Vsevolod Kozhemiako, founder of volunteer unit "Charter": "When Defense Forces did not allow to capture cities and threw back enemy, parasites returned. Now there are lots of them in Kharkiv, and even more in Kyiv."
A millionaire in the army. Voluntarily. Vsevolod Kozhemiako returned to Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion and founded the volunteer unit "Charter". What is its peculiarity and who is most welcome there? In an interview with Anna Miroshnychenko, he talked about parasites, politics and the prospects for ending the war.
ABOUT POLITICS
- You said you didn't want to talk about politics...
-You started with it...
- Could you just explain why? Is there an explanation for your unwillingness to talk about political issues?
-Because I'm not interested in them, is that it?
- Is it for now or in general?
- Now I am just busy with certain things that I think are important for me and important for the state. I feel very comfortable and I don't want to get involved in something where I may... Where there is no place for me, where I don't want to be anyway.
A MILLIONAIRE AT WAR
- How were you perceived at the front as a millionaire? There's a different category of guys there.
-Do I have a sign on my forehead that I'm a millionaire?
- Well, I won't believe that you, when you go somewhere...
- And I walk in and say, "Good afternoon, good health, I'm a millionaire," or what do you think?
- I don't know how it was, tell me...
- It doesn't happen, no one knows, I've never given to understand it, I don't like these conversations at all. What does being a millionaire or not have to do with it? Does any status have any influence? Look, if a person is a leader, you can feel it right away. In war, you feel it very quickly, and you see leaders right away, and leaders find a common language with leaders and move processes that are not moving. It's just that this status does not exempt you from defending the country.
- It's your opinion that status doesn't free you, but a lot of things do...
- It must be so, I don't think so, I'm not a naive person. It should be so, for me it doesn't, there is no such thing written anywhere, not in the Constitution, not anywhere, that it would exempt. Otherwise, people decide for themselves, maybe it worked off someone, get a disability, look after the disabled, or have some other reasons. If I were to pass the military medical examination, I would not be able to join the army.
- Is it for health reasons?
-Yes, because an elderly person has certain diagnoses that make it impossible to participate in this, but it depends on the person, how they want to and how they see themselves, what the person wants to do.
- You look great.
- Thank you. I didn't say that so you could compliment me. You see, there are different things related to internal organs and joints. If you run like we did in early 2022, you carry at least 25 kilograms. That is, not every person... The guys' backs don't bend afterward, you know? We have rehabilitators, guys who used to do massage, so they stand at the machine and only have time to repair it. Lots of different things. Why do I confirm the phrase that "war is the business of the young"? Because we have mostly 40 to 50 year olds and even older. And, of course, the body doesn't work the same way at this age as it did when you were 25.
ABOUT KHARKIV IN THE FIRST DAYS OF THE WAR AND PUTIN'S PLANS FOR THE CITY
-Kharkiv. What is the situation in the city now, can we say that it is the most shelled city in the country? How do people live in such conditions? Every day there...
-You know, people are living like in the rest of the country. They've gotten used to it, and perhaps I would say they don't pay attention. I mean, the facilities are working there, people are working, and few people pay attention to the alarms anymore. I can't say that Kharkiv is the most shelled city, the most or least. There are cities closer to the contact line, such as Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, and others, but the problem with Kharkiv is that it can be hit by ballistic missiles, C300 missiles, which are numerous and not very expensive and very difficult to shoot down. In addition, the air defense in Kharkiv is still, I'm sure the situation will improve, but it's not as powerful as in Kyiv, of course.
- What do you think, what are Putin's plans for Kharkiv? Remember, we said last year that there might be a second offensive, and it is Kharkiv that he wants...
