Public Organization, which provides emotional and psychological support to defenders on the front line. He got a call sign “Pianist”. 

Recently, the man put out a record of “A Moment” piano pieces composed at the front line. This music has already been performed hundreds of times in forestation areas, destroyed buildings, fields, hospitals, and impromptu concert venues for the defenders. The album includes seven compositions: “Donbas”, “Huliaipole”, “Prayer for Brothers-in-Arms”, “Water Dance”, “Music Box”, “Peach Sky”, and “Ukrainian Sky”.

As a member of the Cultural Forces Public Organization Mykhailo plays several concerts every day at the front line.

By prior arrangement, journalists are welcome to talk to Mykhailo online or offline.

For reference: Mykhailo Oliinyk is a graduate of the Kyiv Municipal Academy of Music named after R. Glier and the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy. In the civilian world, he creates music for artists and businesses. He is a coach for young musicians and a lecturer on copyright issues.

• culture
• military

Andrii Maksymchuk mobilized on the second day of the full-scale Russian invasion. A military unit, where the soldier served as a member, was the first to begin a push to regain territory of the Chornobyl zone during the liberation of the Kyiv region. Later, he took part in the operations at the country’s embattled east in the Izium and Bakhmut directions, and now he fights in the Zaporizha direction.

Andrii wrote a children’s poem in his spare time. He dedicated the lines written in the trenches to his young sons. The youngest of them, Myroslav, is fond of dragons and magical creatures and asked his father to create a book about them. The work on the poem lasted 7 months, in between battles. Andrii completed the work in the Izium region and titled it “Traveling in Ukraine and the Magic Dragon”. Andrii’s comrades-in-arms were the first to read the children’s book, and his friends helped with illustrations and raising funds for the first thousand copies.

Today, they have managed to sell 3000 copies of the book, all the proceeds will be directed to support the 132nd separate reconnaissance battalion of the airborne assault troops, where Andrii Maksymchuk serves. The money has already been used to buy drones, and armor and cover military medical care needs. 

• children
• culture
• military

Before the full-scale invasion, Yaryna Chuchman-Myno was planning to open her own tattoo studio. And Yaryna’s beloved, a licensed in dentistry, was going to head off on a trip to the Czech Republic. Instead, at the outbreak of the full-blown war, he voluntarily went to the local military enlistment office to perform military service. He died at the front in the first days of the Russian invasion.

After that, Yaryna studied at the National Defense University of Ukraine named after “Ivan Chernyakhovsky”. Her father, who supported her decision to join the army, was killed in action on the front line in March 2023. The father had been engaged in the Russian-Ukrainian war since the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 and mobilized again in 2022.

Now Yaryna is a platoon leader, serving in the Zaporizhia sector, with 14 soldiers under her command.

For reference: The soldier is ready to talk to journalists, both online and offline, by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• women

Oleh Bykov is a volunteer and activist from Kremenchuk, Poltava region. With the beginning of the full-scale war, Oleh started looking into how to make it easier for medics to work with projectile fragments that remain in the bodies of wounded soldiers after being injured. Oleh’s team managed to create magnetic devices, which they named “Edelweiss” and “White Angel.” These are special devices that help doctors detect metal fragments in the wounded and safely remove them.

Oleg and his team can produce up to 50 magnetic devices in a week. More than 800 devices have already been delivered to hospitals and front lines by volunteers. “Edelweiss” and “White Angel” are used in many medical institutions of Ukraine, in particular, in Kyiv Hear Institute and O. O. Shalimov National Institute of Surgery and Transplantology in Kyiv.

• casualties
• doctors
• military
• volunteers
• Poltava

The Women of Steel NGO, together with the families of Ukrainian prisoners of war, invites the media to a peaceful action called Lost Connection to take place on December 10, in Kyiv. The event is aimed at supporting Ukrainian prisoners of war and their families.

“We want the Ukrainian government and society to hear us and demonstrate their intention to continue the decisive struggle for their liberation together with the families of Ukrainian captured defenders,” the organizers of the campaign state.

