BLITZ INTERVIEW: Mykola Shpakovskyi - video journalist, musician, poet and soldier with the 68th Jaeger Brigade in Donetsk

This proud Ukrainian from Ternopil insists on creating cultural and fundraising events whenever he gets a break from the front, and is angered by the corruption scandals connected to mobilization.

(Near Pokrovsk)

Where are you from? And where are you now? Doing what?

I am from the Ternopil region, born in the picturesque village Konopkivka, and I have been living in Ternopil for the last few years with my wife Yulia and our two-year-old son Roman. Almost a year has passed since I was mobilized, but before that I was preparing and looking for a brigade where I could effectively do what I love and have been doing for the past 6 years - video shooting for INTB and Ternopil 1 TV channels.

Now I am serving in the 68^th Jaeger Brigade in the Communications Department in Donetsk region, and our team covers the life of the brigade and its individual fighters. We make arrangements, live as close as possible to the frontline, make videos, photos, editing and sharing them on social media. In a word, we constantly keep our finger on the pulse of all battalions of the brigade, search for important stories. We also accompany accredited Ukrainian and foreign reporters to our units fighting around Pokrovsk.

What kind of studies and work did you do previously? Where?

I became a Master of Psychology at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland) in 2006. After that I returned to Ukraine. Work was different – at first it was a kind of part-time job and experiments. Later, in 2010-2017, I was the coordinator of multimedia journalism project for Ukrainian youth of the Polish Foundation "New Media", which received grants from the EU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark/My Media.

(Mykola in 2016 as one of the leaders of a multimedia journalism project for Ukrainian youth, run by "New Media"/Poland and My Media/Denmark)

At the same time I was getting to know the artistic circles of Ternopil and Lviv. I also started doing translations, created the band "Shafa Shamana" - “The Shaman’s Wardrobe” (where you can find anything) and I also became seriously interested in video shooting for regional television channels. In addition, I managed to publish my collection of poems "Shafa Shamana" and the books "Rural News" and "Rural Two Hundred" in co-authorship with my old friend Rostyslav Fuk, a cofounder of the popular band "Los Colorados".

(“Shafa Shamana” playing at a fundraising gig in 2024)

How has the war in Ukraine changed your life? You personally?

I have a lot of friends who fought in the war and are still fighting. Some of them, unfortunately, died. Back in 2015, my associates and I started holding charity auctions in Ternopil to raise funds for the Armed Forces. These were creative gatherings, where visitors could listen to poems and music by local artists and get involved in covering the urgent needs of our army at the same time.

(Mykola fundraising for the Ukrainian army in 2016)
We "mobilized" to emphasize that the war in Ukraine affected everyone and our strength was in unity. Last October I managed to gather my friends again during my vacation for a poetry and music evening at one of Ternopil’s cultural institutions - "Na Poshti" - specifically for a charity fundraising for drones for my 68^th brigade. And we succeeded.

Yes, war changes people, and I personally believe that one should not lose hope, give up, but on the contrary, work even harder and be more inspired. Do what you do best.

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

The war initially mobilized thousands of volunteers, men and women, who came to defend the borders of Ukraine, and people quickly collected the necessary sums for specific purposes - cars, ammunition, drones.

Now it is much more difficult. And unfortunately, the news about corruption schemes and scandals are not compatible with our goals and ideals at all regarding the future of Ukraine. This makes me very sad. And civil society must do something about it while we are at the front fighting with external enemy.

In fact, I would really hate to seek justice and resolve internal affairs using the methods we use here at the front.

What are your future plans?

It is difficult to plan anything until the war is over. I would like to go with my family on a mini-tour around Europe to see friends who contributed to our victory. I would like to do more music, shooting historical films about this war and Ukrainian cultural products in general.

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

I still have no idea what exactly the end of the war will be like, whether it will be possible to get Crimea and other occupied territories back, or whether we will simply see a "freezing” of the conflict. But we need real guarantees that Russia will never attack us again. Whether it will be via the presence of NATO, or a powerful separate military alliance with neighboring countries, or via Russia being broken up into separate countries. However, our return to normal life would be evidenced by the fact that our people will return to Ukraine, the destroyed cities will be rebuilt, the sky above us will be protected, and investments will come to our economy, without fear of corruption.

Tell us one thing you don’t think people abroad know about Ukraine – but they really should?

This war, which is still going on in our country with Russia, is a war for civilization. The enemy has no mercy, he’s vile, insidious, stupid, forces a mass of people on us and never admits his guilt. Until he loses. But if we disappear he will move with his accomplices further to the smaller European countries and will terrorize them until he achieves his plan to show his “greatness” and power to his eternally drunk and toothless fellow citizens in front of the TV.

So let’s make ruzzia small again!