Fighting For Ukraine

June 2nd 2025 Yuriy discusses the highly successful operation by Ukrainian special forces against Russian long-range strategic aircraft and delves into the symbolic significance of these aircraft for Russia, the historical context of their production, and the broader implications on Russian propaganda and the concept of a Soviet restoration. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is July 2nd. I understand that you are all aware of a highly successful operation by Ukrainian special forces, which destroyed or damaged dozens of Russian long range strategic aircraft using kamikaze drones. However, I must highlight a critical aspect of this operation. These aircraft are not only tools for killing Ukrainians, but also objects of religious worship for many Russians- a symbol of what they call "state greatness." Russia has no means to replace the destroyed aircraft. They were built 40, 50, or 60 years ago during Soviet times, and the technology to produce them has been lost. These planes represent the pinnacle of Soviet technological thought. After the collapse of USSR, the arms industry began to crumble. Russia lacks modern aircraft and helicopter engines, avionics, and, and proprietary software. Despite having access to modern technologies. We cannot replicate where our designs from the World War II era. Russian propaganda constantly claims: everything will return once the Soviet Union is restored. The planes, thousands of tanks, missiles- everything will be back as soon as the USSR is revived. This is called a cargo cult. The term originated during World War II, when inhabitants of remote Pacific Islands received various useful items from American soldiers stationed there. After the war ended, the islanders suddenly found themselves without canned food, Coca-Cola, or batteries for radios. They believed these things would return if we mimicked the American's actions. So we began building straw airplanes, crafting Jeeps out of mud and marching like soldiers. Russians have way own cargo cult. They believed that everything lost will return once the Soviet Union is restored. For this, they spare neither ours nor themselves. The restoration of the USSR is the kind of Moloch, to which Russians are ready to offer daily sacrifices. Their cargo cult is also a death cult. The destroyed aircraft are not only weapons eliminated, but also were humiliated idols of this bloody cult.

May 26th 2025 Yuriy explores the disturbing trend of boasting memoirs emerging from the Russians during the ongoing conflict. He contrasts these narratives with historical justifying memoirs from WWII, highlighting how Russian authors take pride in war crimes and attribute their failures to anything but the Ukrainian resistance. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is May 26th. Second World War gave bir to an entirely new, literally genre: the justifying memoir. Hundreds of former- and in some cases not-so former -Nazis wrote about the participation in the war in an attempt to justify the crimes they committed during it. Most of these books rely on a single excuse. "I was just following orders, so I cannot be held responsible." Today's war has also spawned a new genre: the boasting memoir. Hundreds of Russian occupiers have already written and published their accounts of killing Ukrainians, looting Ukrainian cities, torture and prisoners and kidnapping children. The authors of these books take immense pride in all of it. The main message of these books is simple. They, meaning Ukrainians, deserve it. They deserve it because they refuse to give up their culture and identity, refuse to submit to the rule of Russian maniacal tyrants, and simply want to live by their own minds. I sincerely hope that the entire war underground in Russia, if it exists at all, is buying, collecting, and preserving all these books so that one day where offers can be held accountable for genocide and war crimes. From what I've seen- and I do occasionally read Ukrainian reviews of this grotesque material- the Russian army is portrayed in these books as an invincible force, able to overcome anything. One book even includes a scene from the early days of the invasion where soldiers from a unit advancing on Kyiv draw lots to decide who will get the honor of raising the Russian flag over the Ukrainian parliament building. In other words they were sure that taking the Ukrainian capital would be a walk in the park, just a short trip toward medals and promotions. The fact that they never took Kyiv, that they we were forced to retreat from Chernihiv and Kharkiv, but they had to surrender the city of Kherson that they had once occupied- Russians try to explain with a thousand excuses: poor planning, bad timing, betrayal by commanders, the weather, or whatever else comes to mind. They can come up with a million reasons for their failures- except for the one real reason. It was not the weather or bad planning who stopped you, bastards. You did not reach Kyiv or Kharkiv not because you choose the wrong time to attack, you were stopped by the Ukrainian army. You were not greeted with flowers as you dreamed, you were greeted with fire. You are so-called elite, regular army was almost completely destroyed in the first few weeks of the war. And it was my brothers and sisters who burned it down. People most of whom had never even held a weapon before. But in order to destroy you, very quickly learned. I still remember how three years ago we figured out how to fix a jammed machine gun using a YouTube video, and we did fix it. But for you scoundrels, it's unbearably humiliating to admit that you were crushed by students and cooks, nurses and teachers. That you supposedly unbeatable army was stopped by yesterday's civilians. So you lie about planning and weather, in fact, you lie about everything. Your entire country is built on lies, but we'll fix it. Hope there is a video instruction about it on YouTube.

May 15th 2025 Yuriy shares a profound and unsettling realization about the ongoing war in Ukraine. He discusses how the conflict's end is a distant dream, given Russia's deep-seated ideology of destroying Ukraine, and emphasizes the grim reality that future generations will continue to perceive this war as a normal, permanent state. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is 15th of May. I recently came to a very important realization. It's a heavy one and it doesn't bring any comfort, but it's something we need to acknowledge. Look, for years we in Ukraine have been living in anticipation over war ending. We've been making plans for the post-war period. Dreaming about what will do once it's over. We've structured our entire existence around this idea of "after the war." But here's the truth, there will be no "after the war." There will be only war. It'll intensify at times when shift into a frozen or semi frozen phase, but it won't end because there is no one to end it. The entire ideology of modern Russia. Is built around the idea of destroying Ukraine. That idea consumes nearly the entire nation -from the president down to the janitor. There is no alternative vision, no other cultural foundation. Every year Russians publish hundreds of books about the necessity of destroying Ukraine. Their TV, movies, even comic books are nearly all about how great and noble it is to kill Ukrainians. In their schools they dedicate so much time to teaching children that their main purpose in life is to die in the trench fighting Ukrainians that I wouldn't be surprised if, next year, Russia cancels math and chemistry classes altogether and replaces them with lessons on how glorious it is to die for Putin. What's important to understand is that this has been going on for years. The first generation of children who were raised after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 -and who were taught from the early years that Ukraine has no right to exist- are now old enough to have children of their own. And they see the war to annihilate Ukraine as completely normal. They grew up with it. Their parents curse at Ukrainians in their kitchens at night, where teachers told them Ukraine must not exist, and on television they saw movies portraying Ukrainians as disgusting cunning, treacherous creatures who desert only death. Of course the children will see the world exactly the same as their parents. Russia, as country is programmed for war with Ukraine, it has no other purpose. In a few years or in a few decades, Putin will die and someone younger will take his place, but that person will have been raised in the same propaganda shaped by the same so-called cultural environment, one that offers no meaning ever when we need to commit genocide against Ukrainians. Any ceasefire, any pose in active fighting, even the slight softening in rhetoric will be seen by the Russian public as betrayal. That's why the Russian governments- any Russian government- will never end this war. We need to be ready for that. We must understand that all of these, the bombings, the torture of prisoners, the abduction of children from the occupied territories, the occupation itself, the terror attacks, the concentration camps. This is all permanent, at least for several generations. If, of course, was generations are even born.

May 7th 2025 Yuriy recounts the daily struggles of living in Kharkiv, a city near the Russian border, which faces relentless attacks from ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones, leading to widespread destruction and the construction of underground schools to protect children. His new substack article: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/donald-trump-president-god-antichrist You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is May 7th. I spent a few days in Kharkiv, my hometown, located just a few dozen miles from the Russian border. At the start of the invasion, the Russians shelled the city with artillery- the shells could reach several districts, killing civilians there. During those attacks, my parents narrowly escaped death. Today, kharkiv is no longer being hit by artillery. As soon as the Russian guns are brought into position, they are immediately destroyed. Now the city is under daily attacks from ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones. These drones are aimed at residential neighborhoods, each carrying several hundred kilograms of explosives. On top of that, the Russians strap large amounts of nails to them. After the explosion, the nails scatter at bullet speed, killing or maiming everyone in their path. I had a few days off and my comrades and I were allowed to stay at home- in the apartment that has stood empty since my parents were evacuated three years ago. It has several rooms with windows facing two different directions. One side faces directly toward the Russian border. I call it the drone side because that were only direction the drones come from when we slam into buildings. The other side- I call the ballistic side- the Russians launch ballistic missiles in a way that target whatever the drones can't reach. Dozens of drones and missiles hit the city each day. There are almost daily casualties and destruction. Constant destruction. You walk through the city and see ruined buildings smoke from fires caused by the strikes craters in the asphalt from missiles and cars shredded by shrapnel. The windows of homes are blown out everywhere, and the smell of burning is always in the air. But this is how it has always been for all three years of this full scale war. Kharkiv has lived like this. And yet there is a big change. Schools are now being built all over the city, but these aren't the kinds of schools you and I went to. These are underground schools. Huge excavation pits, house classrooms with several meters of reinforced concrete, crushed stone, and other materials above them- meant to protect students from missiles, shells, and drones. And this construction continues at full speed despite all the promises of peace, despite all the hopes that the war will end soon. Underground schools. Children spending years of their lives in basements- this is when you normal for towns near a Russian border. Because if your neighbors are murderers, you cannot live like other people do. You must protect what matters most- the children. And finally. I've written a new post on Substack. It's about Trump. Give it a read, and there are already a bunch of other pieces where as well. I'm sure you'll find something interesting. The link is in the description. Thank you.

April 28th 2025 In this episode, Yuriy explores the profound implications of rejecting evil deals through the lens of the gospel and Putin's bloody schemes. A deep dive into how Putin manipulates and destroys, and why it's crucial for us to prevent our world from becoming his. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is April 28.  I really love the episode in the gospel, where while tempting Christ, Satan offers him dominion over the whole world in exchange for just a single act of bowing before him. But Jesus refuses, he does not need the world, especially at the coast of bowing to the devil. Jesus does not want such a deal, he does not want any deals at all. The only successful deal in the gospels is the story of Judas and his easy money, but as everyone remembers, nothing good came out of it in the end. In general, all the gospels are about how life is far more complex than just a constant series of deals. Jesus, the apostles and all the positive characters simply do not know how to make deals.  And do you know who does? Putin. Just one example. He came up with a scheme to kill Americans by proxy. Russia paid $200,000 to the Taliban for each U.S. Soldier were killed in Afghanistan. For Putin, it is like a present. $200,000. It is pocket money for him, just nothing. So he was paying pennies for his bloody entertainment. For him, this was like a video arcade, but in real life. The Taliban earned about $30 million through this scheme, maybe even more. Again: Putin incentivized the Taliban to kill Americans by paying them for every American casualty. Why did he do this? Because he hates the United States, he hates the free world, and he's ready to go to any Satan to crawl at his feet, not even for dominion over the planet, but for a few burned out villages, just so that the free Ukrainian flag would not fly over them but instead, his own filthy mat smeared rag. He kills Ukrainians, he has killed Georgians. Chechens, Americans.  And America keeps forgiving him. Steve Witkoff, the US President's special envoy goes to the Kremlin like it is his day job, greets the murderer, asks how he's doing, says he's very glad to see him. And he shakes a hand that is stained with the blood of countless thousands murdered by this master of the deal. For three months now, the United States administration has been trying to figure out exactly what kind of deal Putin wants and what more they could offer him, like Witkoff's humiliations fawning over the murder of American soldiers. And Putin simply enjoys it: how a high ranking American official travels to meet him, how he groves around him, how he turns a blind eye to his bloodthirst and hatred, including hatred toward America. Putin does not need any deal. He wants the world itself. Preferably a world full of Witkoffs, unable to distinguish good from evil, Caesars from Gods. Jesus from Satan.  It's a terrible world for those who value freedom. For those who would never bow to the devil for those who refuse to become subjects of a murderous maniac. And let's do everything we can do to prevent our world from becoming Putin's world.  And one more request. I'm no master of the deal ever. I depend heavily on your support, which unfortunately is becoming scarcer. So I have to remind you, if you enjoy this podcast, please support me using the details provided in the episode description. Thank you very much.

April 24th 2025 Yuriy criticizes U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for attempting to understand Russia's stance on Ukraine, and highlights the recent devastating missile attacks in Ukraine, highlighting Rubio's silence to avoid offending Trump and Putin. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is April 24th.  United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that after he began talking with the Russians he started to better understand their position on Ukraine. I think if he managed to talk to ISIS Chief Executioner, Jihadi John, he would have developed a better understanding of ISIS position on Christians and if he had been born about eighty years earlier he might have found common ground with the authors of "The Final Solution To The Jewish Question" in Nazi Germany. By the way three years ago Russian propagandists were praising Putin for launching what they openly called "The Final Solution To The Ukrainian Question." Without the slightest hint of shame, they used the exact term. Final solution.  Marco Rubio is not a full. He fully understands that Putin dreams of completely destroying Ukraine and Ukrainians. He knows that any agreement on a ceasefire are not the end of the genocide but merely a pause. He simply hopes that the continuation of the war won't happen on his watch and will be someone else problem down the line. He also knows that his boss has a rather warm attitude towards the Kremlin's butcher and actually wants to maintain a cozy relationship with him. For Trump, Putin's Russia is a dream country, it's a place where you can get re-elected as  president indefinitely, where all political rivals are poisoned with Novichok, jailed for decades or simply shot. A country where criticizing the president equals treason, where the media compete in flattery towards the head of state and where courts do whatever he desires. A place where the word "liberal" is the worst insult, where immigrants are reduced to the level of slaves, where values are measured only in dollars, and where dignity and honor are just laughable words from old books whose meanings hardly anyone remembers anymore. It seems to me what this is exactly how Trump would like to see his own country. He wants to make it his personal property. To turn the United States into a Russia under a Stars and Stripes banner. Will he succeed? I don't think so. He never finishes anything he starts, from coups to trade wars. But he will definitely try. Meanwhile, his friend in Moscow continuous exterminating Ukrainians. Last night, our country suffered one of the largest missile attacks yet. A large number of people were killed in their own homes. At the same time many hours became orphans and widows. But Mr Rubio won't say a word about that for fear of offending his boss. Or both of his bosses. One in Washington, and one in Moscow.

April 17th 2025 Yuriy reflects on the guilt he feels for not providing a stable life for his daughter due to his involvement in various conflicts and war zones. Despite the hardships, his daughter's message reassures him that she understands his choices and forgives him for the difficulties they've faced. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is April 17.  My daughter has never had a peaceful, normal life, and first and foremost, that's my fault. I was not able to save a single penny for her when her mother took our home and all our money. I often had to deny her things when she was very little because the loan for the home we lost was left on me, and we were always short of money.  I was far away on days that were important to hear. She celebrated her birthdays while I was at revolutions in Central Asia or worse in the Middle East. She saw me return with more and more gray in my hair, saw my injuries, and understood that I could be killed or come back crippled. That burdened her deeply from childhood. I turned down excellent job offers in London and Prague, where we could have moved seven or eight years ago. I simply could not bring myself to leave my homeland, could not convince myself to go abroad even for a lot of money, and because of me, my daughter stayed in Ukraine- where a bloody war soon broke out. I knew this war was inevitable about six months before the full-scale invasion. I knew it and had every opportunity to leave the country like many of my friends did. I mean ex friends.  They all settled well abroad and are living full lives. But I stayed and I joined the Army as soon as the big war started, even though I could stayed behind and continued working as I did before.  My daughter and I have never spoken about all this, but I've always felt guilty for living her without a penny, for being far away, for not taking her to Europe, for going to war. In short, for doing everything to make her life harder, not easier, and I keep making it harder. She recently wrote me a message about all this without me telling her a word about my disturbances. It started with simple words. "You did everything right." She wrote that she worries about me and even tried to pray though she has never been religious. And at the end she wrote, "I don't know how I would feel about you if you had to decide to hide from service."  You know, that means a lot to me. I wasn't the best father, but I was forgiven for it. I was far away, but I always came back to my daughter. Maybe I'll come back this time too.

