🇺🇦#BarAtWar
Iliya Kostin — a law firm partner at war
“[I have] no mascots. The only [valuable] thing is that in 2014 in the synagogue (yes, I am a Jew), I was given a book-collection of prayers for all occasions and all holidays, and I carry it with me, although it is heavy”.
Interview by Dima Gadomsky. Translation by Olga Panchenko and Conal Campbell. Photographs by Maria Matiashova.
If you want to help Iliya and all Ukrainian lawyers to defend our country, please donate us at INDIEGOGO.
Iliya with another soldier meet us near Brovary — a small town near Kyiv. This place is not the frontline of the war but it is about 10 km from the front. Iliya calls it the zero-line. We have to drive a few kilometers more toward the zero-line to the place of their dislocation. They instruct us to stop the car, jump out of it, and lay down on the ground if we see they are doing the same.
Where were you on the morning of February 24?
On February 24, I slept peacefully at my dacha (house in the village) not far from Kyiv. We just felt it all and agreed with our comrades, if anything, to act together. Taras called me and says it has started. And my neighbor was my foreman in 2014, I climbed over the fence to him, we understood that we needed to rush to Kyiv. I have a reservist contract, and I had to be in my unit during the day. I came home, packed my things
And were you sent here right away?
No, everything happened differently. I was waiting for a friend, he said he was in a traffic jam, then I got on a motorcycle and came to the unit with all my stuff. We were actually one of the first to come in, and then I met Lesha and his friends. We were enrolled and 20 minutes later — we didn’t even wait for the uniform — we got in the car and drove here.
Why here, was it your decision?
No, here is my commander, my battalion, we are defending here, and here is our frontline.
You are here from February 24, so. And these funnels next to us from Smerch [multiple rocket launcher] — that’s what happened then?
No, it arrived about three days ago.
How do you assess this place on safety, on a scale from 1 to 10?
We are in the deep rear, but any artillery arrives here, except for mortars. They [Russians] cover most positions, and this airfield is not interesting to them, except only for landing. If so, they will be suicide bombers, but they do not protect people at all; there is a frontline in Rusanivka.
Are you at your place now?
To be honest, I’m lucky so far. The military values people with higher education very much. And I’m not on the frontline here. This is not Donbas, where you have to sit in the trenches. We did not reach Rusaniv ten kilometers, it is more complicated now, and there is a constant battle, corpses everywhere. At my place? At any moment, I can be anywhere, and the command can take machine guns and get to the trenches. This is a war now.
What does your day look like now — and the part of it that you can talk about? About what time do you wake up, and so on.
I wake up, how it comes. In fact, we are lucky, we sleep normally, but in the first days — two or three hours at best. Now, if there is no action — five hours, it is ok.
How long can you stand like this?
Yes, well, everything is fine. The locals gave us a house, we have equipment there, we work with it. In fact, the man is very resilient. And only two things can kill you — first, shelling. In 2014, I first time understood what shelling was. It is to think in a critical situation, you are worried, but you are thinking, and right now, many people are adapting to shelling.
And contact combat is quite different from shelling. We have Dymerka on the frontline, they were trying to cross the river, and it was contact combat. There were tanks and infantry fighting vehicles on our side — we have Javelin, RPG. Those two burned tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles are still standing there, and we took one vehicle with us.
Let’s talk about fear. For example, I have no fear.
Then you just don’t know.
Yes, I don’t know. Explain when you felt the strongest fear since the 24th.
Actually, I was in contact fighting only once, in Donbas, at the position “Facade” in front of Shchastia. And I felt fear at the time of transition to the active stage of such a battle, when you see that it will begin.
This is where the transition from the “civilian” stage takes place — when you plan, think when the war is over, and what you will do, and first, you sit down, the Russians come to you in total growth, you crush them and think why these 20-year-old conscripts were sent? And then, somewhere on the fifth day, there is a transition to another stage, that the day has passed, the hour has passed, you are alive, there are people alive around you, and that’s good. You stop calculating; you just live.
Until 2014 you had no military experience, was it then you first picked up a machine gun?
Yes, I only started fighting in 2014, and now I look at the staff officers, compared to them, I am a civilian.
What is the difference other than planning?
The speed of reaction, and I think too much.
After 2014, when you quit, were you sure that there would be a war, or was it a surprise for you?
Yes, I was sure that there would be a war, I had such a phobia that I would not be able to take a machine gun due to illness or age, and now this phobia has passed.
What is the most valuable thing you have with you now?
There is nothing like that, no mascots. The only thing is that in 2014 in the synagogue (yes, I am a Jew), I was given a book-collection of prayers for all occasions and all holidays, and I carry it with me, although it is heavy. I constantly sort things out, throw some away, and then sort and throw again, the backpack is getting lighter.
And for whom are you here now, and for whom were you in 2014?
For the sake of the land, I love this land very much.
What will be the end of the war for you?
The end will be the signing of a peace agreement with some territory, it will mean that we have survived, and there is a future for us.
It doesn’t matter to you what kind of territory it will be. What dreams do you have at night?
Well, I told my friends today. I had a dream of my wife and the apartment in Simferopol, I was born there.
Are you thinking about clients now? Or is it not on time and there are no thoughts?
There is a lot of happiness in my life because I am surrounded by real friends who have taken care of their clients. Clients are in safe hands.
Your colleague Anatoliy Kyselyov, we have already communicated with conveyed to you the wishes of Cossack’s health. And what can you wish Andriy Fortunenko, with whom we will interview after you?
Glory to Ukraine — that’s what I can convey.
If you want to help Iliya and all Ukrainian lawyers to defend our country, please donate us at INDIEGOGO.
