Volunteers of the Ukrainian militia | the line: If the flames of war reach the doorstep, they will stand up to defend their hometown

The Paper's reporter Wang Lunyu

In the snow and ice outside The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Lena and her comrades practice basic tactical subjects with a variety of weapons. It was a squad of Kiev citizens from all walks of life, and the instructors were Ukrainian soldiers trained by the US military.

Recently, the deterioration of Ukrainian-Russian relations has accelerated, and the two sides have deployed a large number of military personnel and weapons and equipment in the border areas of the two countries. The United States, Ukraine and NATO claim that Russia has gathered heavy troops in the area near the eastern border of Ukraine and has the potential to "invade". The Russian side denied this, stressing that NATO activities threaten russia's border security and that russia has the right to mobilize troops within its territory to defend its territory.

"I have old and young, and I will not run to the front line of Eastern Ukraine to fight." Lena told the surging news (www.thepaper.cn), "But if the war burns on the doorstep, of course I will stand up and defend my hometown." ”

A single mother on the range

Late last year, Lena joined the rapidly expanding Ukrainian Homeland Defense Force, regularly receiving military training every Saturday for a period of six months. Lena is over 50 years old and is a mother of 4 children. Her family was middle-class in Kiev, and after years of struggling with the legal profession, Lena bought a house with a small garden for herself and her children.

Lena divorced her husband many years ago, and has been working from home for the past two years due to the epidemic, and her children are also going to school or work outside the home, so she has to keep two pet dogs as companions. "Last December, when I heard that the government was expanding the Homeland Defense Force, I had this idea." "On the one hand, the long epidemic life has made me think about the meaning of work and life, on the other hand, I feel that the recent tense situation has threatened my peaceful life," Lena said. ”

Since the Crimean crisis in 2014, Ukraine's economic situation has continued to deteriorate. The employment problem for young people is particularly acute, and in Lena's view, all this is "the fault of the Russians", and if Ukraine joins the European Union or NATO, then "everything will get better quickly". "I have 4 small children, all of whom have a university education. Two of them reached working age. Ukraine has long since lost its chances, and they have to go abroad to make a living, to do jobs that are not related to their major. Lena said.

On February 9, 2022, local time, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers stood guard patrolling in front-line positions. People's Vision Diagram

While the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine have cast a shadow over the daily lives of Ukrainians, the incompetence and corruption of the Ukrainian government have also come under fire. As for the 2014 association agreement with the European Union, which included the establishment of a free economic zone and the relaxation of visa policies for Ukrainian citizens, it may not be able to quickly bring Ukraine's economy and employment to prosperity, as Lena hopes. Eastern European countries that have joined the EU in the new century, such as Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, have all suffered a massive loss of young talent, and a Ukraine with closer economic ties to the EU will have a hard time avoiding a similar situation.

On the range, most of the people who participated in the training with Lena were middle-aged people with their families and mouths, and there were not many young faces, including engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and even clergy. In addition to the field subjects performed at the forest range, they also participate in indoor CQB (close combat) training. As the Ukrainian Government still lacks sufficient weapons and equipment, these civilians who are temporarily involved in training do not guarantee that everyone will have access to weapons and armor. Lena admits that many comrades can only get old-fashioned Soviet weapons and even wooden imitations painted in the shape of AK-47 rifles.

"We are like the citizen soldiers of the Roman Republic, with a lot of equipment on our bodies that need to be prepared by ourselves, and the army only provides us with basic weapons and ammunition." Lena counted the "belongings" she had bought out of her own pocket: American camouflage uniforms, tactical vests, combat boots, first aid kits, and so on. In total, these cost more than 15,000 hryvnia (about 3,500 yuan). Other recruits, dissatisfied with the old guns issued by their superiors, will buy AR series assault rifles produced in Western countries at their own expense.

"Even if I'm a military 'little white', I can see that the instructors don't have high requirements for us." Lena confessed, "After more than a month of training, his requirements for our shooting subjects are still good. ”

Layman or warrior?

Ukraine's Homeland Defense Force was formed after the Crimean crisis in 2014, but has recently expanded rapidly. In late January, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy issued an order calling for the expansion of the Homeland Defense Force to 130,000 people as soon as possible. Once formed, the militia will be deployed in all 25 administrative regions of Ukraine. Currently, 20 per cent of the members of this militia are women.

According to a previous report by Deutsche Welle, the Homeland Defense Force, as a militia force, was mainly responsible for the defense of important locations inside and outside the city during the war, and would not be sent to the front line for mobile operations. Once major cities such as Kiev are threatened, they will be deployed in key transport locations to protect important buildings or to check the identities of people who come and go.

In general, the military quality of these newly joined the Homeland Defense Force was uneven, and most of them were full-fledged laymen like Lena, almost touching a gun for the first time in their lives. However, there are also some people with considerable military experience who volunteer to join, hoping to use their military skills to "resist aggression".

According to the British "Daily Mail" previously reported that a well-known female sniper, Orena, was active in the Homeland Defense Force near Wudong. She is 42 years old and has years of experience in frontline combat. She volunteered for the Ukrainian Army five years ago and later became a member of the Ukrainian Marine Corps. Immediately after her demobilization in 2020, Olena joined the Homeland Defense Force.

What made Orena a well-known soldier was a video she uploaded online in 2017. In a soundtrack, two armed men from the Wudong split camp walk out of the trenches to expose their positions and gradually appear in the field of view of the scope of the Orena sniper rifle. After 20 seconds, their figures were firmly entrenched by the crosshairs, and Orena fired several shots in a row, hitting the torsos of the two men. During several years of intermittent fighting, she claimed to have killed more than a dozen Wudong armed men.

As the situation in Wudong heated up again in recent days, Olena said in an interview with the British media that she was not afraid to return to the front line. Like Lena, she was quite sure she was doing the right thing. But in the comment section of the British media, people's views on her are seriously divided, some people see her as a hero who defends her country, and others call her a murderer or murderer.

No matter how much Orena highlighted her achievements, for a short period of time, the Homeland Defense Force was still a largely unarmed civilian force of men and women, and its training was very basic. This makes the European and American media report on Ukraine's "preparations" for war and cannot help but deliberately render some "sad" colors.

"This level of military training is simply not enough for them (volunteers) to take on formal combat tasks." France's 24 news network quoted an instructor from Kharkiv, Ukraine, as saying, "Even guerrillas need to learn skills such as making explosives, hiding their identities, and obtaining intelligence, which require special psychological qualities that civilians who have undergone short-term training are not competent." ”

The New York Times commented even more pessimistically, saying that even Ukraine's regular military is embarrassed and still in a situation of lack of equipment and highly qualified military personnel. Most of the soldiers were armed with Soviet-made rifles, machine guns, mortars and bazookas of the 1970s level, and there was a serious lack of heavy equipment.

"I'm not naïve enough to know that reinforcements from Western countries aren't coming. If they had been so decisive, Ukraine would have joined the European Union and NATO long ago. "At best, I hope they will provide more weapons, and I will do what I have to do anyway." ”

(At the request of the interviewee, Lena is a pseudonym)

Responsible editor: Zhang Wuwei Photo editor: Zhang Tongze

Proofreader: Yan Zhang