According to them, the exchange process has been completely paused for the past six months. Ukrainian soldiers held hostage in Russian custody are deprived of any chance to send word about themselves being in captivity.

Women of Steel is convinced that only the unity and integrity of society and increasing pressure on the aggressor state can influence the situation.

• military
• prisoners
• women
• Kyiv

Bozhena Hrynko pursued a dental specialty such as orthodontics, but she wasn’t committed to dentistry for long. Instead, she started her own business, dealing with recyclables. With the full-scale invasion outbreak, she moved her family to the Zhytomyr region, and after the de-occupation of Bucha and Irpin, she returned to the capital. Bozhena’s husband has been in the military since February 24, 2022, as he is a career soldier.

In the spring of 2022, Bozhena mobilized to the 44th Separate Rifle Battalion as the head of the medical service and medical center. On December 12, 2022, Bozhena got injured in the Donetsk region. She stayed four months in hospitals.

Bozhena and her husband bought a house in the Kharkiv region, where new homeowners settled with their daughter after her injury and rehabilitation. The military woman gives free lectures and practical classes on tactical medicine and handling explosive ordnance at the local lyceum. Next to the Bozhena housing, there is a vacant undeveloped land where she, her husband, and fellow soldiers plan to start a rehabilitation center for the military.

• doctors
• military
• volunteers
• women

On December 5, on Volunteering Day, journalists have the opportunity to visit the rapid response headquarters of the VETERANKA Women’s Veteran Movement. In particular, there will be a meeting with influencers, who constantly support the movement, as well as with defenders and famous Ukrainians.

In addition, the program includes: a tour of the headquarters featuring the explanation of the movement’s activities. Visitors can also try their hand weaving camouflage nets and kikimora camouflage suits, as well as sewing women’s military uniforms and putting together a package for the front.

For reference: The headquarters of the Women’s Veteran Movement is special in that it was created on the first day of the full-scale invasion. The movement successfully raised money to pay for 5,000 individual and collective requests from the front and IDP women. Their aid to the army is worth UAH 70 million (drones, cars, uniforms, body armor, etc.)

• military
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

Volunteer journalists, professional chess players and the VETERANKA movement decided to organize a charity fundraiser called “Well-Aimed Fundraiser” to help Ukrainian snipers. The purpose of the fundraiser is to buy additional ammunition for the military, as there is a constant shortage of it.

The fund raiser will feature a charity chess tournament, which the organizers dedicate to the memory of chess players-warriors who died in the russo-Ukrainian war. Some of them include: Artem Sachuk, Oleksandr Hoshylyk, Mykhailo Safonov, Roman Khytrych, Serhii Mazurov, Oleksii Druzhynets, Andrii Melnychuk, Roman Buzinskyi, Andrii Chepil, Oleksandr Brivko, Andrii Vovchenko, Heorhii Promskyi, Mykola Hapchyn (MIA).

The tournament will consist of two stages: online (December 3) and offline: super final (December 9, in Kyiv).

Special guests include: soldiers — Lesia Lytvynova and Yevhen Shybalov, journalist Andriy Kulykov, blogger Denys Kazansky, military officer and writer Mykhailo Brynykh.

The winner of the chess tournament will receive a custom-made cyberpunk themed chess set made by veteran artist Vitalii Bernatskyi. Parts of the russian Su-25 shot down in Kherson region in 2022 were used to make the chess set.

Journalists are welcome to learn more about the event and, in particular, cover the super final on December 9. 

• military
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Denys Abdulin is a boxer and soldier from Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region. Back in 2014, when a Russian-launched armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine, the man wanted to join the Defense Forces but got rejected four times.

When the full-fledged war broke out, Denys evacuated his wife and children to Lithuania and went to the military enlistment office. The soldier underwent training and within three weeks he headed to defend Sievierodonetsk. The soldier fought with the occupiers for two months, until a mine fragment hit him in the head during one of the artillery attacks. Denys underwent 5 surgeries, however, vision loss couldn’t be corrected. The man gains support from his wife Lesia and volunteers who are teaching Denys how to use the phone and computer again. Today, Denys has returned to boxing and wants to become a professional massage therapist.

• casualties
• military