April 14th 2025 In this poignant episode, Yuriy recounts the tragic death of a young pianist during a missile strike in Sumy. Through this devastating personal loss, Yuriy highlights the relentless terror inflicted by Russian forces and the global indifference that allows it to continue. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is April 14.  A few weeks ago I was in Sumy. There a festival for veterans was held during which they read their works and watched theatrical performances based  on their texts. Both days of a festival were completely packed. I helped organize the fest and brought several veterans there, including my friend who was injured by two mines, about whom I recently told you. At one of the performances was live musical accompaniment. A young woman played the piano wonderfully; she was completely passionate about the music. Literally, unveiling new meanings in the text with her playing.  And yesterday, she was killed in the center of her hometown. She became one of the 34 people who lost their lives during a missile strike on the center of Sumy. This is just one day and one city, one Russian terrorist attack. It's an immense pain, a terrible, endless horror. I have already lost count of a number of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who have perished. Every day, someone from among them dies on the front line or in the read due to this insidious Russian terrorist attacks. And why is this unending? Because Putin and the rest of the Russians see that we will face no repercussions. No one will supply Ukraine with thousands of missiles and hundreds of tanks, nor will anyone provide the weaponry needed to avenge this detestable country properly. No one will completely cut off the channels through which the Russians still obtain the funds to continue the war. Moreover, they will negotiate cooperation and the restoration of diplomatic relations with the Russians.  Hey, Western enthusiasts of negotiating with thugs and murders, your diplomatic ties reek of the blood of innocent people. They reek of the blood of the pianist from Sumy, of a teacher from Dnipro of the children from Kryvyi Rih- blood paid with your money received through cooperation with Russia, and it's not your blood, but the blood of thousands of people killed all across Ukraine. And the fact that you continue to cooperate with the Russians, that you negotiate while they kill children, only inspires them to commit even more murders.  This cannot be forgiven. It cannot be forgotten. Living with this unbearable pain is difficult, but it must be done. We live in a very bad world, a world ruled by maniacs and self-obsessed fools. Yet, within our power, we can make it a little better even amidst this hell into which this cursed planet has now the descended. The main thing is not to give up.

April 8th 2025 Yuriy shares the harrowing and inspiring story of his friend who lost his leg to a Russian mine but remains determined to fight for his country's liberation. Through tales of courage, resilience, and unwavering principles, Yuriy highlights the stark contrast between those who resist occupation and those who accept it. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is April Eighth.  I have a friend who lost his leg after stepping on the Russian mine. He and his unit ended up in a mine field that was not marked on any map. Several people were wounded in the explosions. He applied a tourniquet on himself to avoid bleeding to death, and then his comrades dragged him to the evacuation point. There is a special handle on the back of a body armor made exactly for this- to pull a wounded soldier, but while we were dragging him, another mine exploded under him.  By the time he reached the hospital, the first explosion had already torn off his leg. Shrapnel from the second mine pierced through his body armor, broke several ribs, punctured his lungs and injured several internal organs. My friend survived. He walks now with a prosthetic leg. By the way, he underwent rehabilitation in the United States, and I'm incredibly grateful to the American people for helping him. You saved an amazing human being. He's still in the military. He didn't retire even before he had every right to.  And the thing is he could have just stayed and lived under Russian rule and never put his life at risk. He's from a small town near Donetsk- occupied by Russians since 2014. He used to run a construction business there. One day, he was driving out to a construction site outside the town. That morning, the Ukrainian flag was flying at the edge of his neighborhood. By the evening when he was returning. The Russian tricolor rag was already up. And you know, it really happens just like that- that easily. The local authorities panic and submit to the enemy. Confused cops swear allegiance to the occupiers. Most of the population either becomes scared or indifferent. A few who resist, they get tortured or publicly executed. And just like that where occupation is complete- a few hours, and it's done. And my friend who had lived all his life in the suburbs of Donetsk, who still speaks the Russian that was imposed during the Soviet era, better when Ukrainian, who just happened to be out of town when it was occupied- he saw that flag rushed home, gathered his kids who were still in school at that time told his wife to grab the documents and a few essentials, and they all fled to Kyiv. He did not accept the occupation. He didn't want to live under the invader rule. Even for with his business skills and knowledge, he could have easily thrived under occupation, but his ideas of honor, morality, and values. Did not let him stay with the Russians, work for them and see every day war who are killing Ukrainians and trying to destroy Ukraine.  For many others though, this is not a problem. My own brother still lives somewhere in Moscow. Every day, I imagine, he, his posters glorifying murders and rapists now declared heroes by the Russian regime. He crosses paths with, these killers in stores, on commuter trains, in schools where he drops off his kids. Those kids, by the way, are being taught to hate Ukraine in school, to see the murder of Ukrainians as a purpose in life.  And he's okay with all of it. He feels safe and comfortable there- among looters and war criminals. So comfortable that he never even tried to escape. Never dared to even plan a way out.  Meanwhile, my friend from Donetsk is now planning an eye surgery. Without a leg and with broken bones, he can no longer serve in the special operations unit of the Ukrainian Marines where he was before his injury. But he can still become a sniper if he improves his vision, and that's what he's working on now. So that he can return to his hometown, liberated from occupation, drive the Russians out or die trying. But not betray himself, not betray the values, and principles that mean more than comfortable life.

April 2nd 2025 Yuriy reveals the grim reality of new Russian tactics involving high-altitude kamikaze drones and shares a heartwarming story about receiving a donated van from an Estonian supporter. This vehicle is set to become a crucial asset for his media and veteran rehabilitation unit amidst the ongoing conflict. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is April 2nd.  Sorry for not recording anything for so long I was terribly exhausted and deeply overwhelmed by a flood of bad news- starting with Neil Young canceling his concert in Ukraine and ending with endless Russian shelling of our cities. They are using a new tactic now their kamikaze drones have started flying at very high altitudes before diving onto targets. This helps them evade air defense systems though it significantly reduces the accuracy. Not that they care about accuracy, they just hit residential areas, killing random people.  You know, when White House officials in Washington recently spoke about Putin supposedly being responsible and focused on peace in Kyiv, first responders, were pulling the bodies of a 5-year-old girl and her father from the rubble. That that's Russian's idea of peace. And it's like this almost every day. Endless terror. The weather is not helping either -cold and almost constant rain.  But there is also good news. I even say great news.  I now have a vehicle, a whole van that sits, eight people. It's not new, of course, it's 20 years old. But I got it for free. It was simply donated to me by an ordinary Estonian guy who decided to help the Ukrainian army. He started looking for someone who could use his van the most and found our unit, which works on media and veteran rehabilitation. I went to Lviv to pick it up and now, the van is with me. My comrades decided it would be best used for filming videos and recording podcasts- which is exactly what I do. I even dream of converting it into a mobile studio someday, but what will take time.  I keep saying this: our country would not have survived without outside help. My family would have likely lost several members, if not for foreigners who stepped in to help me. I tried to repay that kindness by making this podcast telling you what's really happening here and what we feel. And let's be honest, things are tough. Russians are killing people every day. The war has not become any less bloody, but we are holding on thanks to people like Kaarel from Estonia -and you. Thank you.

