Themes by tag: military

Before 2022, Ihor Kazmin repaired passenger and commercial vehicles. When fighting broke out in the Mykolaiv oblast, he began helping the military fix armored vehicles.

In May 2022, he built his first buggy for soldiers and has since completely repurposed his auto shop to meet the army’s needs. To date, his team of mechanics has assembled 70 buggies and sent them to the front lines. Fitting out a single buggy takes anywhere from two to three weeks up to two months, depending on the base vehicle being modified. Initially, volunteers worked with Ladas, then moved on to Fords and Skodas, and later began using all-wheel-drive cars.

Some vehicles are handed over after being damaged at the front or in accidents, while others have to be purchased using personal or donated funds. Currently, eight people work in the workshop. In the future, Ihor plans to open a hostel and café for soldiers, who are frequent visitors to the auto shop.

You can connect with Ihor Kazmin online or in person in Mykolaiv by prior arrangement.

• military
• volunteers
• Mykolaiv

Kateryna serves as a communications officer in the 13th Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. Before russia’s expanded war against Ukraine, she had no ties to the military.

She met her partner online, he was already in uniform at the time. After a few in-person meetings, it became clear they wanted to build a future together, regardless of the circumstances. Although Kateryna began talking about enlisting as a way to be closer to him, he initially opposed the idea. But she made up her mind: it was time to join the Defense Forces.

Her father also decided to enlist. Both passed the military qualification commission and chose to serve with the 13th Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard.

Kateryna completed the required training and took up her role as a communications specialist in one of the brigade’s units. Now, she often sees her beloved and allows herself to dream about the life they’ll share once the war is over.

Interviews with Kateryna can be arranged online or in person with prior coordination and approval from the brigade’s press officer.

• military
• women

Yevhenii Kravchuk was mobilized at the onset of russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. His wife, Anastasiia, initially joined the war effort as a volunteer before enlisting in the army as a combat medic. In June 2022, Yevhenii’s unit was encircled in the Luhansk region, and he was taken captive along with his fellow soldiers. He would spend nearly three years in russian captivity.

Yevhenii recalls how the Ukrainian prisoners endured daily torture, beatings with truncheons, starvation, and electric shocks. The one thing that helped him hold on was the belief that Anastasiia was waiting for him. One day, russian forces told him that she had been killed. But he refused to accept it. The russians, he said, constantly lied to prisoners in an effort to break their spirit.

In February 2025, Yevhenii was finally released. Back in Ukraine, he learned the truth, Anastasiia had been killed in action in the Pokrovsk sector in October 2024.

Yevhenii is now undergoing rehabilitation. He has launched a blog where he shares his journey, including his recovery and day-to-day life after captivity.

Interviews with Yevhenii Kravchuk can be arranged online or in person in Kyiv by appointment.

• military
• prisoners
• Kyiv

Yevhen Spirin, originally from the Luhansk oblast, studied at the Academy of Internal Affairs (leaving after two years) and later pursued philosophy at university. Eventually, he worked in a morgue and a funeral home.

In 2014, during the Revolution of Dignity, he became a freelance correspondent for a Kyiv-based media outlet in Luhansk. Yevhen documented everything happening in the city, which had become a target of russian hybrid aggression. After receiving threats due to his work, he relocated to Kyiv and continued his media career.

Following the liberation of Bucha, a friend called Yevhen and asked for help identifying the bodies of civilians murdered by russian forces. For a year and a half, he was involved in exhumations and the identification process. Afterward, he enlisted in the National Guard of Ukraine.

There, he took on the role of a “nursing sister” – since, as he explains, the military does not officially recognize the title of “nurse” for men. Yevhen now assists the wounded while writing a book about how people unexpectedly find themselves in the military and discover their purpose there.

Yevhen Spirin is available for interviews online or in-person in Kyiv by prior arrangement.

• military
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The “Come Back Alive” Center for Initiatives invites journalists to cover Ukraine’s second national sitting volleyball championship. The event will feature two days of competitions and a variety of festival activities. The final matches between the top teams are scheduled for July 6.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to attend educational lectures on adaptive sports and veteran rehabilitation after injury. Organizers will give visitors the opportunity to try various adaptive sports, such as archery, table tennis, golf, rowing machines, and wakeboarding.

Prior registration is mandatory for all attendees.

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv

Originally from the Luhansk oblast, Eduard and Maryna Bykov met as students, got married, and later moved to Kyiv, where they had two daughters.

On February 24, 2022, Eduard woke Maryna with the news that war had begun. He decided to join the military and insisted that his wife and daughters evacuate abroad, where they lived for over two years.

On April 17, 2024, near Chasiv Yar, Eduard was severely wounded when a russian guided aerial bomb struck near their position. A phone call from Maryna likely saved his life – he stepped outside to talk while those who remained inside did not survive.

