Before the war, I worked in telecom and genuinely loved my job. Outside of work, I was into fishing, the gym, and long bike rides. When the war began in 2014 — Crimea and the first battles in the east — I decided to join the army. During my compulsory service, I took an oath to the Ukrainian people to defend our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and in the neighborhood where I grew up (Troieshchyna in Kyiv), you keep your word. I went to the enlistment office several times until they finally took me in, and I spent more than a year in service. When the full-scale invasion started in 2022, I returned to the army and ended up in an assault regiment, where I still serve today.

As for after the war, I’m not making plans yet — I’m looking at reality as it is. For us, this will end either with victory, or in a way where everyone will still have to fight. And I know this: after any “pause,” the enemy will try to come back anyway.