Pavlo Yakymchuk, war veteran of SOF, call sign Nimble: "Lot of people work for president – and they can’t figure out how to encourage people to fight for Ukraine"
A soldier of the 73rd Marine Center wounded in Kherson region has recently returned from the United States, where he studied the experience of communicating with veterans. According to him, it is the treatment of soldiers after service, benefits and social incentives that encourage Americans to join the military.
Photo: Roman Nikolaiev
He calls himself a "forced veteran" because he would still be fighting, but in 2023 he was seriously injured near Kherson on the Bilohrudy island. And despite everything, he hopes to eventually recover enough to return and be useful to the country. Back in the winter, he recorded a video of allegedly giving out draft notices to male Ukrainians in Poland, which provoked both support and hate, including threats in his personal messages. In America, where he returned from just a couple of weeks ago, Pavlo did not do this. But why did he fly there? We also talked about this.
"THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT YOU WILL NOT SWIM ACROSS THE TISZA, SO WHY NOT TAKE UP ARMS AND GO TO WAR - AND EVEN IF YOU DIE, YOU WILL BE BROUGHT HOME AS A HERO"
- From the outside, only a slight limp reminds of what happened. People who didn't know me before and don't know what happened would probably not see the difference between a healthy boy and me. In fact, they had to cut off my left leg at the groin and my right leg below the knee. My left inguinal artery was broken, a shunt was sewn from my stomach almost to my heel, and my nerves were broken. I live on the 13th floor, and when the power is cut off, it's a disaster for me. I get to the ninth floor and my left leg just doesn`t move, it doesn't want to go any further (smiles). This is something that is not visible, but it is a big obstacle to life.
- Have all your wounds healed? Because you had one open for a long time.
- It hasn't healed completely yet, although almost a year and a half has passed. Well, this is the specifics of the wound itself. You just need time, it will heal. If we take it as a percentage, then maybe ten per cent of the hundred are left to heal completely. But there is still a big hole in my leg. Plus, the muscles in the back of my leg had to be shifted to close the open wound, so my leg doesn't look sexy (laughs).
- Even before it became mainstream before these movements even started, you made a video that tore the audience to pieces - in Poland, you were giving out draft notices...
- I went to Poland for a month for rehabilitation. I'm from the Lviv region, and a lot of my fellow countrymen are working in Poland. They left a long time ago, some of them have settled there and have families. I can't make any claims against them - go and defend Ukraine. What can you expect from a man who has been in Poland for ten years. For such a person, Ukraine is just his youth and memory. Nevertheless, when I arrived in Warsaw, I was very surprised by the large number of Ukrainians in Poland. And once I switched my Tik-Tok to the Polish region, I saw how ugly they were behaving towards Ukraine. They were telling me how to escape from Ukraine for money, cursing the country for corruption, while they themselves had left by paying bribes to the border guards, MSE (Medical and Social Expertise), MMC (Military Medical Commission) - it doesn't matter. And I just wanted to troll them. There is a group called Ukrainians in Poland or Ukrainians in Warsaw, something like that. I called my childhood friend: "Listen, I have a military uniform in my car, black military license plates in the trunk. Let's record a video and post it in this group. It's fake, but someone will probably chicken out." In fact, ten minutes later, Facebook deleted the video because of a large number of complaints - I had stung to the quick. Two days passed, and I did not calm down. And the owner of the Kyiv Operatyvnyi channel is an acquaintance of mine. I sent him the video and said: "Listen, let's make a little fuss." He posted it on Kyiv Operatyvnyi to 300,000 subscribers. In fact, in the first two hours, the video went viral on all the major telegram channels with a million subscribers. Then, of course, the Russians also picked it up and showed it to the world as a "how bad things are in Ukraine".
