EXCLUSIVE: An Interview With Captain Ilko Bozhko-Ukraine's Operational Command East
As the battle rages in the city of Bakhmut, Commander Bozhko says Ukraine is nowhere near done...
It’s been over a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and if the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people have taught us anything – it’s not over until it’s over.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruthless assault has met its match.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defiantly refused to back down and acquiesce to the demands of the Kremlin, and in turn galvanized, motivated and inspired his countrymen, and the world.
They heeded the call.
The aftermath of the Russian attack on Luhansk (Photo courtesy of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo)
Proving that the human spirit and desire for freedom is the most powerful weapon one can have against those who seek to take it away.
One person who embodies the spirit of Ukraine is Operational Command East’s, Captain Ilko Bozhko, with whom I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with in an hour-long phone interview early Tuesday morning.
Captain Ilko Bozhko (third from the left) receiving an ambulance in Kyiv. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo on Twitter)
Born in the USSR, the “Commander” (as his unit calls him), has been a constant presence on the front lines. Putin’s use of the private Russian paramilitary company (PMC) Wagner – deemed a terrorist group by the Baltic State of Estonia – intensified its attacks on the small, but important city of Bakhmut.
The mercenaries were out for blood, they just didn’t count on it being their own.
Flanking the eastern city of Bakhmut – the former administrative center of Donetsk Oblast – news reports predicted the city will fall in a number of days.
But those on the ground have no desire to flee the city, despite warnings of potential mass casualties. “There is no reason to leave it,” Commander said in response to naysayers who are anticipating the city falling into Russia’s hands.
“It’s easy to die when you do something right.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently suggested that Bakhmut “was more of symbolic than operational importance,” But Captain Bozhko disagrees.
It’s not…not symbolical. For us, it’s defiant. Pride and blood. Decisions were made to create many fortified lines of defense since 2014. [Bakhmut] played its role in 2014, they were under occupation. There is no reason to leave it. We don’t need their country, gas, oil, gold – we need them to stop. Let us be.
Thousands of miles away, and under attacks by Wagner mercenaries in the eastern region, I couldn’t help but pick up a sense of calm for someone under the intense pressure and vigors of war.
“Born in the USSR, I don’t have hate to the USSR,” Bozhko said. “We can’t become vandals, we can’t be cannibals.”
Damage in Luhansk in October (Photo courtesy of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo on Twitter)
Ukraine and Russia have a long and complicated history going back centuries. Something not lost on the Commander. With many Russians living in Ukraine, and vice versa, aside from the authoritarian ways of President Putin the people themselves share culture, language, and a mutual desire to see democracy flourish in the former Eastern bloc.
“Each and every Ukrainian speaks Russian. Russia won’t be an empire without Ukraine,” Captain Bozhko told me. “It’s a huge pain, it creates an internal cultural pain.”
“They want to hurt us as a society.”
People killing people. What for? For a flag, for a language? It’s every Ukrainian suffering because of this war. It’s something deep inside, why they fight. They fight for themselves, they fight for their families. We need to know how to cooperate – coexist the right way. We don’t need to scavage you. Yes, we want to see Kremlin fire, but we don’t need it. We will still be neighbors – we need to stay cautious about where this is going. There is no sense in bloodshed – Commander Bozhko
From Dnipro, located in central Ukraine, the emotional toll of innocent lives lost weighed heavy on the leader. Capt. Bozhko told the story of personally visiting the site of a mass grave found in the town of Izium. The tortured and mutilated bodies of citizens murdered by Russian troops in one of the worst atrocities of the war.
“400 tombs, mostly civilians,” Bozhko told me. “Robbed and raped. They killed civilians just for fun.”
“Many stories are buried there,” he added.
Dnipro is home to the largest military hospital in Ukraine. Nicknamed “Rocket City,” the large industrial city built all of the Soviet Union’s rockets. But after 10 years of active war in the region – stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Captain said “of course we are surprised.”
Longing for peace in the region, Commander Bozhko stressed the importance of protecting the freedoms, life, and liberties of its people by being “a stronger pillar of democracy.”
“European Constitution contains no vision of the future, we need understanding. That’s what endorses us – how we survive through.”
Capt. Bozhko echoed the words of a friend – only referred to as Tony – who left his home in Finland to join the freedom fight.
“I don’t have a choice – WE don’t have a choice,” Tony told him when asked why he chose to fight in Ukraine.
(Photo courtesy of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo)
Unlike countries like Poland, which the military Captain calls “homogenic,” Ukraine on the other hand is extremely diverse.
It’s not unusual to see a city with over two dozen ethnicities living, working, and loving together, according to Bozhko. It’s something he’s very proud of.
“You can be Jew and Ukrainian citizen, and much more,” he said. “We don’t have tolerance. We don’t need it,” because the differences don’t matter, but “how you are as a person.”
Since the war began, the Putin propaganda machine was already spinning lies in an attempt to demonize the nation of Ukraine and prevent the West from coming to its aid. Without our support, and that of the European Union, Ukraine would have been helpless against the madman determined to see it burn to the ground if he can’t have it.
When I asked Commander Bozhko about the allegations that western monies were being used to fund Nazis – aka the far-right AZOVs – he scoffed.
“Ultra-right party … they have nothing,” he said of the group’s representation in Ukraine’s Parliament. “Less than 10 people. They can be populist like Trump, push fascist – no real influence.”
Vladimir Putin has made coordinated, and calculated attacks on infrastructure, left millions of Ukrainians without electricity, or clean water, and decimated the country’s crops in an attempt to shut down a primary source of money and food.
Commander Bozhko was part of a unit that used homemade jammers to block 300 Russian drones, revealing the ingenuity and persistence of those on the front lines.
(Photo courtesy of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo)
With no end in sight, the casualties continue to pile up in what is the most devastating effect of the war. Infrastructure can be rebuilt, and food can be regrown – but the tragic and senseless loss of life weighs heavy on the military Captain.
Even on the phone thousands of miles away, I couldn’t help but get emotional as he recounted the death of a Ukrainian soldier barely out of his teens.
“Young guy, Julius, he was just 21 years old – had his own squad. I remember his eye, big blue eyes. He was so naive and young. Every day at 9 a.m., we have a moment of silence.”
Having the opportunity to talk with Commander Bozhko, someone with boots on the ground, gave me a new and increased admiration for the people of Ukraine. This is a true example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things and a reminder that they are not just fighting for the country, but for democracy in Ukraine and around the world.
*I would like to thank my dear friend Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a foreign war correspondent based in Kharkiv, without whom this interview wouldn’t have been possible. Sarah is not only an amazing representative of the transgender community but America as a whole*
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