For this Ukrainian veteran, why Russians fight is still a puzzle
| SELYDOVE DISTRICT, Ukraine
His hair tightly cropped and streaked with gray, and his angular features hardened by years of fighting Russian troops, the veteran Ukrainian artillery commander paused near the front line to reflect.
Ukraine鈥檚 counteroffensive had been underway for two months but had so far made only marginal advances against entrenched Russian positions supersaturated with mines.
The officer, who gives the name Oleksandr 鈥� call sign Kirik 鈥� acknowledges that he only knows his narrow slice of Ukraine鈥檚 southeastern front, in the direction of Donetsk, which is sandwiched between the main Ukrainian thrusts on either side of him.
Why We Wrote This
Resilience or stubbornness? In the yearslong conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and in the last 18 months of war, it鈥檚 a matter of perspective. We talk to a veteran Ukrainian artillery commander during a brief break from the counteroffensive.
The Monitor first met the artillery commander on a frozen field in February, as his unit pummeled Russian positions daily with a captured 152 mm gun they named Revenge.
This hot summer day, with a nod to the mounting and very public pressures on Ukraine to deliver progress on the battlefield, he notes with a wry, gold-toothed smile that he officially 鈥渃an鈥檛 say anything about the counteroffensive鈥� or risk 鈥済oing to jail.鈥�
But under a canopy of grapevines in the garden of a village house made available to his unit 鈥撀爓hile half of the soldiers are delivering ammunition, the other half digging trenches, and all awaiting repair of their new, main gun 鈥� Kirik muses about Ukrainian resilience, Russian stubbornness, and this wretched war.
鈥淥f course, Russians are learning from their mistakes. They learned some stuff from us, and from their mistakes,鈥� says Kirik, chain-smoking as artillery duels rumble over the horizon. 鈥淓veryone is tired鈥� of improved Russian defenses, 鈥渁nd is doing what they can together,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say the Russian army is weak. They have more ammunition and people,鈥� says Kirik. 鈥淏ut they are losing this war; why do they still go to conscription offices?鈥�
The Russians 鈥渒eep coming鈥�
The house鈥檚 small backyard table is cluttered with a smorgasbord of stuff: a red Porsche cigarette lighter; a three-hook #1 fishing lure with green, yellow, and orange stripes; coffee cups stained with overuse; and mosquito coils to burn at dusk.
For eight years Kirik has been in the military, on the front lines ever since 2015, a year after Russia and local separatist proxies took control of parts of eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and all of the Crimean Peninsula. Cutting Russia鈥檚 supply lines to Crimea is a main goal of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Throughout that time 鈥� and despite working for a few years in Russia before the war 鈥� he says he has wondered often about the motivations of those fighting on the other side, and what they seek to gain.
鈥淲hat amazes me a lot in the last one and a half years is that the stupid Russians 鈥� they keep coming,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here are so many body bags and coffins going back to Russia, and hundreds of bodies are still left in the treeline. ... How much more can they keep doing that?
鈥淒on鈥檛 you see the news?鈥� he asks, as if addressing the Russian fighters. 鈥淐heck the news: Here [in Ukraine] you are retreating.鈥�
He says he is busy, and 鈥渨orking鈥� all the time, as one cog in a Ukrainian war machine that is spread across a 600-mile front to counter invading Russian troops.
Kirik has become a TikTok sensation; to crowdfund donations to the military, he paints artillery shells with bespoke messages before firing them. Now, the fan of Metallica and Nirvana engraves high-caliber machine gun shells with his battalion number, for charity, and collects battle artifacts from the front.
Back in February, snow and ice caked the muddy fields where Kirik鈥檚 squad played war games 鈥� sometimes against Russian soldiers, who were also gaming online 鈥� until they were given target coordinates of enemy positions around Donetsk.
鈥淲hy did the ... Russians bring this gun here, so we can kill their own people 鈥� and they keep giving us ammo?鈥� Kirik said at the time. By then, his squad had already fired some 3,000 shells, all of them captured, through the howitzer.
鈥淒o you know how many Russians we have killed with their own guns?鈥� he asked.
Zelenskyy vs. Putin
Kirik鈥檚 unit has since had a hardware upgrade, but the war grinds on.
