Company Commander of 126th Territorial Defense Brigade Denys Hranchak, call sign Artist: "On left bank, even birds are shell-shocked: tit can land on head and sit. Whole nature is distorted."
The theater and film actor, who played Sotnyk in the TV series Guard, joined the Ukrainian army as a volunteer soldier in 2022. Initially, he was supposed to be recruited as a psychologist, but he became a company commander and has been regularly visiting the left bank of the Dnipro River for a year and a half. So far, the actor has no intention of returning to the profession
I was able to talk to the actor from the Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre named after V. Vasylko only because he had suffered a concussion and was undergoing treatment. Otherwise, it is very difficult to catch him - if he is not on the mission with a group of his soldiers, he is preparing others for a mission. Victory and service in the army have now become the most important thing for him. He has proved himself in the brigade to such an extent that the career officers-commanders cannot believe that he had not served anywhere until 2022.
"Denys was a soldier - an ordinary soldier like all the others," I was told about Denys. - But he has a university degree, so at first, he was offered the position of deputy company commander for moral and psychological support. He's a great psychologist, he's a leader, he can communicate with people - he has many qualities that would make him useful in this position. We sent the documents, he was promoted to officer and became a junior lieutenant. And then it happened that the company was left without a commander. It was decided to appoint Denys to this position. And the command was right, Denys is a responsible company commander. The fact that he is kind and humane only helps him. He cares so much about his guys, he allows everything pass through himself. That's why today he is a true leader, a company commander who is responsible for the guys."
"MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS A COSSACK-SORCERER, AS MY FATHER SAYS"
-Till 2022, you did not fight...
- Yes. In 2014, when it all started, there was still the Maidan, I went there... But performances, cinema... I was busy all the time. During the invasion of Ukraine, in Crimea and Donetsk, I wanted to go to war, but my wife kept me away.
- But the situation in Odesa was also being undermined.
- I'm not from Odesa. I'm from Berdychiv, Zhytomyr region. I studied, lived and worked in theatre and cinema in Kyiv. I moved to Odesa in 2008. We shot the first Guard in 2014, and I played the role of Sotnyk. Then we shot the second one. Well, there were at least some actions aimed at supporting the guys who went to war.
On 24 February 2022, when the full-scale invasion began... I was working in the Ukrainian theatre and I knew something was going to happen.
- Did you feel it in the atmosphere?
- I just felt it and said it in the theatre. During the pandemic, I did not get a vaccine. They told me that they would leave me with my salary for the last month – February. I said: "Look, you can take away my salary for not getting a shot. But when the full-scale invasion happens, I will go to war. No one will ask me whether I am vaccinated or not." And so it happened.
On 24 February, I woke up at five in the morning and immediately told my wife that the war had started, because we heard it. I already knew then that I was not going anywhere - I was going to fight. I have two sons. They have grown up over the years since Maidan. The older one is sixteen, the younger one is eleven. It was important to me that my family was safe. So I was preparing my wife that we might have to leave. Everything was prepared for this. They got in the car and left. Around the tenth of March, I came to the military enlistment office in Chornomorsk and said that I wanted to defend the country.
- So you didn't know a specific subunit, you didn't know where you were going?
- I thought: I'll go wherever they send me, if only I can be useful.
- Okay, have you had any experience?
- I served in the army in 1995-1997, in a Construction Corps. I only held an assault rifle without a horn when I made an oath. Everything else I had was in the cinema - I shot only there. I was generally not a fan of weapons... I prefer cold weapon. But here... The military enlistment office was surprised that an actor came. Especially since I'm registered in Berdychiv, not in the Odesa region. Then I got a call: come here. I went to the address given and found out that I was going to the 126th Territorial Defence Brigade.
Denys during his compulsory military service in 1995-1997
- Was there any preparation, training, exercises?
- I arrived at the end of March. At that time, an assault unit was being formed and we were offered to go to study there. But we studied for two months, and something changed. I returned to my unit, where I serve now. In August 2022, we went to defend the Mykolaiv region - Shevchenkove and Myrne. We were there for over a month, doing what we could.
- How mentally were you prepared for the fact that you would actually have to go into battle?
- I don't know. You see, I'm not a small child, for one thing. Secondly, my great-great-great-grandfather used to be a Cossack-Sorcerer, as my father says. I didn't think about it. I have a duty to myself, to my family. When the enemy comes to you, you have to do something. I can't just sit around. If in my peaceful life, I could think a lot, put things off, fantasise, then here there is no time for reflection. Here, you have to make a decision right away and do it. I receive some information or a request, and I immediately try to implement it. There's no time to put it off, it's better to do it now.