Do I regret what I did? No, I don't. Because, first of all, that video is like a marker, it allows you to manifest. And you're either a normal person, you treat it with humour and let it slide, or you're a bastard, an ugly person and you start... So I started receiving a lot of threats - from my own fellow citizens, from those who are afraid of draft notices. I understand that there is a fear of death. But, damn it, at least behave like a human being! No, there are a very large number of people who do not know how to behave in such cases. Even if we take those who drown in the Tisza. I always have a simple approach to this: there is a possibility that you will not swim across the Tisza, so why didn't you think of taking up arms with your chicken brains, going to war - and even if you die, you will be brought home as a hero. And your children won't be ashamed because their father died defending Ukraine, not drowned in a river or froze to death in the mountains. I do not understand such men.
I've already passed two MMCs. The first time, they wanted to discharge me completely, for life, because I have a second disability group. They wanted to discharge me but I didn't let them, because it would put an end to my future career in the security forces. I won't be able to serve in the army, the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff, or even the police - nowhere. I asked not to be discharged, to be given the opportunity to recover and have the MMC again. In April, I passed it again, but I'm not ready yet. I have my next MMC in November. It's a very hemorrhoidal thing to undergo MMC, but I'm ready to hear from the doctors one day: "Well, in principle, you can already put on armour and even if you don't assault the plantings, you can at least do some useful work somewhere closer to the front line." Because there is a war in the country, the country may not exist, and you, as a normal man, have to do everything to preserve it.
- What is your rehabilitation like now?
- The best rehabilitation in my case is time. The only thing that needed rehabilitation was my foot joint. While I was wearing the Ilizarov apparatus, it was "paralyzed" - my foot did not move. The biggest problem was to move the joint apart. I managed to do it. I still limp a little, but I understand that it will pass with time. This is not the main problem. The main problem is the muscles on my right leg, on the calf, which need to recover. This happens during normal walking. This is the rehabilitation. I went to Poland to have my foot stretched using special apparatus.
"EVERYONE SHOULD FIGHT, BUT NOT EVERYONE SHOULD BE TAKEN"
- What do you think is the problem with the wrong propaganda about mobilization? Why do many people think it's better to drown in the Tisza or stay in the house and not go out for months?
- Not long ago I returned from the United States. I flew there as a delegate from Ukraine and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. The purpose of the trip was to learn from the American experience of working with veterans. I believe that one of the reasons why we are failing in mobilisation is the attitude towards veterans. Let me explain. In America, there is no mobilization; their army is volunteer-based. One of the reasons why people there join the army is the attitude towards veterans after their service.
Our mobilization has failed completely, and this is solely the problem of the authorities. Because we don't have any incentives - one. We still have soviet commanders - two. We have generals like Sodol who don't care about the lives of their subordinates, the main thing for them is to repel the planting. And people see all this, because it's the twenty-first century, everyone has the Internet, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and every military man can voice his opinionto the top. People see how the military and veterans are treated. That's why they don't want to join the army.
- But we now have the opportunity to choose which unit to go to, which commander...
- I am very pleased that we have the opportunity to choose. It's good that there are new generation commanders like Borsuk and others like him. But most people think that they will not end up with Borsuk, and that there is still a chance of being assigned to Sodol. And the fear of ending up in Sodol exceeds the desire to serve with Borsuk. This is the problem. The President records videos every day. Yes, he thanks some units every day. But tell something else! A lot of people work for the president, and they can't figure out how to encourage people to fight for Ukraine. No one says to die. Although everyone sees how fast military cemeteries are expanding. But this is war!
The trouble is... There is no electricity, I go up the stairs, a retired neighbor comes with me and curses our government for the lack of electricity. I said: "Maybe we should start blaming Putin for this? It wasn't us who destroyed the thermal power plant with missiles, was we?" No, we even have pensioners who think that the government is to blame for what is happening. And no one is changing this opinion. And this is definitely not my task. Both the failed mobilization and the mindset of these people - no one is working on this. Communication between the government and the people has failed.
