Some of the Ukrainian fighters guarding one of the highways leading into Kyiv have body armor — some don’t. They each are allotted 90 bullets a day from the militia they joined. Their weapons are assault rifles, Molotov cocktails and, as Maksym Skubenko tells us by phone from his fortified guard post, “a few grenades.” They had been sleeping on cold floors until a few days ago, when locals gave them sleeping bags.
They’re from different walks of life. Oleh, 59, is a scientist. Artem, 34, is a businessman. Skubenko, 30, is CEO of Vox Ukraine, an organization that scrutinizes the Ukrainian government’s attempts at reform. At the checkpoint they’ve been assigned to secure, they wait. They’ve had a couple of skirmishes with pro-Russian Ukrainians, but they know, once Russian forces begin encircling the Ukrainian capital, the onslaught of Vladimir Putin’s troops, tanks, Grad rocket launchers may soon reach them.
The face of the Ukrainian resistance is the country’s charismatic leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But it’s also Skubenko, and Oleh and Artem, and tens of thousands of other Ukrainian citizens who have taken up arms against Putin. They belong to Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Force (TDF), a makeshift militia with myriad duties, such as churning out Molotov cocktails and standing sentry at roads leading into Kyiv and the country’s other strategic cities and towns.
Every day, Americans watch as Russian missiles and shelling tear gaping holes in apartment buildings on the outskirts of Kyiv, Mariupol or Kharkiv. They watch as Putin orchestrates the killing of civilian men, women and even children in pursuit of his belief that Ukraine as a nation should not exist. But Americans also need to see Ukrainian resilience in the face of Putin’s brutality.
We also need to see and understand it, which is why we recently spoke to Skubenko as he spent another day at his checkpoint in southern Kyiv.
“I’m not afraid if they come,” said Skubenko, referring to Russian troops. “I just need supplies. We’re working on it. I hope we get a few anti-rocket weapons, and then everything will be OK.”
Military pundits in America and Europe predicted it would take just days — some said even a matter of hours — for Ukraine to capitulate to Putin’s invasion. Ukrainian forces would be no match for Russian fighter jets, tanks, ballistic missiles and 190,000-plus troops missioned with bringing Kyiv to its knees, they said.
The world now knows just how wrong those predictions were.
On the morning the invasion began, Skubenko finished readying an evacuation plan for his employees at Vox Ukraine, and hurriedly packed a few belongings in a bag. Then he sat down, drank three glasses of whisky and listened to some Ukrainian music before leaving his Kyiv apartment to join up with the militia. “It was nothing heroic,” said Skubenko, who is single. “I just understood that if we don’t stop Russia now, we will never stop them.”
So far, the firefights Skubenko has encountered involved pro-Russian Ukrainian fighters. Those forces have been carrying out surveillance and ambush missions for the Russian military for several years. In one firefight, Skubenko and two other militia members were at their checkpoint when pro-Russian fighters in a speeding black Jeep began firing at them. Skubenko and the other volunteers returned fire and killed the attackers.
That happened on Skubenko’s third day of deployment. Since then, this energetic Ukrainian with piercing blue eyes and a thick brown beard, has settled into days and nights of anxious stasis. Skubenko tries to stay mentally strong by continuing to work via phone with his Vox Ukraine staff at least an hour or two a day. When he’s not doing that, he assumes procurement duties, working the phone to track down desperately needed supplies. “Right now, we’re waiting for two cars from Poland with radios and armor,” he said.
When the armor comes, he should snatch a vest for himself. The one he wears only stops sharp objects, not bullets. The checkpoint’s daily diet consists of pizzas, meat, soups and vegetables from local restaurants. Little things bring immense joy, such as Skubenko’s first shower on his eighth day of deployment. “It was great! I forgot about everything. We got sleeping bags, showers — and we were all very happy.”
He doesn’t begrudge President Joe Biden’s decision to not send U.S. troops to Ukraine. He understands that direct American involvement could plunge the world into global conflict, perhaps even nuclear war. “Maybe if I was younger, I’d be angry,” he said. “But now I understand to never ask for anything. They’ll give if you’re strong enough. And we need to be strong enough.
“The main question now is not troops — it’s air,” Skubenko continued, referring to the prospects for a no-fly zone. “If Western countries close the skies, we will finish the Russian army here. And maybe not in Ukraine, but on the Russian side, or at the Kremlin.”
For now, all Skubenko, Oleh, Artem and their TDF colleagues can do is wait. As of Tuesday, Russian troops were advancing on Kyiv from the northwest, west and east. His team doesn’t have a need for shoulder-fired weapons such as Stinger missile launchers yet, he said, but they’ll come in handy soon.
When combat comes, neither Skubenko nor his fellow fighters know how drawn-out it will be, or what form it will take. They’ve never been in war. Skubenko can’t even name the kind of assault rifle he wields. Maybe it’s an AK-47? No, a fighter next to him said, it’s an AK-74. None of that matters, though.
All that matters is that he and his fellow fighters have resolved to resist the Russian blitz no matter the cost.
It’s a spirit reflected in Zelenskyy’s fiery speeches from his Kyiv bunker, in the Ukrainian military’s ability so far to slow the invasion’s march, and in the thousands of expatriate Ukrainians flocking to their homeland to join the fight.
“We will defend every centimeter of our land,” Skubenko said. “It’s impossible to invade the whole country, where 40 million people live and fight. They can bomb cities, they can try to make the president sign documents, but it won’t help them. They can win a battle, but not the war.”
Thank you, Maksym, for helping us understand that resolve.