- How long has the theater been out of business and is it still open?
- The theatre is working. But I don't follow its work. Sometimes I see on social media that something is happening. Sometimes the director writes to me saying that they are really looking forward to seeing me at the performances. You see, I love theater, I love art, it's my life, I went to this, I studied. And now - yes, I miss it, I would like to act... Although I have been out of the profession for two years, let's say. What I try to do is write poetry. I think about some plays I want to stage. I mean, I have plans. I don't want to come to civilian life later and not have any plans... Although I don't repeat my roles. It makes no sense for me to repeat them now.
- Do you think you will not return to them? Will there be something new?
- Yes. I want to work more as a director. I staged the play just before the pandemic. I also managed to play in Berdychiv, because it was my dream to go on stage in my hometown. The theatre had just been restored there. The play "We Have to Live to See Tomorrow" is my personal one-and-a-half hour-long performance. I made it myself. My colleague helped me. I made, so to speak, a complete skeleton of the play, wrote the text, and he arranged it dramaturgically. And it is there. By the way, I don't know if I'm going to play it again. Perhaps I will stage it with another actor. Or maybe I'll play it myself. There are many things that are important to tell people about. It is relevant both now and after the war.
- Will the text change?
- No... It's just so personal... The moment when a man over 40, who has everything, lacks only one thing: he realises how much he has abandoned his personal life, hasn't spoken to his parents or his wife. He rethinks all this, and the play is based on this. There are a lot of internal dialogues - with his parents, his wife, his friends.
"YOU NEED TO HAVE WISDOM AND STRONG LOVE IN YOUR HEART TO KEEP YOUR FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER AT A DISTANCE"
- Over the two years of war, what have you learned about yourself that you didn't know before?
- I knew that I could take responsibility for my family, because I was going for it and wanted the family I have, thank God. But I realised that I can take responsibility not only for my family, but also for people. And the main thing is that I understand that I am here for a reason, that the Universe brought me here for a reason, and brought me together with these people whom I would never have met under any other circumstances. We are all different, so different - socially and mentally. But if I'm here and I can help someone, that's the most important thing. Because it is very important for me to feel that people take something from me and let some light into themselves.
- Have you ever imagined that you would make a career in the military?
- No, no, no! I didn't think about it at all. And I don't want to. I just realise that I have no choice now. I have to be here, doing this job. I don't know what will happen next. As long as I'm here, I'll do what I can.
I'll tell you this: it's already very hard, we've been living here for two years now, together without leaving. And people are very tired. But I see that they are still holding on. And this resilience is very important. I see that people have not yet lost their inner strength, they do not let the darkness in. I see how they treat their wives, how they want to treat their families. This is very important.
- And how do you react when you hear stupid statements like "We are not going to war because we were not born for war"... Were you born for war?
- No, of course not. I was born to love and be loved. But I have to be here. Because I can't do anything else. If I could, I probably wouldn't have joined the army. Some people can afford it. How can we allow that they came to destroy us? It's not normal. In general, the whole world needs to understand that the most beautiful thing on this earth is love. When everyone understands this, we will live beautifully.
- There has never been a time when there was no war on Earth.
- For 120 years, there were no wars. 120 years is a very short time...
- Is your family back? Are they in Odesa?
- Yes, I came back because of four places. They came back because it is very important for us to keep our family together. And it is very difficult to do this at a distance. I need to see them, they need to see me. We don't meet that often, but still. They know that I am somewhere nearby. And I know that they are nearby, not somewhere abroad.
- Does it matter?
- Of course. It is very important to me. I left Kyiv when my son was born. He was four months old, and I didn't have a single day off in Kyiv: I was constantly acting in films and theatre. And I understood what this would lead to: My wife would be alone with the child, my son would be growing up - they would see me only at night. I would come home after filming and at night to let my wife sleep, put the kid in a pram and walk with him for four hours. That's how I spent my time with them. And I said: let's move. I will have less work, yes. But we will have more time together. My colleagues were surprised when I left, because I was doing so well: leading roles in films, projects... And I'm giving up everything. Because it is very important for me to see my children grow up. And now it's war. His wife says: "I never thought I would be at a distance from you." But she has changed too. Many women and men are changing now. And it is very painful for me when I see families falling apart because of this. You need to have wisdom and strong love in your heart to keep your love for each other at a distance.
