Two brothers from Volyn did not wait for the summons, and in the first days of the Russian invasion they mobilized to the National Guard
Brothers Ivan and Mykola in the first days of a full-scale war, without waiting for summons, went to the equipment center and joined the ranks of the NGU in Volyn. For this, Nikolai urgently returned from Poland, where he worked as a welder, and Ivan refused to go to work on another trip.
Both serve in the National Guard unit, which guards important state facilities and strengthens the northern frontiers of Ukraine's defense. If there had not been such a mass of volunteers in the region at the beginning of the war, the enemy could have dared to invade from the north-western direction, the brothers believe.
Ivan has a higher education as an archaeologist and his view on that historical moment in which we all had to live:
“Russia has not been able to leave us alone for three hundred years. The current war is a continuation of the Holodomor and all other crimes against us. But it should be considered not only as a great test, but also as a chance. A chance to finally break out of the influence of archaic Russia. That's why we started the movement to the European Union — to live a civilized life without it.”
The war showed that Ukrainians in their development went much further than their northern neighbors, adds Nikolai:
“If the occupiers steal toilets from Ukraine and put electric kettles on the gas stove, it shows their level of consciousness. They live somewhere in the past centuries and clearly prove how different we are peoples with them.”
In the Guard unit, the brothers not only recovered the knowledge and skills acquired during their service, but also learned new approaches to tactics, pre-medical care, topography and engineering. When asked how their civilian specialties affected military service, the brothers joke.
“I am a professional welder. Therefore, I also cook the ingredients of borscht at the platoon base well,” Nikolai laughs.
Ivan says that although he did not work in his archaeological specialty, everyone in the army becomes archaeologists in practice - there is a lot of digging here. Although the brothers spent the last decade earning money, they believe that after the victory, labor migration of Ukrainians will decline - the reconstruction of the state will become the most important task.
National Guard of Ukraine