March 20th 2025 Yuriy discusses the Western world's misguided approach to negotiating with Putin and the catastrophic implications for Ukraine and global democracy. He questions, 'What would Elvis do?' in the face of such evil, invoking the spirit of past heroes who stood against oppression. /help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is March 20.  It has become physically painful for me to read news because time and time again I see attempts to normalize evil. I watch as the Western world tries to speak with Putin- the very man who kills and terrorize Ukrainians every single day, who has ordered the abduction of thousands and under whose command Ukrainian prisoners are tortured and executed- as if he were a regular politician, the normal president of a normal country. No one demands that he stop the torture, the suffering. Instead, we ask him: what would you like in exchange for stopping your terror?  What can we offer you? So that you will stop killing children every day? And of course, whatever is offered will come at the expense of Ukrainians.  I know that by saying this, I will lose some American listeners, some will follow Vice President Vance's lead and start shouting that Ukrainians should be grateful for past support and keep quiet when the big wise men in the White House decides what to do with us. But I have to say this, negotiating hockey games with Putin, pressuring Ukraine to give up its occupied territories, these are not peace initiatives. These are the normalization of evil and an attempt to force us into surrender. We are being asked to abandon our occupied lands. And that means abandoning the people who live there. They will continue to be persecuted, tortured, murdered, their  children taken, and turned into Russians, the war will not end. It will simply take another form and only for a time. Given a break in fighting, Russia will seize the opportunity to regroup, correct its mistakes, amass strength, and buy a few more immoral American reporters to spread its propaganda in the West. And then they will return.  Don't think we only want war ruined cities they have bombed and occupied. They still want to completely erase Ukraine as a state, to either turn Ukrainians into Russians or to kill us. This is an imperial project, a campaign to destroy everything democratic and progressive, to turn it into a swamp and absorb it.  It has always been this way. And the American governments used to understand that in the past. Why did US troops remain in Europe after defeating Nazism? Because Russia was no less of an aggressive threat. When Nazi Germany.  What was Elvis doing in Europe during his military service? He was part of a force that stood ready to fight back if Russia attempted to invade the West.   Many in the West still don't fully grasp the future of this war. They think it is simply Russia attacking Ukraine. But what is not quite true. This is Russia's attack on the free world, Ukraine is just the first victim and trying to negotiate with murders, bribing them with Ukrainian land, is a betrayal of ideals of democracy. It is a betrayal of a memory of those who fought past wars on the side of good against evil. What would was millions of heroes of the past do if they saw what is happening now?  What would Elvis do? Whose side would he be on?  

March 5th 2025 Yuriy reflects on the ironic contrasts between his own life and the themes of Neil Young's music, sharing personal anecdotes of imprisonment and military service while expressing gratitude for the support of listeners and Neil Young's planned concert in war-torn Ukraine. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)        It is 5th of March,  The other day I got a hair cut- an army style one of course done with clippers so that for the next month until the next trim, I wouldn't even have to think about a comb. And while while they were cutting my hair, I found myself humming. Almost Cut My Hair through Masterpiece by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, probably the greatest band in rock 'n' roll history. The irony is what the song tells the story of someone who was on the verge of cutting their long hair, the symbol of rebellion and free spirit for the sake of mundane, bourgeois life. But at the last moment, held back. I, on the other hand, have nothing bourgeois about me, yet I keep cutting my hair short.   Out of all four musicians in Crosby, steel Smash, and Young, I always liked the last one, Neil Young. The most, the most restless, the most rebellious of them all. I've loved his music since I was a teenager. You know that feeling when a song seems to be telling the story of your own life. That's how it was for me, even when I grew up. When I was arrested by the police in Egypt and sent to prison, Neil Young's Mid East Vacation was playing in my head. By the way, back in 2012, I was arrested on charges of spying for the United States.  I took pride in that for years, but now looking at the United States, I think, no, but was not worth going to jail for, even for was few hours, which the police needed to find out that I was really a journalist covering the Tahrir Revolution.  At the beginning of a full scale invasion and my military service, I kept recording Youngs Living With War, and when I missed home and my family terribly, his Going Home.  And just recently I remember it that the very first thing I bought on my first ever trip to the United States years ago was Neil Young's book, Waging Heavy Piece. I bought it in an airport bookstore right after passing passport control.   And the day after my latest haircut, I read in the news that Mr. Young is coming to perform here in Ukraine. This is a real miracle. I don't quite understand how it's going to happen because gathering people in a stadium or a large concert hall is extremely dangerous- we are under constant bombardment. I don't know if I'll be able to attend the concert because I'm in the Army and it's far from certain that I'd get leave- or that there would be even available seats. But... But! The most important thing is that he's at least planning to come. That at the very least, through his plans, he's supporting Ukraine.  The only ones, I'm more grateful to when him, are you- my listeners, most of you who go out to rallies for Ukraine, who support our resistance, who make it possible for us sooner or later to finally rocking in a free world.   

March 23rd 2025 Yuriy describes how fear has evolved for the people in Ukraine, shifting from an abstract concept to a practical reality as they learned to live under the constant threat of shelling and missile strikes. Now, as uncertainty looms again, they find themselves gripped by a familiar yet paralyzing fear of the unknown, making it hard to find solace and hope in the chaos. Yuriy's latest substack article: https://open.substack.com/pub/yuriymatsarsky/p/kurd-klux-klan?r=dzvo1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It's 3rd of March.  It's strange how quickly fear evolves before the full scale war began. When the Russians were amassing troops at our borders, and their TV was filled with promises to destroy Ukraine in a matter of days, fear was vague- people, myself included, we are afraid of an abstract war. It was terror of something unknown and not yet fully understood.  After the invasion began, fear transformed almost immediately. People became afraid of shelling, missile strikes and sought shelter from loud noises. Over time, even that fear changed. People learned to distinguish what was exploding and how far it was just by sound to know whether they needed to hide. Our children in kindergarten can identify artillery calibers by sound and understand whether the artillery can reach them. Fear didn't disappear; it simply adapted, became more practical- more, if I may say so, functional.  But now the same fear of unknown, that existed before the full scale war is rising again. Once again, we are faced with uncertainty. We don't know what comes next for us, our fate, the fate of our children, is being decided behind our back without our participation. We are treated like goods with powerful players want to sell for their own profit, and if no buyer is found, simply discard us. Discard living people. People who did not start this war, who never brought weapons to foreign lands, who are only defending their own .  This fear keeps us awake at night, clouds our judgment, and makes it impossible to live normally. We all try to distract ourselves in some way. I, for example, have started to write about the Middle East on Substack again, but it does not help much. Uncertainty is a terrify thing. It's no coincidence they say that waiting for death is worse than death itself, and we don't even know what we are waiting for- for death, betrayal being sold out to Putin, or if we're just being scared for some incomprehensible purpose. But regardless, it's terrifying.  Of course, fear has been with us all these years. But we had hope, the free world showed at us that we are not alone, that it stood with us. But now the free world is lost in confusion. And that confusion could come at the high price, not just for us, but for everyone else too.  It's so strange, when the full scale war began. My daughter was 16, in just a few days, she will turn 20. The Russians stole her best years. War stole them. And there is a danger that this is only the beginning, that it's not just three years of war, but the first three years of war.    