"ON THE LEFT BANK, EVEN THE BIRDS ARE SHELL-SHOCKED: A TIT CAN LAND ON YOUR HEAD AND SIT THERE"
- When you see your colleagues on social media staging performances and playing new roles, you feel envious: I'd like to do that too...
- There is no envy at all. Sometimes there is just a rejection of what is happening in civilian life. We don't have enough people. And I see healthy macho men playing on stage, and I understand what they will say to me: "You made this choice yourself." It's true, it was my decision. But I don't understand why others don't feel the same way I do. If we had help, if people came to us... We need to be changed. We all live in the same country and we will continue to live. I understand that later, maybe, we will be thanked. Or maybe they won't - it can happen. But I see many of my colleagues: someone became a company commander, many of the actors have already died. I know a director who made cool movies, but he couldn't stand it and also decided to join. Now he is working well somewhere in the east. There are such people. But... I don't know, I can't watch such things yet. The war prevails. Just now I had a guy who resigned, and he has a reason for that: to take care of his mother. I told him: "Vitia, look: you're going to come home now. Figure out for yourself what you're going to do. Think about what you're going to do right away. Because you're going to come home and start drinking. What will this lead to? Come on, think about how you can be useful - for yourself first of all, and then for your parents and friends."
- You still continue to work as a psychologist...
- Yes.
- What was the hardest, most uncomfortable thing about the war for you, something you still can't get used to?
- I can't get used to losing people. When I work on the left bank, it's easier for me there because I'm with my fighters. When my guys go there without me... I just talked to them, and an hour later they were gone... It's hard. I can't get used to it. Yes, I restrain myself, I meet those who come back from there... I see how broken they come back. It's hard. I can't get used to it. But you can get used to everything else.
- How could you? In the winter and early spring, I kept thinking: the water is cold, the enemy sees everything - and you still cross to where everything is wet, there is nowhere to hide. Where do you get this resource all the time to just get in a boat and go to the other side, to the enemy?
- At this moment, I catch the inner silence. I don't allow myself to think about what's waiting for me... I just sit down and switch off. I look at the sky - it's starry at night. And I imagine where else I could swim like this (smiles.) I realise that anything can happen. When we are on the left bank, I notice for myself that even the birds are shell-shocked there. They fly to us and can land on our heads, so disoriented by the explosions. Where would this happen in the city?
A tit lands on your head and just sits there. I understand that they are all distorted there too. The whole nature is distorted. In other words, evil has come to us, and it wants to mutilate and distort us. Therefore, the main goal is to preserve the good in people. I don't want people to become mad, frenzied, I don't want us to let hate in. It's very difficult when you see your comrades in arms dying. But it is very important for our nation to keep the core. Because there is power in kindness, and we will understand this later. I want the people who lead us to understand this and to discover it in themselves. Because envy and greed will lead to nothing. It will consume them, and they will eat themselves. It will end badly for them. And the people who are still pulling this country forward will survive. I believe that we will survive, and we will be fine.
- Do you have time to read anything here?
- I have a comrade in arms, Petro. He is injured now, and he is not with me. I started reading books aloud to him a year ago. We read a lot of books together.
- Where did you start? What was the first one?
- "Journey Home" by Kryon. This is a spiritual book about a man who finds himself in a situation where he is stabbed by a robber, and he finds himself in God's house. He changes seven homes and undergoes a transformation. That was the first book. Then I read him psychologist Frankl's book about the concentration camp, Say Yes to Life. Then there was Jo Nesbø, a Norwegian writer. We read Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. It's a very heavy book because it's just about today. I read it and realized that all of this is happening to us right now. When the hero goes on furlough, his mother asks him: "Well, how are you?" He thinks about it: "Mom, I wish I could tell you..." How emotional, how well written! But he just says out loud: "It's okay, mom". And you realize that each of us has this in us - we want to tell a lot of things, but you can't tell everything. Moreover, the mother is sick, and the hero does not want to disturb her, to scare her.
- Didn't your comrade in arms have the desire to start reading himself?
- No, he was listening. We lived in the same house, came from duty - I was still a sergeant, a squad leader - and when we went to bed, I used to read before going to sleep.
- What else do you want to read aloud? Do you have a plan?
- We were going to read a lot of things... But I don't even read Remarque myself now, I'm waiting for my listener to return from treatment.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET
