Like so many nights since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, in the early hours of May 18 the anti-aircraft sirens woke up the residents of Jótiv, a small town located 20 kilometers south of Kyiv, wedged between forests and fields. After 15 months of war, some may have turned over in bed and crossed their fingers. For Valeri Zekin, on the other hand, it was the signal that he had to take action.
"When you hear the sirens, you know the Russians have launched a drone attack, so I went to my position." It didn't take long for him to detect a device, a shahed, the famous Iranian kamikaze drones. He was flying about 60 meters high and I could hear him clearly. "It was night but it was starting to get light and I could see that it was moving over the forest, near a high tension tower." Armed with a Kalashnikov issued by the Ukrainian army, he fired and shot down the device, which caught fire as it fell to the ground.
He works as a real estate agent and, until February 24, 2022, like so many Ukrainians, Zekin had only held a gun to hunt. Now he is part of the Khotiv territorial defense volunteer unit, a structure formed around the clock in the first hours of the invasion in an atmosphere of chaos to protect the territory, as they soon understood that the Russians were trying to surround Kyiv with an attack from the north and the east. The invaders failed in their attempt to take the capital and turned around, but the unit is still operational and better prepared than ever, they say.
“Back then, most of the volunteers were mere amateurs who had never held a weapon in their hands, many had never even done military service,” says Íhor Hrib, a former border guard who, as a reserve soldier, was appointed commander of the group. . "Today we know that we cannot have quality units without training," he explains next to the firing range dug by the residents themselves, with their tractors, to improve their handling of weapons. They came to have 1,500 active volunteers; now the number has been reduced to 500.
In the first days of the invasion, together with other surrounding towns, they fortified their critical installations, created a food warehouse and set up checkpoints at road approaches. The unit captured several "suspected Russians," which they say they turned over to police. Several agents were killed in an encounter with a diversant or saboteur. “The Russian army was 15 kilometers away, but what they do before they go in is send investigators, undercover agents, to examine the situation and gather information. Russia had been sending people to Ukraine for half a year and on February 24 they went out to attack,” says Zekin.
They don't let their guard down. The checkpoints have been removed but the sandbags and other barricade items are still on hand in case they are needed again. Since February of this year, the task entrusted to them by the army is to protect critical infrastructure for Kyiv, from electricity networks, to gas pipelines or water distribution plants. Half of the population of the capital depends on the high voltage line that the drone that shot down Zekin flew over, they say. They also monitor curfew compliance and help protect army combat units, such as Gepard tanks, so that soldiers can rest.
The work of these paralimit groups, created under a law signed in December 2021, allows the regular army to be freed from part of its territorial defense tasks and to use state resources more effectively. They work with weapons and ammunition provided by the armed forces. Despite the enormous number of rifles and pistols in the hands of these groups, “during this year there have not been any emergencies or problems related to weapons. Discipline is very high”, says Hrib, pointing to what could be a future problem for the country, as happened in the Balkans: the large number of weapons in circulation.
“Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes!” exclaims chaplain Mikhail Pradko after blessing and sprinkling the volunteers preparing to train with holy water. “We don't charge but people are very motivated. Our work is very important, it means that the government does not have to spend money here”, explains Anatoli Pochodna, deputy commander of this unit of volunteers, a businessman by profession, as well as secretary of the municipal council.
“Kyiv was saved by the townspeople, by ordinary people. When the invasion began, there were not enough troops in Kyiv to defend the city”, this paramilitary member emphasized in a toast in honor of the group of European journalists visiting the unit. “It was the townspeople who decided that we were going to fight and defend ourselves. Then Zelensky and the politicians followed us; It was like that, not the other way around. For me, the real heroes are the volunteers, the people who created territorial defense units of their own accord, without taking orders from anyone.” Pochodna, who is grateful for European help, has a warning for Russians and politicians: “Don't stop supporting us. If they attack us, we Ukrainians will fight to the end to defend our country."