February 25th 2025 Yuriy reflects on three years of relentless warfare on the Ukrainian front lines, sharing his raw emotions and the harsh realities of a soldier's life. Amidst despair and international betrayal, he finds hope in the unwavering support from ordinary people around the world.   You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is February 25th.  Today marks three years and one day since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the largest war on the European continent since World War II. And exactly three years since I became a soldier.   What has changed over these years? Everything and nothing at the same time. I've received several awards, but not a single promotion- I remain a private. I'm not chasing a career, just as I didn't in my past,  peaceful life. We have a saying 'a clean shoulder board means a clean conscience.' A private has nothing on his shoulder board. No stripes, no stars.  What else? We still have the same enemy, the same thirst for victory, the same Ukraine. What has changed? Tens of thousands of countries best sons and daughters are gone- murdered by Russian invaders. Thousands more will die in the future.  We will be no deal to stop the bloodshed- Russians won't stop until they destroy us all, or until they inflict a defeat so Russian that we lose our ability to continue the war.  And it's getting harder for us. One of our key partners, the United States, is increasingly drifting toward our enemies. Just recently at the United Nation General Assembly where Americans stood in a united front with Putin and Lukashenko, it happened so quickly. Three years ago, we began resisting one nuclear-armed state then another- North Korea joined the fight against us. Now on the diplomatic front, yet another nuclear power- the United States -is beginning to support our enemies.   You know when you read history books, you can always find the moment of greatest crisis in any given era- the darkest hour. The battle on the Somme in World War I, the fall of France in World War II and so on. But for us, this entire war is one endless darkest hour where is no single moment of crisis. It's constant, or at least what's how it feels.  Three years of stolen in life, three years of endless death and pain, three years of genocide. It's incredibly difficult not to despair. Truly difficult. It's hard not to lose your mind when you read the news, that our once greatest foreign ally now refuses to call Russia an aggressor or Putin a murderer, and instead shifts the blame for genocide onto its victims. And that is why the support from ordinary people in the West is invaluable. People who continue to stand with Ukraine, even when, their governments are ready to throw themselves back into Putin's arms for a few bucks- these people are incredible. Without these people, we wouldn't have lasted this long. Never as a country nor I as a individual. Thank you, and we are not given up.  

February 19th 2024 Yuriy recounts a vivid and disturbing dream about a hypothetical U.S. president who allies with Hitler during World War II. The dream explores the consequences of such an alliance on the principles of freedom and democracy. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is February 19.  The other night I was sleeping and had a terrifying dream, just horrible. It was about how, in the midst of Second World War, a man came to power in the United States after promising during his election campaign to end the war. In just a few weeks or even days by making everyone come to an agreement. At that time, the United States was an extremely important country, the main stronghold of a Western world, the arsenal of democracy, the land of the free, and the home of a brave.   And so as this man was elected, he immediately started talking about his great relationships with Adolf Hitler. He even called him "Mr. Hitler" and did not hide his admiration for him. Many in Europe thought this was some kind of clever game, that the United States president was actually making calculated moves to flatter the furor into a trap. But very quickly it became clear that this was not the case.  The new United States President accused Europe of refusing to negotiate with Mr. Hitler about peaceful coexistence. He claimed that the war would not have started if only Europeans had peacefully agreed to hand over their rights, their laws, their borders, and their history to Nazi control.  "This is your fault!" The new American president, shouted at the Europeans "Because of you we can't freely trade without Nazi partners. Because of you we have inflation and, an influx of refugees who for some reason refuse to die in the comfortable and welcoming concentration camps of Mr. Hitler."  Then the president continued, "Of course we are still the land of the free, but we are willing to give up quite a bit of what, that 'free' includes. If it means the price of eggs drops by a few cents. And naturally we are still the home of the brave, but you must understand we are not brave enough to risk upsetting Mr. Hitler."  I woke up at the moment when the main stronghold of a western world raised a white flag, and the padlock was placed on the gates of the arsenal of democracy, along with a sign that read: "Closed at the request of our partner, Mr. Hitler" Phew! I thought, what a relief, but it was just a dream, just a terrible, bad dream, right.  

February 14th 2025 Yuriy provides a powerful reminder of the enduring importance of dignity, freedom, and resistance against oppression. We delve into historical parallels and current threats, reinforcing the necessity of standing with Ukraine against tyranny and occupation. Here is a link to the substack article he mentioned in this episode: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/middle-eastern-tortuga  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is February 14.  Today, I just want to remind you what a deal in which dignity, freedom, and human lives are measured in dollars is a very bad deal because there are things more variable than dollars.  Let me remind you that the war will not end as long as there is even a single inch of occupied land in Ukraine. Because even if the guns fall silent, the torture chambers and concentration camps will not disappear. And every day, just like now, people will be tortured and murdered there. So, leaving towns and villages under occupation while saying what the most important thing is to prevent people from dying is hypocrisy and a lie. People will continue to die.   It is strange but it has to be repeated in the 21st century. But I will remind you anyway: Nazis are scum, occupation is a crime, and appeasement of an aggressor never works. "Blessed are the peacemakers said Jesus," but he did not mean those who give the aggressor everything they desire and when, call it peace.  The other day, my brother in arms said that the West is now in the same position as Ukraine was during the Balkan Wars of 1990s. Back then we were all going about our lives, not even thinking that one day, we too could face a siege like Sarajevo or mass executions like in Srebenica. Right now, you are not thinking about it, but the threat of war escalating is very real. I will finish today on a somewhat solemn note, but forgive me for that. Before the start of Second World War, Winston Churchill said that a nation that chooses shame over war will get both shame and war. Do not choose shame. Stand with Ukraine. Stand for freedom and dignity.  

February 7th 2025 Yuriy reflects on the decline of global moral values and the impact on war-torn regions like Ukraine and Gaza. He shares poignant personal stories, urging listeners to support the fight for freedom and dignity. Here is a link to the substack article he mentioned in this episode: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/middle-eastern-tortuga  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   Is February 7th.  It's a little strange to think about it now, but I remember very well with times when politicians, intellectuals, and even big business representatives emphasized with human life and dignity were the main value. That freedom was at treasure, that had to be preserved and for which one could sacrifice a lot. Those times are long gone now politicians are looking for an understanding with scoundrels and murderers advising Ukraine to give Putin its territories so that he can show his people at least something as proof of victory and seriously discussing the possibility of stopping military aid so that the war can end as soon as possible.  We live in an era of cowards and sellouts, people who are willing to sell freedom and dignity to anyone who is willing to buy them. We stand on the shoulders of the giants who defeated Nazism and destroyed the insane and senseless evil empire called the USSR, and these giants are ashamed of how we have distorted the world we built. Human life is no longer the main value. People no longer mean anything their opinion can no longer be taken into account if you are rich and powerful enough.  And this is exactly what we are seeing now in the Gaza Strip, which is probably the most cursed and terrible place on Earth. I've been there many times as a reporter, I had friends there, I knew how scary it could be during the bombing. I almost stayed there forever after Hamas accused me of spying for Israel. But you know what the main impression of Gaza is? People there are humiliated and intimidated, they have no hope for anything good. The blockade, endless wars, and the dictatorship of the Hamas facts have deprived them of their freedom and dignity. And now rich people from wealthy, powerful countries are deciding what to do with these Gazans, coming up with plans that would have seemed completely detached from reality a few years ago, but now can easily be implemented.  I have written a new text about this on Substack. There will be a link to it in the episode description where some of my photos there. They show a terrible Gaza ruled by cruel people, but which was home to many. There is a photo with a girl on the street. I don't know who she's or where she's from, I just took it this photo by accident. But every day I think about her, about whatever she is alive or not crippled. I think about her parents and about millions of other people, first of all, here in Ukraine. We must somehow hold on until the time when Freedom and Dignity become the main values again.  And while we are holding on, read my text and if you like, send me a few dollars. Thank you.  