-They want to capture at least some city, Kupiansk is the hottest spot now, declare it the capital of the Kharkiv region, as they did, put a government there, and as the Bolsheviks did when they failed to take Kyiv, but took Kharkiv and declared it the first capital of Ukraine, and in Kharkiv this narrative-the first capital, the first capital-has existed for a very long time, but it is actually shameful. When we talk about information warfare, people don't even think about the fact that this is actually a Soviet Bolshevik narrative. They will say that Kharkiv is a part of Russia, and then they will move on or cut it off. They also say that they will go through Zolochiv to the highway. They need to cut off Kharkiv from Ukraine, from Kyiv, first of all. Whether they can somehow realize these plans or not, I cannot tell you, but at least our army, defense forces, and people are doing everything possible to prevent this from happening.
ABOUT PARASITES IN THE COUNTRY
- Do you think, Vsevolod, that we still have the unity that we had at the beginning of the full-scale war to repel a second offensive?
- Ours, whose? We do. You know, I have this observation: when Kharkiv was semi-circumscribed, when the enemy was there, a lot of people left, a lot. And almost everyone who stayed was involved in some way in the defense of the city. Maybe even at the beginning, they didn't stay for this purpose, they stayed because they simply had nowhere else to go, but sooner or later they did something to defend the city. Something. Something. Either they cooked food or something else. Remarkably, there were no more parasites. The parasites were all gone. Parasites. Do you understand? I found this definition for myself: unfortunately, we have a lot of parasites in the country, and when the Defense Forces defended our cities and did not allow the enemy to capture our cities and advance, they threw back him, the parasites returned, and now there are a lot of them in Kharkiv, and even more in Kyiv.
- Can you tell me who these parasites are now?
-" Well, parasites. Those who are on the long-suffering body of the Ukrainian people, those who do nothing good but harm. People like Mr. Hrynevych, those who embezzle the budget, those who arrest businessmen. Those who make provocations and so on. They produce nothing but intrigue and incomprehensible actions.
- I just thought at first that the parasites were those who are waiting for the "Russian world" and they appear somewhere.
- No, they are "awaiters". This is a different category. On the contrary, the "awaiters" did not run away, they stayed behind and were not involved in the defense of the city, but there were few of them in fact. When we were in Bakhmut, when the situation was very difficult, there were still people there. There were "awaiters", they are waiting, and now I have seen this in cities, including Kyiv... They are waiting somewhere and waiting for the Russian world. They are quiet now, they don't show themselves in any way.
- What do you think we should do with these parasites now? Shouldn't they be allowed to put pressure on business and create such an atmosphere in the country?
- Partly those who have to do this are parasites themselves.
- It's a vicious circle.
-Yes, this is Ukraine, what do you want? I don't know what to do. I'm asked some things - I don't want to comment on everything, I'm not an expert in this, and of course, something has to be done, but I can, as a person who thinks critically, very quickly see some shortcomings and problems, but in order for me to start thinking about how to solve them, I need someone to set a task, so that I understand that it will not just be something that goes into the air. That's why I try to think now about what we are doing with the Charter team in building the brigade, and I am fascinated by it, I really like it.
ABOUT WAR FATIGUE
-You're not tired, you're still enthusiastic, aren't you?
-You know, there is some fatigue, but you get a break somewhere and then you go again. It comes in waves - something works out, something doesn't work out, some problems arise somewhere or some bad situations. There are certain disappointments, I can't call it depression, but a certain bad mood. However, we have to pull ourselves together and keep on doing it. We support each other, when someone is tired, others "pick him up" and "pull him".
- Have you ever regretted coming back to Ukraine since the full-scale war? That you are here now, doing what you are doing?
-What is there to regret?
- There are a lot of obstacles, a lot of bureaucracy, a psychological story.
- "But I've been doing this since 2014, I've seen these obstacles and bureaucracy since 2014, I saw it in '14 when everyone was like, 'Let's go, let's go,' then in '15 when it was 'peace, friendship, gum,' you know? And then on and on, all through some kind of resistance. It's natural for me, and I understand and have understood everything. When I came back here, I wasn't thinking about bureaucracy, I was thinking about other things, and of course I have no regrets, I'm proud to be here, among these people. I am happy that I can do this work together with them and call them and they can call me a brother and I can calmly, normally look into the eyes of anyone. In general, I consider it an honor to defend the country.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE CHARTER?
- Can you call the Charter your successful case or successful project, if that's right?
-There is no limit to the beautiful, I wouldn't say that it has happened, this project. I mean, it's happening now, and our goal and ambition is to create an exemplary unit that will be one of the best in Ukraine, maybe the best. And to show how the algorithms we implement work. We believe that we are reforming the Ukrainian army from the bottom up, from the inside, because it is much harder to do it from the top down, because the military are people who don't use imagination very much, you know? They believe in what they see, what they can touch, and what works. So we want to make sure that everyone sees that it works, and then I believe that we can scale it.
- Are there any people willing to join the Charter now? Because we have many stories where people hide from the TCR (Territorial Centre for Recruitment - ed. note), run away, swim across cold rivers to leave the country... You see it all.
- At Charter, we are looking for smart people. We are waiting for the brave and we are waiting for the motivated. We are not positioning ourselves as a rebel brigade, a militant group. We want to fight, to try. Of course, it is impossible to do it completely, but war is becoming more technological nowadays and we need to try to fight from a distance, and we need to protect the infantry, which no one has and does not have enough of. We are all working on this. We are actively using robots, drones, and developing this area. It can be compared to the football language: there are Brazilian players who are very powerful individually and do everything beautifully, and there are German teams with order, class, and when everything is so organized that it is difficult for Brazilian players. This is our task, we are working towards it, I cannot say that we have achieved it 100%, there are some successes, some shortcomings, and we are working on it. First of all, we look at a person's specialty. To conduct modern warfare, you need a very large number of smart people. This specialty is not taught in our military universities, because they... You know how in the Soviet Union there was always a personnel department, and then there was such a position as HR, but no university-trained such people. The same thing is happening now, that is, the army's educational system does not meet the challenges, does not respond as quickly to these challenges as the war. War moves progress forward very quickly and everything changes very quickly. I have noticed that we want more girls to join us, because smart women are impossible to replace in staff work, they are very attentive, they are very meticulous and very accurate in this work. Therefore, if women watch us, girls who want to mobilize and become involved in defense, it does not mean that they can come to us and a woman doesn't need to be a military doctor, there are many professions for them. This includes unmanned units, electronic intelligence, electronic warfare, in short, a lot. Women are very much needed, and they motivate and inspire the guys to work better.
- Leave a link. If you are lucky, Vsevolod will personally choose you.
ABOUT NATO STANDARDS AND THE REALITY AT THE FRONT
- I saw a post on your Facebook page where you showed the state of the trenches, remember, it was last year and you were filming. We can talk a lot about NATO standards, how we are moving towards NATO, and so on, but in fact, if you come to the front line, you see how it really is.
- You see, on the front line, the infantry prepares the position itself and is controlled by the commander and sergeants. That is, sergeants, platoon sergeants, company sergeants - they are directly with the fighters and they control how it happens. Firstly, the fighters themselves must be trained, because the NATO standard, by the way, gives everything in detail - how to dig, what to dig and why. People have to be trained and they have to understand what they are supposed to shoot from these positions, where to shoot, they have to see. It's not just digging a hole to hide. You have to fire there, you have to move around, you have to understand. Again, the challenges are different now. FPV drones fly into dugouts, and you have to do certain things that you didn't have to do before. When the enemy sees that the defense line is tight and the positions are good, it is difficult for them to stay there, they look for other places to move. And if it is already moving here, it has very large losses. He can have them, retreat, you know? This is the only chance to survive, there is no other chance. If you dig the first line, dig the second line. If you dig the second line, dig the third. This is the constant work of an infantryman - to dig, you understand? This is about the front line. As for the defense line we are talking about, as the enemy has done in the Zaporizhzhia direction and so on, others are already doing it. The state allocates funds and someone builds it. I will tell you that what I have seen, the way the military-civilian administration is being built here, unfortunately, it is just... I think it seems to me... It is just used as an enrichment, that is, a little bit of stealing, or maybe not a little bit, like everything else, budget funds are always stolen in Ukraine, unfortunately. That's why people have this attitude. And when you say, are we united, are we all set in the same way now - no, we are not. These are the parasites who were so scared and numb in the first months that they could not steal, and now they are stealing again.
CHILDREN AND WAR
- Please tell me, you have four children. What will you never tell your children about the war?
-Why not?
- Do you tell them everything? -Some people say that I will never tell my son what I saw.
- What did I see? I can't tell my child about the things I saw or show them a video of what I saw. I don't like to watch them and savor these moments at all, and I try not to keep these videos. But some of the combat work, some general things, of course, I explain, the children should know who we are fighting, what we are fighting for, what is happening. Of course, my children know all this. Those who are older know more, those who are younger know less, but the time will come and they will know everything. I think it's very important to tell children about this so that they form their worldview from the point of view that we all need. Our next generation will live, build, rebuild, and so on.
- The soldiers who come, sit in your place, they also have children, and they tell me that I really want to end this war and I really don't want my children to fight. The same as my heroes.
- Of course, nobody wants that.
- How do you see the prospects? Is it for years or decades, I mean, the war?
- The confrontation is for centuries, I think. And the war, I hope, will last for years. I want to believe in it and I am doing everything to make it last for years. I still believe that we will be able to end it all earlier. Of course, not this year and maybe not next year, but there is still a medium-term perspective.
ABOUT VICTORY
- What is victory for you? Reaching certain boundaries, stopping at a certain place?
- I think that when it happens, we will all feel that it is our victory. I don't know where we will be, we'll see. This is a matter for the political leadership, they will decide and so on. The main thing is that the political leadership should decide together... that there should be a consensus with the people, with citizens and with civilians, with those who made efforts to make this victory come.
ABOUT CHANGES
- How have you personally changed since the full-scale invasion?
- I grew a beard.
- Is that all?
- What else? I feel it, yes, I feel a life experience that many people don't have. In a way, I have it, and this leads to the fact that I simply do not pay attention to some moments that used to irritate or cause some emotions. And people, too, somehow I've become more relaxed about people so that even people who used to be annoying are not very annoying, I can take them in stride.
- "There is a category of people who are tired and say, 'That's it, finish it. They speak Russian and say, "It's time to finish everything."
- Who are these people, where are they?
- There are a lot of them, go around, even in Kyiv, and you will see such people. They say they have to finish and they are tired. What would you say to such people?
- So let them finish the job. Let them show us how to do it, let them come, let us wait for them, let them come and finish everything. And we will follow them, let them go ahead and finish, and we will follow them. How to finish? These people who say, they say how to do it? What do they mean, "finish it?" Who are they talking to? The leadership or the military, or who? I am not very tolerant of such things and, of course, I can immediately enter into a discussion. Unfortunately, I can assume that such people exist. I would refer to them as parasites who, you know, returned. The fact is that people who left immediately, abroad, for example, and then returned, they did not see the war. And war is such a thing that you can talk about it for a very long time, make films, write books, but until you see it with your own eyes, visit it and see it, you won't understand what it is. That it's just another reality altogether. And, of course, the people who have returned, who are doing well, who have their own businesses, for example, in Kyiv or somewhere in western Ukraine, they have not suffered at all. These are the people who have worked in the east, who have been there and lived there, who understand what is happening. So, how do we end it? For what? Let them go and kill this dickhead and maybe it will end, or maybe it will get even worse, who knows. What should we say - don't shoot missiles, we surrender? Or what? It's not clear.
- Thank you for coming to us and finding time. I wish you strength and inspiration to work.
- We are waiting for everyone who wants to join the smart war in the "Charter" and Glory to Ukraine!
- Glory to the heroes! Smart war is a very cool expression.
Anna Miroshnychenko, "Who's with Miroshnychenko?"
