BLITZ INTERVIEW: John Sennett, a former U.S. marine who accidentally settled in Ukraine, has quite the story

John and his wife Natasha were actually moving to Belarus, but the dictator stopped that. Now they've written a book about the experience. "Because of the war, we have found out exactly who we are."

(Their book has just been released)

Where are you from? How and why did you end up in Ukraine?

I grew up in South Jersey, about 20 minutes outside Philadelphia, and spent summers in Cape May Point. This is significant because I met my wife Natasha in Wildwood, New Jersey, where she was an exchange student working in 2000.  We have been married since 2001, and after 20 years in the U.S., she wanted to return to look after her parents, who live in Belarus.  Her father is Ukrainian, and her mother is Belarusian. 

We were due to move to Belarus in September 2020 but once the elections there went the way they did, we decided on Kyiv which is only a five-hour drive from her parents.  Unfortunately, we have never had the chance to see them in person due to the invasion. 

(John and Natasha Sennett in Kyiv, February 2021)

What kind of work did you do previously? Where?

Well, I am doing the same work I have done for the last 20 years: the limousine industry in Atlantic City.  I worked remotely before it became en vogue as I started doing it in 2013 when we moved to Florida. Basically, I work for a small limousine company (Joe’s Limo Atlantic City) and we have a contract with Spirit Airlines for the transport of their flight crews to local hotels and other airports.

At the beginning of the invasion, we stayed in Kyiv, and both worked with the Ukrainian PR Army, with Natasha translating stories into English from Ukrainian/Russian and me doing copywriting and editing.  I also volunteered with United24 in those early days. I now works with UA Ants and Sabre Training Advisory Group, with communication strategy and promotion.  I also do a little promotion for a defense and dual-use tech organization out of Prague called Invest in Bravery, which primarily comprises people from the Czech Republic and the US. 

(Invest in Bravery event, Oct.18, 2024)

How has the war changed your life? Changed you personally?

The war changed everything for us since we have stayed on the ground since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.  We went from macro to micro in our volunteer efforts.  We only took our first vacation this past June (to Yaremche for a month).  We had planned to visit Natasha’s parents regularly and travel around Europe once settled in Ukraine. We finished renovating the flat we bought in Kyiv in January 2022, and then February 24, 2022, stopped us in our tracks. 

(John and Natasha at the opera in Kyiv, February 22, 2022, two days before the invasion)

On a personal level, we found out exactly who we are as people. What we stand for.  Who we believe in. Our personal relationships changed, and we became close with those who are fully invested in victory. Superficial talk and relationships just fell away. We are both Orthodox Christians, so our spiritual life became deeper and richer. 

I am now an altar server in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Filaret, even though I know very little Ukrainian. I just don’t have spare time to study the language. Natasha says my writing has become much better since the invasion started. She also tried her hand at it. We now have a four-book deal with Helion & Company. We will write one book on each year of war since February 2022. The first book has just been released; you can also find it on all ebook platforms.

What has surprised you most about Ukrainians these past couple of years? Good or bad?

Good and bad people exist everywhere. We learned to discern the two quickly, as war provides a laser-focused intuition. I guess it’s probably a survival technique.  Those who stayed through the Battle of Kyiv seem to have become even better at it. Overall, we only work with Ukrainians we know and have developed relationships with.  Our church community is a support and social system. 

(April 2022, “illegal” Easter service. Air raids all night, so we stayed in our church from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. because of the curfew.)

Our Priest, Father Bohdan, is a man of Light and Wisdom. He has been the rock we turn to and has that unique sense of Ukrainian humor.  Andrii Hetun is our “war brother” whom we support, and he supports us.  Our friend, Tristan Ruark, is a US combat veteran who lives in Odesa with his Ukrainian wife Tatiana, her son, and their one-year daughter. They are our war family as well.  The director of UA Ants is also a very solid dude, along with his American partner, Lori Jackson. 

Frankly, we have met some of the finest human beings (mostly Ukrainians) we have ever known since the invasion began. We are surprised mostly with how close Ukrainians are to the revolutionary independent spirit that gave the US its own independence in 1776.

What are your plans?

It’s hard not to laugh at that question.  We always joke about plans because we are in a war. The best-laid plans of mice and men. Natasha always says you want to make God laugh, make plans. As in, “Here is your plan, and here is God’s plan.” Whose plan do you think will work out?  We gave up dreams for a long time, but now that our book is being published, which provides a new sense of purpose and hope, we begin to speak about these things again. 

Our wish is to live quietly and peacefully in some small Ukrainian Carpathian village with an Orthodox Church and a small cemetery where we will be buried.  Our hope is to become successful enough as writers to fulfil that, although Plan B is to make just enough to move there and generate income from Natasha becoming an online teacher (she currently teaches 1^st Grade at Pechersk School International in Kyiv) while I will write and maybe we’ll do some eco or agro tourism on a small-scale.  Who knows what the future holds?

Andrii Hetun is the man I work with most and have known the longest. He is the one who introduced me to UA Ants and who I have helped with recruiting UK and US veterans for assistance to a military unit on the front. Here we are with Andrii and Philly the dog, in Yaremche, July 2024.

How do you see the war ending and Ukraine returning to a normal life?

Normal is kind of scary to us.  We also talk about this.  We have become so adapted to living in war that we almost fear “normal” although our normal will never, well, be…normal.  None of us can deny that we have scars on our souls from this war.  Collectively we will all have to heal.  Individually, we will all approach that in a different way.  Some of us will become healers while others will need far more depth in healing. Truthfully, normal seems like an illusion.

We also don’t know “how” the war will end and don’t waste our time speculating about it. We know that Russia won’t win, but we are unsure what that means. While those Ukrainians who have that Cossack warrior spirit living within them are still alive, there will be no Russky Myr in Ukraine. Our free spirits soar with those Ukrainians, as that is the common value that Natasha and I share.

Tell us one thing you don’t think people abroad know about Ukraine, but they should.

First and foremost, they should know that this is the “Land of Rus,” not Russia.  Russian history is based on the mythology they developed, originating in Ukraine (Kyivan Rus technically).  People should understand that the Russian people live within this myth and that tearing it down on a societal level will have devastating consequences for the entire population of Russia.  That country has opened the doors to the truth and the destruction of its myths with this invasion. 

Ukraine now must begin to tell its tale from its point of view.  The conventional war will end as they all do.  The cultural war will last decades and lifetimes.  This is a huge opportunity for Ukraine because they are a highly creative people with fascinating ancient and modern history.  The Cultural Front is also essential because if you used properly, can also generate much need revenue for Ukraine. 

Think about a high-style film or mini-series about Volodymyr the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, the Executed Renaissance, etc., ad nauseum.  Possibilities are endless, and that’s why Ukraine will succeed and prosper for generations to come. Russia has kicked a sleeping dragon.