Eduard spent 15 days in a coma and lost an arm and a leg. Doctors are still trying to restore his sight. He faces multiple surgeries, prolonged rehabilitation, and prosthetic adaptation. Throughout this ordeal, Maryna has been his pillar of strength, supporting him every step of the way.

The Bykov family is available for online or offline meetings in Kyiv or Lviv by prior arrangement.

• military
• Kyiv

After russian forces took over Luhansk in 2014, Oleksandr Ivantsov left his hometown. In 2015, he joined the Azov Regiment and spent five years fighting in eastern Ukraine before being demobilized. When russia launched its full-scale invasion, Oleksandr was stationed near Africa, guarding ships against pirates. But just three weeks later, he flew to Mariupol on one of the helicopters that broke through to the city and made it to the Azovstal steel plant.

Once he arrived at Azovstal, Oleksandr told his wife about his choice to join the city’s defense.

The fight for Mariupol dragged on for 86 days, with Ukrainian soldiers holding out under constant fire, surviving almost without water, food, or crucial medical supplies for the wounded. On May 16, 2022, the defenders still holding Azovstal were ordered to surrender to save their lives. Oleksandr refused to give in to the russians and stayed inside the plant with his commander’s approval.

For seven days, he hid in one of the tunnels, with only a few supplies and a sleeping bag. After that, he gave up his weapon, changed into civilian clothes, and left the plant. For 18 days, Oleksandr traveled on foot, without any contact, until he reached territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. He lost 11 kilograms but managed to reunite with his family. Later, he returned to the front lines and now leads a team of attack drones in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. In June 2025, Oleksandr was honored with the title Hero of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Ivantsov is available for interviews online and in person in the Kharkiv region by prior arrangement through the press officer.

• military
• Mariupol

Nestor was only 15 years old when russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Then a 10th-grade student, he already knew he wanted to join the fight as soon as he was old enough.

His family intervened when he first tried to enlist, taking his passport and sending him to western Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region in hopes of keeping him safe. But once he turned 18, Nestor signed a contract with the 13th Khartiia Brigade of the Nationsl Guard of Ukraine, completed basic training, and joined the infantry.

Now, with the call sign that nods to the famed Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno, the young soldier is part of Ukraine’s next generation of defenders, adapting to modern warfare as a UAV specialist, conducting reconnaissance and striking enemy positions from behind the controls.

Interviews with Nestor are possible both in person and online, with prior coordination and approval from a press officer.

• military

Kariakin was just 17 when russian-backed forces seized his hometown of Kadiivka, formerly known as Stakhanov, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region in 2014. While most of the world’s attention had shifted elsewhere, Artem began documenting life under occupation on an anonymous Twitter account. He posted maps showing the location of russian forces, tracked their movements, and shared dispatches from behind enemy lines. Eventually, his work caught the attention of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and he began secretly collaborating with the military.

For years, Kariakin led a double life. He avoided friendships, shut himself off from romance, and trusted no one. “Anyone could report me to the occupiers,” he said.

The losses mounted. In 2020, his mother passed away. The following year, he lost both his grandmother and father. With his immediate family gone, Artem moved to Kyiv, hoping for a fresh start. But his time in the capital was short-lived. When russia unleashed an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kariakin joined the Territorial Defense Forces just weeks later. By June, he was fighting near Bakhmut, one of the war’s fiercest battlegrounds.

Now serving officially in Ukraine’s military, Artem continues gathering intelligence from occupied territories, a task he once carried out in secret. He receives data from spotters and artillery correctors working in the field. critical information that helps the Armed Forces target russian positions.

In February 2023, after nine years of resistance, Kariakin made a bold decision: he revealed his identity publicly on social media. With that move, he launched a new campaign #FreeCivilResistance aimed at drawing attention to Ukrainian civilians imprisoned by russian forces. He added that this cause is deeply personal to him because he knows people who have been thrown into russian prisons.

Artem Kariakin remains stationed near the front lines and continues to serve actively. He is available to speak with journalists, online and in person by prior arrangement.

• military
• occupation

Before the full-scale invasion, Chaika had no military experience. In 2019, she married an officer of the 12th “Azov” National Guard Brigade. The couple split time between Mariupol and Zaporizhia. Just before the full-scale war began, Chaika was about to travel to Mariupol, but her husband forbade it. Her beloved, whose callsign was Buinyi, died defending the city.

A year and a half after this loss, she began dating another soldier. His death in 2024 marked the end of Chaika’s civilian life.

Joining the army became her way of fighting back against the enemy for all the pain she endured. She joined the “Stryzh” unit of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army and now serves as a drone operator. Although she dreams of starting a family and having children, she says that will only happen after victory.

Chaika is available for online/offline meetings in Zaporizhia by prior arrangement.

• military
• women