Almost 600 days of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is hard to convey the feelings of civilians living under the gunfire and shelling, but it is even harder for the soldiers who are fighting for every meter of Ukrainian land with their strength and their lives.
We talked to Eugene Lata, a senior combat medic with a fire support company, about volunteering in 2014, working as a guide on Kilimanjaro, preparing for a full-scale invasion, and what motivates and keeps him in the hottest spots for more than a year.
Hello, Eugene. Thank you for taking this time with us. While preparing to talk to you, I came across an interview from 2014. Back then, you were a volunteer who returned from the UK as a successful National Geographic TV cameraman. Nine years have passed and I would like to know how they went for you, what happened during this time.
When I returned from the ATO, I moved to Tanzania to forget the horror of the war and learn to live anew. It was a psychological retreat, a break from everything. For some time I lived among the tribes, then worked as a guide on Kilimanjaro. Only a year later I realized that I could safely return to society and not pose a threat to it with my psychological problems. I returned to Ukraine and got a job in an IT company. For six years I worked as a head of marketing in IT in various companies. I traveled, worked in IT and played sports.
Where did the war catch up with you in 2022?
It so happened that my wife and I went to Georgia in January 2022. Everyone there was already talking about the war. We were thinking about whether we should return, because we realized that I definitely could not stay away, I would join the army. On the other hand, I promised my wife that I would never go to war again, that I would be with her now. We came back just a week before the war started, and I immediately updated my equipment, my medical backpack, my first aid kit. We planned what my wife, family, and sisters would do when the war started. On February 24 [2022], she packed her things, took the dog and left, and I went to the military registration and enlistment office and was drafted in the evening.
Did you have any idea about a new wave of military conflict? Has the worst-case scenario materialized?
I can’t imagine how you can make comparisons of war, because it’s a horror. And here it is impossible to imagine, it is impossible to compare your expectations from this war with what happened.
In the first days, I saw how Russia was advancing and I had the impression that in a couple of days they would really be in Odesa. That’s why we were fully mobilized. I have never considered the Russian army to be a bunch of bums, as our journalists say. I think it is one of the strongest armies.
Arestovich said that it would all be over in a couple of weeks. I was more pessimistic, I thought that in a couple of weeks we would lose our Ukraine. But the unity that was there in those first couple of weeks, months, when people were really as one, as one nation, saved us.
After the Kyiv campaign, I saw the results that these offensive and defensive campaigns were going well. Then I had full confidence that Ukraine would survive, although it would be at great cost, bloodshed, and for a long time.
You have already seen war, how did you not fear going again, what is your motivation?
I am sure that now I am much better prepared psychologically for this war. When you live on the front line, you turn into an animal with basic needs and instincts. I try to fight my psychological problems and switch to additional points. For example, to read books, learn English, try to plan something, sometimes do some exercise. It helps.
Last week was a year since my unit went to Mykolaiv region. We took part in the Kherson Company, in the liberated Kherson region, and now we are in the active phase of forcing the Dnipro. And we haven’t gone home in a year. We had a 10-day vacation, and that was it.
When you are under combat stress for a year, where there are constant explosions, losses and deaths, and you see others partying, walking, drinking, it is very, very difficult to endure it all morally. But the only motivation is to win and return home alive and healthy.
I understand that you’ve seen a lot of pain over the past year, but was there anything good?
Listen, there were good situations. In 2014, in my military research, I saw the Donetsk airport, only deaths, devastation, and that’s it. This time I saw the liberation of territories. The emotions that were on the faces of people who had waited, who had spent nine long months of occupation. They came out, crying. We hugged each other.
Such situations are very inspiring. And when I lose motivation due to terrible fatigue, I say: “Guys, do you remember when we went to the Kherson region? It was so cool. Would you like to go to Crimea or Berdiansk like that?” This is the desire to see once again what a holiday it is, a real holiday for people who have been waiting. There are a lot of collaborators there, but for most civilians living in these territories, it was really a holiday and joy. That’s true.
What was the worst part?
War is always scary. But it’s scary that even though Russia will not be able to defeat us on the battlefield, it will continue the war inside the country. The gap between the military and civilians, between the military and politicians, between civilians and politicians, between civilians and civilians is very wide. There is a terrible hatred towards each other, self-destruction. People are emotionally exhausted. If we all think that the war will end and everything will be as it was before, we must realize that it will not. Our economy, cities and villages will be destroyed.
And the most important thing is that when we win, I want us not to have this idiotic victorious syndrome that the Soviet Union had when it defeated Nazi Germany. Because this victorious syndrome leads to “our grandfathers fought and so will we”. We have to treat the war as a huge tragedy.
When I see what is being written in the public domain, our boys are already on the Left Bank, well done, let’s take Crimea, we will celebrate soon, and I have evacuations one after another, every night we risk going out on boats to just pick up the bodies of our brothers floating in the Dnipro. And when I see this crazy spending, and people celebrate on the Internet that the boys are secured. It hurts a lot, because the cost of every meter is your life. There should be no romanticization of the war.
What are your plans after the victory?
I have definitely decided for myself that I will go somewhere to travel, to see nothing, and no one will touch me. Now I want to finally live for myself. Some people say that our boys will return from the front and restore order. No, we will return and rest, because we need to recover.
Will you be conquering new mountains?
No, I’ll sleep for the first year, and then I’ll think about what mountains to conquer. In the new year of 2022, I set myself 10 goals for the year. And one of the goals was to spend as many nights outdoors with a tent as possible. Do you understand? This one was fulfilled. Now I’ve been living in a tent for a whole year, in dugouts and everything else. So you have to be very careful about planning something further.
Do you have enough inner strength to advise or wish civilians?
Hang in there. Take care of yourself and others. Prepare while there is still time. Attend medical courses, learn to shoot at a shooting range, take care of your health. I do not believe that everyone should join the army. Help the front line. Not necessarily financially, any talent can be used to win. Can you make a website for a military unit? Do it. You are a marketer, help with an advertising campaign to raise money.
Thank you for your guidance. We will be distributing the magazine to people in other countries, would you like to convey something to them?
People like to be offended by foreigners, why there is not so much military aid, but this is our war. We have to win. So I just want to thank them. That you are helping us in any way, thank you for supporting us.
All photos provided by Eugene Lata.
Interviewed and translated into English by Viktoriia Riepka