He recalls living in Russia a decade ago, and how strong the propaganda was on state-run television, which reported wistfully about the days of the Soviet Union, and about the good work of the Russian government and, of course, of President Vladimir Putin.
鈥淪ome time ago, I had a chance to become a citizen of Russia,鈥� says Kirik. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine what I would do now. Fight in the army?
鈥淓ven if you live in an information black hole, you can see that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy is not afraid of anything, and goes everywhere on the front line,鈥� he says.
鈥淧utin has three layers of security at the Kremlin and has not once been on the front. As a Russian citizen, how can you follow these people, these cowards?鈥� asks Kirik. 鈥淭his [Ukraine] is a country of brave people.鈥� The Russian leader reportedly made a nighttime visit to occupied Mariupol in March and visited the Kherson region in April.
During his obligatory military service decades ago, Kirik says he was with many senior officers from the Crimea and Donetsk regions, and he is sure that he is 鈥渇ighting a few of them today.鈥�
His separatist friend
Reflecting on how pro-Russian Ukrainians think about separatism, Kirik tells the story of a friend he grew up with, who he says was typical, and whose parents lived in Donetsk city.
The boyhood friend called Kirik in 2014, before Russian troops and a proxy force of local separatists seized control of eastern Ukraine and captured Crimea.
鈥淗e said, 鈥楯oin us; let鈥檚 fight Ukrainian nationalism. We have camps and get paid $100 a day,鈥欌�� Kirik recalls his friend telling him. Later in the year, the friend appeared on Ukrainian television, a captured prisoner of war.
鈥淚 was surprised how someone could be brainwashed,鈥� says Kirik, adding that he expected the friend to have been released and taken up arms again, on the Russian side. 鈥淚 am sure he is now dead in the forest.鈥�
When he worked in Russia in 2012 and 2013, Kirik says he encountered examples of separatist attitudes. When asked where people were from, for example, instead of saying 鈥淯kraine,鈥� some would reply, 鈥淚 am from Crimea鈥� or 鈥淒onbas,鈥� both areas with particular historical ties to Russia.
鈥淚n every country, there are always people who are patriotic, and others who don鈥檛 like the government, who are not happy with anything 鈥� even if you put a gold toilet in their room,鈥� says Kirik.
He is shocked when fellow citizens are nostalgic about the former Soviet Union.
鈥淧eople say it was amazing living in the USSR. Then you ask them, 鈥榃hat was good?鈥欌�� says Kirik. 鈥淚 remember a lack of food and products, and closed borders.鈥�
Challenge posed by collaborators
Likewise, he is surprised by Ukrainian collaborators with Russia in occupied territories, given the example of deprivation in long-occupied regions, and much of Russia itself.
鈥淲hat did they expect, when everything is just miserable, and their economy is going down? But still, they wait for the Russians and for Russian world,鈥� says Kirik, referring to a Moscow campaign to consolidate cultural control over occupied Ukrainian territory.
鈥淭he propaganda level is very high ... but you can also see how far the quality of your life has dropped,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what is in their minds.鈥�
Still, there is no shortage of pro-Russian Ukrainians in occupied areas, which will complicate Ukraine鈥檚 advance.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always hard to have a fight for territory on which they have a lot of collaborators. In Crimea, they were waiting for years for Russians; it鈥檚 harder to fight,鈥� he says.
By contrast, the places where Ukraine last autumn made sweeping gains, by pushing Russian forces out of the northeast Kharkiv region and the southern city of Kherson, were made 鈥渆asier鈥� because 鈥減eople were resisting [the occupation] very much,鈥� he says.
鈥淭hat helped us a lot. Not many people were waiting for the Russians there,鈥� says Kirik. 鈥淎 lot of people were waiting for the Ukrainians to return.鈥�
Asked if he will next be seen in liberated Crimea, Kirik laughs, then turns serious.
鈥淥f course, to get to Crimea requires a lot of hard work. You have to be realistic,鈥� says Kirik. 鈥淲e can talk about Crimea only when we are approaching Crimea 鈥� and we are not there yet.鈥�
Reporting for this story was supported by Oleksandr Naselenko.