January 24th 2025 Yuriy delves into the upcoming presidential elections in Belarus and the oppressive regime of Alexander Lukashenko. He explores the impact of his 30-year rule and the international implications of his policies. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)        It is January 24.  If you think the American elections weren't enough, well in just a couple of days you are in for another one. This Sunday, Belarus will be electing its president. Most likely you have not heard anything about it, even in Ukraine, where the common border with Belarus is almost a thousand miles long few people know about it. Why? Because these are elections with a predetermined outcome.  Everyone already knows who the president will be, even if no one votes for him. Under any circumstances, Alexander Lukashenko will remain the ahead of a state.  This mentally ill man and he truly is ill, having undergone treatment in the 1980s without success has helped Belarus hostage for 30 years and plans to secure another five year term.  He's a true maniac, willing to do anything to clink, to power. What's more, he despises the country he governs. He has no respect for Belarusian history, culture, or language. To give you an idea, there is no complete version of the Belarusian constitution in the national language. It exists only in Russian. The country's official symbols are not the national flag and code of arms, but slightly modified Soviet ones.  All talented artists, writers and musicians have either been exiled from Belarus or are behind bars. Today as it was in the USSR, creativity is only allowed with state's permission and under its control. Lukashenko uses violence to stay in power, killing and torturing war who seek freedom and democracy. He's been doing this for 30 years and plans to continue.  Despite all these many in Ukraine. Just a few years ago, considered Belarus an ideal state and Lukashenko the best leader. Why this happened and what it led to, I won't explain here better yet, I'll give you a link to my substack. I recently published a piece there about Belarus. If you find it interesting, please share it and if you are not interested, you can check my other articles. There is one about Christmas in the Middle East, another about the founder of World's First anarchist republic one about Bethlehem and much more.  Writing this pieces is incredibly important to me, not only to stay connected to my main profession, but also because your donations for them literally keep me going. If you enjoy my stories, you can always support me and also you can follow me on Blue Sky, all links in the description.  By the way, Belarus is not a foreign land to me. My last name likely has a Belarusian roots. I've worked there, narrowly avoided  ending up in one of the Lukashenko's prisons and have plenty of stories to share about Belarus. If you are interested, let me know and I'll dedicate an entire episode to this topic because the Lukashenko regime is really a sleeping monster filled with hatred towards democracy,  obsessed with a Soviet past, and now armed with Russian nuclear bombs. And this monster is right in the center of Europe.  

January 17th 2025 Yuriy describes through the brutal realities faced by the Ukrainian territorial defense forces. He details the unwavering spirit of everyday people standing up to defend their homeland. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is January 17.  Over the past year, Russians have killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war. This year, they continue to execute people who surrender. We do this openly knowing that were being recorded by Ukrainian reconnaissance drones, and often they film this acts themselves and post them online. They take pride in killing wars who lay down their arms. They want everyone. To see how brutal they are, how deeply they hate territorial defense fighters. Because it is people from territorial defense whom Russians kill in the first place.  Why such hatred specifically for the territorial defense forces? Why are my comrades and I at maximum risk? What infuriates work so much about us? From the very start of the full scale invasion, Russian propaganda portrayed the territorial defense as a gathering of fanatics who voluntarily joined the military solely to kill Russians. For years propagandists spread tales that only crazed sadists served in the territorial defense. People who lined up to join the Army just to get weapons and finally kill Russians.  They took one real fact- we really did stand in lines for hours during the first day of a war and built a myth around it depicted territorial defense members as savages, whose sole purpose in life is to kill Russians. In reality, the territorial defense now includes not just volunteers; many were mobilized after the volunteer numbers became insufficient. None of us would have taken arms to kill Russians if they had not invaded our land with weapons and the intent to destroy our country. Killing invaders has become a way of life for thousands of very different people, not just war and the Territorial Defense.  You know, it's a very strange story. The Territorial Defense began as  groups of people protecting their towns or neighborhoods with a vast majority having no real military experience before the full scale war. Now, the territorial defense fights on the hottest front lines, often hundreds of miles from their homes. They fight fiercely and bravely. And it is us, once entirely civilian people, who invaders have joined into the most relentless enemies.  The killing of prisoners of war is a horrific crime, a sign of inhumanity of true monsters. But in this war, there is no crime the Russians have not committed. I am proud to stand on the side of good, proud to be among those who fight with blood thirsty, senseless heart, risking our lives every day. Eternal glory to those who have fallen at the hands of the scum that invaded our land and let it be a reminder two wars who torture and kill prisoners- we will find you. Every last one of you.  

January 6th 2024 Yuriy breaks down the recent military and political upheavals in Syria, revealing the broader implications for Putin's Russia and the global stage. Delving deep from the frontlines, Yuriy uncovers the hidden narratives and draws strategic insights on striking back against aggression. Check out Yuriy's latest blog on his substack here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153574207  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is January 6th.  What is happening in Syria right now is not just the collapse of the Assad regime: it is also a loud and resound and defeat for Putin's Russia. You can't even imagine how significant this defeat is. Unfortunately, Western politicians don't fully grasp this.  Otherwise, we would draw proper conclusions from this failure. Let's start with the fact that during the early years of Syrian civil war, Moscow did not offer much help to Assad. Most of the assistance was limited to miserable food supplies sent as humanitarian aid to Syrians. I remember seeing firsthand in 2012 how bags of gray, cheapest Russian pasta delivered with great pomp to Latakia airport were discarded by the roadside. When I asked locals why they treated the aid  that way, they replied, "We won't reject help when it's offered, but we can't eat this stuff. Have you seen this pasta? Even our dogs won't touch that garbage."  Putin turned his attention to Syria only after starting the war against Ukraine in 2014, that's when Russia got involved in a foreign war. From the outset, Putin pursued several objectives in Syria: trying to find common ground with the West, which was already fighting ISIS there, supporting the kindred dictatorship of Assad and testing weapons and military tactics for later use against Ukraine. For years, Syria became the top topic of Russian propaganda. It was declared Russia's closest ally. TV broadcasts proclaimed Syria as the birthplace of orthodox Christianity, emphasizing the need to protect it from Islamists. Instead of pasta bullets, missiles and mercenaries were sent to Latakia and Damascus.  Here I need to pose and remind you that the only way this podcast is monetized is through your donations. It's tough without them. Please check the episode description for all the necessary details on how to support me. Thank you.  Back to Syria. Russia poured tens of billions of dollars into the conflict. These funds were spent on weapons, infrastructure, propaganda, and even Russian language textbooks, which suddenly became mandatory in Syrian schools. Enormous sums were spent on the war that was supposed to be Putin's triumph. He even visited Syria himself boasting about how he had won and how everything would now be wonderful.  In return for these billions, the Russians secured from Assad the continued operation of a Soviet era level base in Tartus. This base became the primary supply hub for Russian allies and mercenaries in Libya, the Central African Republic, and our countries of region. And now, all of this has suddenly vanished. Assad, Russia's best friend, is gone. A country so significant for Christianity has been surrendered. Russia is on the verge of losing its basis, and billions have been wasted for nothing. And what does Putin do? Nothing. His propaganda machine simply blames Iran, claims that the Syrians did something wrong, or insists that the Russian operation there ended long ago. There's been no nuclear escalation, no mass mobilization, nothing. Their main ally has simply been abandoned it. And this is precisely how Russia will abandon occupied parts of Ukraine. Propaganda  will spin the narrative, but it was actually a victory, not a defeat, that all objectives were achieved and everything is fine.  What's happening in Syria demonstrates to the entire world that Putin will abandon everything and everyone, relinquish any conquests if he's hit hard enough. Don't fear Putin. Strike him. He must lose.     