- A year ago, you said that Tyshchenko and people like him should not be in power. But they continued to do what they wanted for a year, until it became public knowledge after an attack on a serviceman.
- Failed communication is not only words but also actions. Kolia Tyshchenko being in power is a failed piece of communication. I came back to civilian life with a combat injury and the first thing I saw was Kolia Tyshchenko, who was running the show, stealing, and engaged in forestry in Zakarpattia, then he switched to sock-puppet farms, which is probably a bigger constant there. If I without living that life, noticed Kolia Tyshchenko, what can we say about those people who lived, read the news every day, watched the telethon, saw it all? What about these people? Of course, they will not want to go to war for a Ukraine in which a certain Kolia Tyshchenko is allowed to do anything... He is covered, he is protected. Fortunately, Yermak has now disowned him, and I think it was just a post on Facebook, but in reality, everything is fine and smooth there - for some reason, I feel that way. He will be released. They showed the watch he has in his declaration and the money he has in his declaration on camera - they will return everything. No one counted the amount of money on camera, whether it was in the declaration or not, they will say: it's all in the declaration, we have to return it... And Kolia will be released, pay a fine, write an apology, and continue to walk around the cities and get on people`s nerves. If only it would actually close those call centers - it was just going to make money...
And as long as we have Kolia Tyshchenkos like this in power, no one will want to go to war for such a country. If I had been less patriotic, I would probably talk way out of it too. In 2022, when the full-scale invasion began and I received a call, I called my then boss and told him I had received a draft notice, and he said: "Let's make a reservation for you," but I refused.
- And who are you by profession? What were you doing at the time?
- I'm a lawyer by profession, I was in the civil service and worked in utility companies in Kyiv.
I can't put my mind into someone else's head. And for people, the main marker is Kolia Tyshchenko. And we can't get rid of them. Like Yermak, it's already a shame. I recently saw a photo at the summit where all the heads of state, our president and Yermak were standing. It was ridiculous.
- Who do you think should be reserved? The country has to work, it's impossible and wrong to take everyone away.
- A year ago, I said that everyone should go to war, but not everyone should be taken. Because there are people who cannot be taken. These are at least ambulance drivers and janitors. In general, in every profession, a percentage of people should be left behind; you can't take everyone. Because, firstly, the economy will collapse, and secondly, I would not want to live in a city where a tumbleweed is rolling. And we can't really survive without couriers today, let's be honest. I am a person with a disability. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort for me to go to the store. Weather causes leg cramps so I just stay at home on painkillers... Then I order food delivery so that I don't die of hunger. And when the couriers are taken away, I will feel bad, too. Representatives of every profession should stay.
"DO NOT THINK THAT A DRAFT NOTICE EQUALS DEATH"
-"Once, when I was still in the military, I was in a hurry to pick up the drones that had been broached," Pavlo recalls. - "I was driving in the public transport lane. Black licence plates, I was in uniform. I was in a hurry. And then there was an M-5 BMV in front of me. I honked my horn, but he didn't move over. I drove around it, slowed down, showing the driver that he was wrong. He overtook me on the right and showed me a badge from the military prosecutor's office. And I was given the fluff because I believe that we have already overcome the times of these "badges". You can go to the Soviet Union, to Russia, and show these "badges" as much as you like. Not everyone here has accepted this yet. He's holding a "badge", and it's so beautiful, leather, embossed, with a coat of arms... And for some reason, he decided that he could afford to drive in the public traffic lane, that he was better than all those people who were standing in the traffic jam. I would have been standing there myself if I hadn't been in a hurry to get back to the war, and every minute of my delay was actually costing someone's life because I was driving for drones. And drones are both reconnaissance and... Well, what am I going to explain? We all know what drones are on the front line. And then some prosecutor, who was travelling with his wife, drove into the public traffic lane because he didn't want to stand in traffic jams. No way. I'm going to put the screws on them. Small, skinny, but I'll be hit upon and I'll put the screws on them.
