Head of Ukraine’s volunteer movement shares his horror with Report

Eastern Europe bureau of Report presents an interview with the head of the Ukrainian volunteer movement “Volunteer” Roman Sovich.

- During the full-scale war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for almost four months, the volunteer movement has become especially widespread. As part of this movement, we would like to learn about the activities of your volunteer organization. What kind of relief activities are you mainly involved in?

- In connection with the activity of my detachment - my team and I have been active since the first day of the war - February 24. We operated on the territory where attacks were carried out from the Belarusian side. Taking into account the fact that I am directly connected with the Mezhyhirya National Park, I am a member of the Mezhyhirya public organization. It was expected that Russia would land troops in the area of ​​the Uzhhorod hydroelectric power plant, the Kyiv reservoir. On the night of February 24-25, I was engaged in providing posts. The goal was for our National Guard to be able to track the movement of Russian landing helicopters. Fortunately, thanks to our joint efforts, we succeeded in stopping them.

- Can you share the events that happened during your volunteer activities? What unforgettable events do you remember? That is, for example, if you hadn’t been there, a catastrophe for the Ukrainians living there would have occurred.

- Sure. I remember one incident very well. When our people were in occupation, my phone didn’t stop ringing day or night. It happened that people left the city, thinking that they were going to a safer place, but they crossed into territories occupied by the enemy. The evacuation of such people created problems. Because the Russian military could shoot anyone with a beard. For example, my friend from Bucha, he fought in 2014. He miraculously survived. When he was led to the execution, and his daughter to be raped, he miraculously survived. His mother approached the Russian officer, finding and saying the right words, saved her son from death.

In the first week of the war, my phone was constantly ringing, everyone was waiting for help, salvation. They found my number and asked to save people. I repeatedly led people out of the city of Irpin by roundabout ways. Of course, the situation was extreme. Because I was responsible for the people I led, I was responsible for the guys who were with me. In fact, this is a very scary thing. We have endured hardships and continue to endure them. In 2014, I myself participated in the war as a soldier, defending my Motherland. Back then I could not even think that in Ukraine you could be shot for being a Ukrainian. Guys were insulted, and girls were raped for being Ukrainians. I don’t want to go into details about what our guys went through. Of course, the people we evacuated were under a lot of stress. Even when they were placed here in the hall, they were afraid to go down to the basement. It was very difficult in terms of power supply. They couldn't stay here. People wanted to escape from here by any means. I remember that buses came here from Lviv every day. At first, two buses arrived daily, later three-four. Here we put people on buses and sent them to Lviv. From there, some of them left the country. I remember well, I am very precise in the matter of evacuation, only women, children and old people should be evacuated, but I witnessed how women almost begged not to take the men out of the buses. In short, we evacuated everyone who got on the bus.

- In what areas, except for Kyiv, did your detachment provide assistance?

- In addition to Kyiv, I also had activities in the Chernihiv direction. It was very difficult to get people out of there and survive. For the first time, being responsible for people was so difficult. First you have to plan everything for days, and you also know that you cannot evacuate people by water, because boats are fired upon and bridges are blown up. There is only one way left - to move through the fields. Of course, our vehicles could not withstand the load. I would never have thought that we could be in such extreme conditions. Imagine that you are driving 100 km across the field, and rockets are exploding around. It is impossible to put into words what we experienced. People were calling, asking to save them. In every conceivable and unthinkable way, with difficulty, we made road maps, sometimes worked together with the military to ensure our safety, because it is impossible to do this work alone. Team work is needed. Luckily, we were able to do it.

- How can you compare the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine with the global one?

- I see that this war is aimed at destroying the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The goal is to destroy Ukrainians as a nation. Unprecedented tragedy and atrocities are taking place. No one, not a single society could have thought that this could happen to Ukraine. Russia wants to show its greatness, completely destroy the freedom of speech.

- How do you assess the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine? We heard that Ukraine is not going to create its own strong army, but today we are seeing the opposite. You have also seen it where you have been.

- You know, in fact I can say that our soldiers are real heroes. Over the past eight years, the power of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased at least 10 times. We just need munitions. We have a very high spirit and patriotism. Even representatives of other nationalities fully understand the problem and do not spare their help. They volunteer and even fight. We have a legion of foreigners fighting, among them there are Muslims. In addition, I would like to note that our territorial defense units show everyone that an ordinary builder, lawyer, sportsman can stand up for his country, we showed the world that an ordinary lawyer, worker stood up to protect his country. In a word, I am proud that I was born and raised in this country, I am a representative of this nation.

- Which countries provide Ukraine with the most humanitarian aid?

- You know, the UK, the US, Latvia, Estonia, Turkiye, Azerbaijan help us a lot. What I mean is, many countries are aware of the problem and are trying to help. In addition, friends living in foreign countries help us. For example, our friend Rovshan Tagiev is doing a great job of sending aid to our country. They send us medicines. I remember well how in 2014 our soldiers, seriously wounded in the east of the country, needed rehabilitation. Negotiations are currently underway to establish a rehabilitation center in the country. We will be provided with equipment. We have no problems with specialists, that is, our wounded servicemen will undergo rehabilitation in our country in the future. They have wives and children here. I am a soldier myself, and I know how important this is.