January 2nd 2024 Yuriy reflects on the bleak reality of a new year amidst ongoing war and the absence of miracles. He describes the unrelenting horrors of conflict and the hope for the warmth of spring. Check out Yuriy's latest blog on his substack here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153574207  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It's January 2nd.  Here comes the new year. Congratulations. A new year, but the same old war. It's just as it was. The insane deranged horde of murderers and rapists hasn't gone anywhere. Hasn't disappeared, hasn't retreated to where stinking holes in their vile country. There's been no Christmas Miracle, no New Year's miracle. There are no miracles at all. We were all lied to. There can be no miracles in the world where the governments of peaceful countries can calmly watch for years as Russian maniacs kill Ukrainian children and women every day. There can be no miracles in the world, that still hasn't found a way to deal with a monster in the Kremlin and instead trades with him and makes deals. There are no miracles. New year is just a day to change the calendar. Christmas means even less. Supposedly, it was the day when the Savior was born, but Russian theier paint his face on their uniforms, and this Savior doesn't object. They decorate their planes with his icons, planes that bomb schools, and maternity wards, and he forgives them. They lie to the whole world, claiming they kill thousands of people and destroy entire cities in his name. And what about him? What does the savior do? Who is his saving?  When the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz was liberated, an inscription was found on one of its walls left by a Jewish prisoner who perished there: "if there is a God, he will have to beg me for forgiveness."  You know what's changed since when? Not much. The Nazis today, aren't Germans, they're Russians. The concentration camps aren't in Nazi occupied Poland, but in Russian occupied Eastern Ukraine. The letter Z has replaced with swastika. That's the only difference. And here we are with this stupid new year, with its empty, never fulfilled hopes for something better. Well, maybe there is one benefit to this New Year. It means the first month of winter is over. The spring is closer, but we only need to hold on for two more months until the warmth begins. Spring is always easier. When it's warm, when you are not soak it in cold rain and you are not shivering in a damp basement during a shelling. Spring will be better. The main thing is to make it until when.

December 24th 2024 Yuriy recounts his tense experience during the 2010 Kyrgyzstan Revolution, where he was mistaken for an Al-Qaeda member. A simple act involving vodka cleared his name and granted him freedom... Check out Yuriy's latest blog on his substack here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153574207  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)     It is December 24th. I hope you enjoyed my story about Madame President in Kyrgystan. I have plenty of other stories from my past life and I'm happy to share them with you. It helps me distract myself from our rather grim present, and it might help you  understand me better. Today, I'll tell you more about the same trip during which I met President Rosa Otunbayeva. This one is a story about Al-Qaeda.  During the 2010 Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, some of the main events took place in a city called Osh. It was a hometown of a president who had been ousted by the Revolution and most of his inner circle. They tried to consolidate where power there, but they failed due to a fierce resistance of the people. I was in the local regional government building when it was stormed by protestors. The building was defended by supporters of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. They formed a human chain armed with sticks, rebar, and stones, facing a massive crowd building similar weapons.  About a half a mile away, a unit of local police, about a hundred officers, stood in the grove. We did not intervene but simply observed the brawl. Fortunately, it ended rather quickly and without significant bloodshed. The former president's supporters fled when they realized they were vastly numbered. Only when did the police approach the building. Their major bummed a cigarette off me- I still smoked back then- and complained about how the world was seeing Kyrgyz people at their worst: arm ed with sticks and stones. The police lined up along the facade of a government building while a rally of a victorious crowd began in the square in front of it.  I watched the scene unfold, standing among the crowd. The weather was beautiful. People were happy, the only eye sore was the massive Lenin monument around which the pro-democracy rally took place. A relic of Soviet times. There are still thousands of such Lenin statues across the post-Soviet space.  In the middle of the crowd, two young Kyrgyz men in suits approached me. One whispered that they were from the local branch of main security service- the National Security Committee -and discretely showed me his ID near waist level so our wouldn't see the ever carefully moved his jacket aside to reveal a pistol underneath. The first one will likely asked me to follow them and warned what it was in my best interest to comply.  We left the crowd and walked through nearly deserted streets. Most residents were either at the square or hiding at home fearing further street battles. After about 10 minutes, we arrived at the police station and entered it. It was just as empty. My two escorts led me to a back room where a middle aged civilian man sat looking visibly nervous. Now with all three of them, they began questioning me. They were convinced I was one of the instigators of the revolution in the city. They asked who had sent me and even answered, we without question: Al-Qaeda. Their propaganda had been spreading the narrative for weeks, that Al-Qaeda was behind the unrest, trying to turn kirstan into caliphate. And there I was, obviously not a local, with a long beard wearing cargo pants, which are popular among journalists and jihadists alike. Naturally were decided, I was a terrorist.  I started explaining that I was a reporter, merely observing events and that I had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. At this, the men in the room pulled out a bottle of vodka and the plastic cup from his drawer. He poured about half the cup and handed it to me. Here, Bin Laden "Prove you are not an Islamist", he said, fully aware that Muslims are strictly forbidden from drinking alcohol.   Kyrgystan is almost entirely a Muslim country, yet I often saw vodka there. It freely sold, consumed at celebration and casually, while those who don't drink are regarded as very religious. I drank with vodka and asked if I could have some more. The three of them burst into laughter and told me I'd proven I was not a jihadist and was free to go.  So that's my Christmas story for you. If you enjoyed it, feel free to send me your regards using the details in the episode description.

December 20th 2024 Yuriy recounts the chaos of the 2010 Kyrgyzstan revolution, culminating in a surprising interview with the interim president. Dressed in a dusty pair of cargo pants and a T-shirt featuring a stoned frog, our hero makes an unexpected impression that you won't want to miss. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)     It is December 20.  Let me tell you the promised story about the Kyrgyz president and the stoned frog. It happened in 2010. That year in April, there was a revolution in Kyrgyzstan corruption in power, poverty among the people, interethnic and inter-regional conflicts- all of these had been building up for a long time and finally exploded. I was sent there to cover the events. I remember arriving in the capital, Bishkek, just as the revolutionaries were seizing the large presidential administration building. The staff had set fire to a pile of documents in the basement and the tons of burning and paper filled everything with smoke.  The then president fled quickly to his homeland in southern Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is divided in half by the Tien Shan mountain range. People from the south often don't get along well with those from the north and vice versa. The geography kept them separated and politicians often exploited this division for their own benefit, pitting people from different regions against each other. Long story short, after the revolution triumphed in the capital, the events shifted to the south where the ousted president was trying to consolidate power with the help of local elites and actual mafias. Naturally, I went there too.  Those were very tense weeks. I came under fire several times, was arrested by local security services on suspicion of collaborating with Al-Qaeda and the house I initially stayed in was burned to the ground. In short, it was the kind of real field journalism that makes the profession worth pursuing.  While I was running around the south the new interim government was established in the capital. A journalist friend of mine from Bishkek called to say that the new interim president just appointed by Parliament, wanted to give her first interview to my media outlet. At the time, I worked for an outlet, highly respected in Central Asia. I found a driver willing to take me to Bishkek, and off we went. The president's office agreed the interview would be the next day. That gave me time to recover a bit, wash my clothes and prepare questions.  But just as I checked into my hotel- I still remember its name, 'Dostuk' which means friendship in Kyrgyz- they called me to say plans had changed. Madame President Rosato BWA expected me in an hour.  The hotel was 40 minute walk from the interview location, leaving me almost no time. After several weeks in the fields, I had no clean clothes left. Well, almost none. The only clean item was a T-shirt I'd randomly packed. Someone had given it to me as a gift. I'd never have bought it myself. It featured the word 'Amsterdam' and a stoned frog holding a joint. With no other options. I put it on.  I thought I might buy something more appropriate on the way, but every shop was either looted or boarded up. So I arrived at the president office wearing the frog t-shirt and dusty cargo pants. The sophisticated and elegant woman tried her best to hide any surprise at my appearance, but trust me, it was nearly impossible not to be surprised. So I laid my cards on the table immediately, explaining what I had just arrived from the south an hour earlier after spending a lot of time observing events that nearly turned into a civil war. I told her I had no opportunity to find more appropriate clothing.  We've went out of the way the interview began. But for the first hour it was not me asking the questions, instead, Madame President was asking me about what had been happening in the south. By then the stoned frog didn't bother her anymore.