-Around the country, there are many billboards from different units calling for people to join them, trying to motivate people...
- They should be one hundred per cent. In each of my interviews or on each platform where I am allowed to speak, I say one simple truth: if we take an army of one million, then up to ten per cent of them fight, that is, with machine guns, shoot, and actually fight, a maximum of ten per cent. The rest are support troops.
My classmate did not fight, he did not serve in the army. He received a draft notice, was mobilised and is now fighting, roughly speaking, in the Lviv region. Does he rock? Yes, he is! He didn't piss, didn't pay the money, didn't hide under his mother's skirt - he went and served wherever he was sent. He has never even left the Lviv region, although he has been serving for a year.
Do not think that a draft notice equals death. This is a priori wrong. Because, first of all, you don't know where you will find yourself. Yes, there is a high probability that you will be assigned to an assault unit, because assault units often end up dead. But the point is not that everyone dies. Look at me: I fought for a total of four years, and I was wounded only in the fourth year. I was wounded! I was out of service. My place has to be taken. There are a lot of wounded with various injuries, lighter or heavier. And they need to be replaced. The wounded are 90 per cent of the losses that need to be replaced. That's it. That's why I always try to convey: don't be afraid of a draft notice! It does not mean that you received this white piece of paper and immediately died. No, that's not right. You come to the TCR - maybe they will look at you and send you home, update your data - and goodbye. Don't be a pussio - be a normal guy who will be respected by your wife. Those in Poland: "It's better to be a living pussio than a dead hero." What do you have to eat to say that?
- During the ten years of the war, you were a volunteer fighter, you served in the infantry, when you were wounded, you were in the Special Forces...
- My war started in 2014 with the infantry, with a motorised infantry battalion. I was assigned to a security company - not a very honourable mission, actually. But someone has to do it. We were guarding our artillery. I am a bit restless, sitting in one place has always been a problem for me. So I transferred to intelligence, which was the highest level for me at the time, because I hadn't served in the army, I had no experience as such. But for me it was such a... feat.
Pavlo was liberating the Kharkiv region. He still recalls very emotionally the people who survived the occupation and met the Ukrainian army
When the full-scale war began, I had a choice of where to go, and a very big one, because I have a lot of friends in different units - in artillery, aviation, and the SOF (Special Operations Forces). They wanted to see me in many places. I chose the 73rd Marine Centre of the SOF myself, because for me, in terms of training and coolness, it was my maximum. I wanted to get there, and I got there. At first, I thought that everyone who served there had to be a diver, but it turned out not to be the case (laughs). There is a special unit there, and it's not so easy to get in. I was in a regular platoon, a regular battalion, a Libra unit. In America, when people asked me where I served, I said: "Ukrainian Special Forces, Maritime Centre", and they call it "Navy Seal". In America, a Navy Seal is a God-level military officer. I'm not belittling the merits of any of the branches of the military, because everyone is needed, everyone is important in their place. But I had a dream to join the SOF and become a Navy Seal. It has come true!
- Is there a military man you would like to be at least a little bit like? Do you know who our unattainable Ukrainian hero is, who is unquestionable for you?
- Borsuk. In my opinion, in my deepest conviction, the best example of a Ukrainian soldier is Borsuk, Vadym Sukharevskyi. This is the man who first fired a shot at the Russians. His words: "See? Shell the holy f@ck out of it!" is, of course, a top phrase (laughs) and the way he is respected by his subordinates... Just go along the entire front line and ask everyone about Borsuk - you will not hear a bad word from anyone. Why? Because he has gone from being an ordinary company commander to the commander of a new kind of troops - the Unmanned Systems Forces. And throughout this long journey, there are no people who would despise him or have anything against him. Not a single bad word. This man deserves to be an example, to make people want to be like him. That's who Vadym Sukharevskyi, alias Borsuk, is for me.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET
