“This war must be ended. We must pressure russia for a just peace,” said President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in his recent address. Our current Guardian of the Light, Valerii, with the call sign Did (“Grandfather”), shares this opinion. He has been at the front since the first days of the full-scale invasion, and this has been going on for over 3.5 years.

“Fighting is not my affair,” the defender admits. “Nevertheless, I fight because we need to save our country. I do not like that, but there are my brothers-in-arms who, on the contrary, are interested in this affair, they are learning. These are the people from the latest additional personnel, but I do not know how long their enthusiasm will last. In fact, everyone is running out of juice, and we just want peace. We are striving for the end of the war.”

Valerii was born in the Kherson region, but for more than 30 years, he lived and worked in Energodar. He was a builder at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, had a family. His hobby was fishing; he was fond of football, volleyball and jogging. Even in his adult stage, he mastered running ten kilometers a day, participated in various relay races for the work team.

The Ukrainian had an ordinary life until the crazy neighbor began to forcibly impose their “russkii mir” (“russian world”). Therefore, as is customary in Ukraine, uninvited guests shall be expelled from the household. On February 24, 2022, the nuclear employee did that joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“I did not believe until the last that russia would launch a full-scale invasion,” explains the resident of Energodar. “On February 24, I was shocked and until the last hoped that was some kind of fake, a joke, a test, anything, but not a big war. Unfortunately, I was wrong, so I was already at the front on February 25.”

Valerii did not tell his family about his decision to fight, because he understood that they might panic and worry at home, but his relatives seemed to suspect something. Even when the man was settling the matter of mobilization at the Zaporizhzhia NPP and at the local military registration and enlistment office, his daughter called him with a request to babysit his grandson, because she supposedly needed to go buy groceries. The grandfather refused to babysit his grandson, explaining that he urgently needed to visit the fishing store on February 24. 

“At first, my wife was in shock and stress,” the defender recalls. “She cried and said that I had abandoned her alone at a terrible time period. Then everyone was scared, because nobody understood what was happening and what to do with it. Subsequently, my beloved got control of herself, understood and supported my action. Therefore, having quickly gathered my belongings, I called the Vasylivka Regional Military Defense Unit and joined the ranks of the defenders of Ukraine. And the family eventually left the temporarily occupied Energodar.”

According to Grandfather, he and his brothers have been to many places and seen many things, but while the war is going on, he doesn’t want to talk about that. He says that there is already a lot of grief. However, he assures that there was also many good and kind things, for example, Ukrainian cats and dogs at the front.

“We had a dog near Priyutnye that helped us survive,” says Valerii. “We gave him a call sign, but I don’t like to tell you it, because it’s a very harsh word. When we left that position, we took him to a safe place too. That dog really loved eating mice, even more than he loved stew. He caught them himself, ate them himself, he was a good one. He was not barking, he was probably shell-shocked, but he saved more than one life of Ukrainian defenders.

Therefore, you sleep in a dugout and wake up from the pungent smell of a dog. He was dirty, so his presence was felt. You open your eyes, scold him to come out, and if he does not come out, you know there will be shelling or an attack. The dog knew in advance that something was coming.

However, sometimes he did harm when he climbed out to bask in the sun. The enemy sniper thought he was a person and fired at the position. Then we scolded the dog to hide. Once a piece of debris hit the dog, we treated him. We recovered him up and took him out. We also saved three kittens.”

Not only animals helped Ukrainian military stay on the front, but also humor and amulets. “Sometimes you are in the field with three brothers-in-arms for 18 days and there’s nothing to even talk about,” shares the Guardian of Light. “You just can’t see these faces anymore, you would like, in the finest sense of this word, to replace them with others, to change the picture before your eyes. Moreover, it happens that you catch on some topic – and you cannot stop talking or joking. Humor helps a lot in war. It is good that Ukrainians have a good sense of humor.

Protective charms also help. I am sure that everyone has their own. I have an icon of the Mother of God around my neck and I believe that she protects me. Moreover, my wife once tied a red thread on my arm and now she always asks if I have not lost it. In addition, my grandson made for me a badge with my call sign made of volcanic glass. You know, you start to believe in everything in war!”

At the front, Valerii also had a tradition, established by him in cooperation with his brother Oleksii. The circumstances were such that the defenders always changed each other in the field. No matter when and under what circumstances it happened – Oleksii always met Did and saw him off.

“But then I found out that Lyoshka had died,” says Valerii. “At that moment, for some reason the first thing I thought was who would meet me from the field now? It was very difficult then. I wanted the war to end with our victory immediately, so that all territories would return to the control of Ukraine, and we would return to our families. Safe and sound. Before the war, it meant very little to me, but now the values ​​are completely different. Now the most important thing is my home in our independent state and my family nearby. It’s a pity that this truth has reached us only through the war.”

Grandfather also shared positive and significant events from the war – he stopped swearing and started speaking Ukrainian. Moreover, at the front, his teacher of the state language was his colleague from the Zaporizhzhia NPP, Platon Shpak, now deceased.

“Platon taught me to speak the literary language, because I spoke a little in Surzhik,” the defender shares. “And when we served in the same unit, I began to correct myself, to filter words. Platon switched to Ukrainian in 2014. He said that not everything worked out right away, sometimes his ZNPP colleagues made fun of him a little, but he did not give up. Subsequently, in 2018, when the plant document flow switched to the state language, they even turned to him for advice.

In addition, another brother-in-arms taught me not to swear. You know, in war, sometimes you cannot do without humor and a witticism. So once, I scintillated some witticisms in front of a 28-year-old defender, and my son was almost 30 at the time. That person embarrassed me, saying that he was good for my son, and I allowed myself to communicate like that. I was surprised and asked if he used to swearing, but I heard in response, “No.” I thought he was lying, but then I looked at him closely and realized that he really was not swearing. After that, I started to educate myself.

At first, I thought for a long time before saying anything, choosing my words and only then expressing my opinion. I will not be cunning; sometimes a witticism comes to my lips, but it happens only when my feelings really build up. Therefore, I do not swear either, and I manage to restrain myself!”

Valerii calls Ukrainians not to give up and go to the end, because Victory will definitely be Ukrainian, and to believe that very soon all the families will be reunited. Moreover, he will personally entertain his grandson! The defender does not say anything to the enemy, because only obscene words come to his mind, but he does not swear!

Therefore, let us end the interview with the words of all Ukrainians: “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the nation! Death to the enemies!”