The view close to where Andrew Stoyanov is staying just outside of Kyiv.
When Andrew Stoyanov returned to his native Ukraine on Feb. 8 for a short visit, he didn’t expect to end up in the middle of the largest land war Europe’s seen since World War II. He’s no soldier but now finds himself collecting glass bottles and trying to find gasoline so he can supply the resistance with Molotov cocktails.
“Right after I arrived, that’s when we started hearing about Putin’s plan to invade. I thought maybe more [Russian] troops would be sent to the eastern part of the country where there are separatist groups. Unfortunately, we have been used to that since Putin took over Crimea in 2014,” Stoyanov tells Isthmus via an internet phone app. “But I never expected Kyiv or all these other cities to be attacked. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise because Putin is out of his mind but people were still shocked that it actually happened.”
I met Stoyanov back in 2013 during my brief stint as a bartender downtown. I had just closed the bar for the night when Stoyanov and two friends (also young Ukrainians) came up to me and asked where they could find a club. They were all working at a resort in the Wisconsin Dells and had taken a very expensive cab ride to experience the nightlife in the big metropolis of Madison they kept hearing about. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that all the bars were closed and just leave them there. So I gave them a tour of Madison and we visited my friend Dee who hosts the morning radio show on WJJO. The three Ukrainians ended up being interviewed by Dee and her co-host Johnny Danger. We then ate breakfast at Mickie’s Dairy Bar before I drove them back to the Dells.
“We were lucky we ran into you,” says Stoyanov, who is now 29 and lives in Virginia. After working in the Dells for a summer, he went back to Ukraine but returned to the states in 2014 and has made a life for himself here. He fell in love, got married in 2017 (to an American) and now works as a freelance video game designer in Richmond.
Stoyanov and I started chatting again on Feb. 24. I learned he was staying with a friend about 30 minutes outside of the capital Kyiv trying to figure out how to get to Poland or Romania so he could fly back to Virginia. But he soon discovered that all the trains to the western part of the country were full and he was afraid to make the eight-hour drive to the border because the highways were gridlocked and cars were running out of gas inching along in traffic.
“It’s also dangerous. I had some friends who ran into some artillery fire while on the highway,” says Stoyanov. “Now all men over 18 aren’t allowed to leave the country so I’m just sticking it out here.”
So far, Kyiv has been spared the worst of the fighting. There hasn’t been widespread bomb shelling that has killed civilians and destroyed residential buildings like in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Stoyanov says Ukrainians know they are outnumbered but resistance against Putin has united his country. He also says Ukraine has improved its military might since the Russian dictator annexed Crimea in 2014 and he’s been impressed by the patriotism displayed by his countrymen.
“What Putin is telling the world is just total bullshit. Lies. The propaganda is out of control. The truth is Ukraine wants to be an independent country and most of us want stronger ties to Europe,” says Stoyanov. “It’s insane how angry Ukrainians are right now. I’m mad, too. We are willing to fight for our independence and stand up to Putin.”
Ukrainian forces and civilian volunteers have slowed the predicted takeover of Kyiv but British intelligence services say Russian troops are massed about 18 miles north of the capital. Stoyanov says there is an “unreal, nervous chaos all around” that’s hard to describe.
“The streets have been totally empty at night because of the curfew. But the people here aren’t panicking and everyone is very respectful to each other. Where I am, there hasn’t been a lot of fighting. But I have seen explosions not far away, tanks in the street, check points everywhere,” says Stoyanov. “30,000 people have joined the civilian militia just in Kyiv. Electricity and the internet gets cut off and then turns back on again. It’s hard to know what exactly I should be doing since I don’t have any military training.”
Stoyanov says he feels relatively safe but every day he wakes up not knowing what to expect next.
“I’m thinking about maybe joining a civilian patrol team, especially if things get worse. For now, I’m just helping find supplies for the Ukrainian forces,” says Stoyanov. “Our military is not backing down and they have been doing well. I hope this will be over soon. I still plan on coming back to the U.S. but Ukraine will always be my home. ”