December 11th 2024 Yuriy recounts his extraordinary encounter with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad during a journalistic assignment in the early days of the Syrian war. He provides a vivid portrayal of Assad's unexpected demeanor and reflects on the dictator's troubled background and eventual downfall. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is December 11,  Friends, I apologize for my long silence- it's just what with the onset of winter, I fell ill and it was incredibly difficult for me to write or even speak. Besides, I had almost no free time. But now is right moment to tell you a story I've been meaning to share.  I've already mentioned it, but working as a journalist gave me the opportunity to visit places I had only dreamed of: the fort in Gaza, where Napoleon stayed during his Egyptian campaign; the Temple City of Lalish in Iraq, sacred to all Yazidis. As a journalist, I also got to meet my favorite musician, the legendary Chicago Bluesman, Lurrie Bell, and many other fascinating people. And I also happened to meet the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. As it turned out, meeting with him was not all that difficult. It was 2012, the war in Syria was just beginning, and he was as open to the press as possible. At that time, I was working in the Middle East and decided to take a chance by sending a West for an interview to the Syrian Ministry of Information- and they approved it.  There were a few unexpected challenges though. For instance, I did not own a suit and had to borrow one from a foreign colleague. A government official I coordinated the interview with, lent me a tie, and even the shoes werent mine. I borrowed those too, so I showed up entirely dressed in our people's clothes. The only time I looked worse was when I unexpectedly found myself transported from the trenches directly to the office of Kyrgyzstan president. I was wearing dirty cargo pants with knee pads and t-shirt featuring a frog smoking a massive joint. If you are interested, I'll tell you that story separately some day, but for now, back to al-Assad. We met at his residence in Damascus. I was escorted there under the watchful eye of local intelligence agents after a thorough search. The residence, which I assume is one of many, was built in a European style. You know, a small mansion like the ones you'd find in Berlin or Vienna. Al-Assad himself, opened the door. He spoke English fluently- much better than I do. But that was not, what struck me most.  What truly surprised me, that this bloody tyrant, a man who mercilessly ordered the killing and torture of unarmed people was, a total hen pecked man. Along with us in the residence was his media consultant, Luna al-Shibl, whom I already knew as the person who had approved my interview request. Everyone around referred to her exclusively as 'Madame Luna.'  As we talked, she wandered around the room, sat at Assad's computer, and gave him advice in Arabic. At times it seemed as though he was waiting for her instructions. He did not look very confident overall. When he spoke slogans -ranting about global terrorism, how he was the sole defender against it and similar nonsense- he seemed to come alive. He probably even believed his own propaganda. But when the conversation shifted to other topics, he wilted and his already small chin seemed to disappear entirely.  He struck me as a confused man who did not belong in his position. Don't get me wrong- I'm not defending him in any way. Not at all. He's a criminal who has killed countless people and nearly destroyed his own country, and at the same time, he was insecure and it was obvious that his parents did not care much for him. It was his brother, Basil, who was supposed to become president. Basil was chosen by his father, president Hafez al-Assad, as the sole successor to the throne. But Basil died in a car accident , and Hafez began molding Bashar into the new dictator.  I think his extreme cruelty partly stems from his need to prove to everyone that he was worthy of the seat he was placed in, that he was a genuine Middle Eastern despot who did not care about human lives. And the end of his reign as a dictator is fitting. I congratulate with Syrian people on the downfall of a horrific dictatorship. And I remind you, if you like what I'm doing, you can support me and my family. All the details are in the episode description. Thank you.

December 5th 2024 Yuriy uncovers a deeply personal chapter of his family history. He talks about how his grandfather, caught in the clutches of Nazi slavery during World War II, displayed astounding bravery in his quest for freedom — a legacy that fuels Yuriy's fight for Ukraine's independence today. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    It is December five.  I am the grandson of a slave. My grandfather, after whom I was named was a slave. A real one. He was born a freeman. Not in the modern sense. Of course, Ukraine was when occupied by the Bolsheviks, and people had almost no rights. When my grandfather was a very young man, second World War began. Very soon he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the front. After a few months, he was captured by the Germans. At first, he was held in a prisoner's camp, but later he was sent to work at a factory in Germany. That was when he became a slave. The Third Reich was built by slaves- people stripped of rights, forced to work under inhumane conditions, beaten, killed at any moment and left with no chance of freedom had the Nazis won with war. There were millions of such slaves: Jewish and Roma people, Soviet prisoners, homosexuals, and anti-fascists. All of them worked day and night waiting for a horrific death by starvation, beatings, or complete physical exhaustion.  But my grandfather was young, intelligent, and brave, realizing he had no chance of surviving in slavery. He decided to escape and he succeeded. A miracle, but miracles do happen from time to time.  After same time, he rejoined the Soviet army, but for many years he hid the fact, but he had been a prisoner of war and forced into slavery. Do you know why he kept it in a secret? Because Soviet soldiers were forbidden to surrender. Surrender was a crime. If anyone had found about his past as a slave, he would have become a slave again- not at the Nazi factory, but in a Soviet gulag. The Soviet Union to real reli on the forces labor of millions.   My grandfather was a slave and risked becoming one again. But he lived to see Ukraine liberated from the Russians to see independence, to see freedom, but the Russians love the gulag: they are deeply annoyed that we no longer want to be slaves, that we refuse to accept it.  If someone asks me what we are fighting for, I can honestly say that I fight so that my grandchildren, unlike me, will never be able to say their grandfather was a slave.   

November 20th 2024 Yuriy reflects on the 1,001 days since the full-scale invasion began and discusses how both naive civilians and experienced soldiers underestimated the war's duration, initially believing in a quick resolution... Here is the article Yuriy mentions in the episode: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151861795?source=queue You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      it is 20th of November. Today marks exactly 1,000 days since I joined the army. This means the full-scale invasion has been ongoing for 1,001 days. I insist on this term full-scale invasion because the war began much earlier on the winter of 2014. This was not 1,000 days ago, but 3,926 days ago. This 1,001 days mark the time when the war affected all Ukrainians region, not only the homes of residents of Crimea and Dansk, but literally everyone.  Yesterday, I wrote a piece on Substack about how this war was perceived 1,000 days ago by people like me, civilians, who decided to challenge the Russian onslaught and volunteered for the Army.  You can read that piece. There is a link to it in this episode's description. Here I will just briefly summarize it. We were very naive and genuinely believed this could all end quickly. End naturally with our victory.  But it's important to include the perspective of professional soldiers, or at least who had experienced fighting Russia in Albas in 2014 and the following years. Here's the thing,   they also thought it would be relatively quick. However, from where point of view, this "quick" scenario was entirely different from what we imagined.   Professional soldiers in those early days did not go out to win, but to die. They went to buy the country time to evacuate government institutions and military reserves closer to the western border.  They- and alongside them us- were supposed to act as a break on the Russian army, slowing their advance with our lives. Slow down, not stop. The idea was that by the time the invaders could come closer to a few Western regions where the remnants of state apparatus evacuated to these invaders would already be exhausted and more likely to negotiate.  But things turned out very differently. But anyway, this is far from over. A long war still lies ahead.  

November 11th 2024 Yuriy reflects on personal experiences and emotions tied to a celebration that wasn't as cheerful as expected. He delves into the nuances of how joyful occasions can sometimes carry a weight of melancholy. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    It is November 11.   Today is my birthday. I turned 44. When I joined the Army I was 41 when the war started with the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Donbas I was 33. So, a quarter of my life has been directly tied to the war. I've spent almost a thousand days in the military and we are going through very difficult days right now.  North Koreans are fighting against against us. Iranian drones and missiles are flying at us and unfortunately, it is still unclear what Western World will decide regarding, regarding further support for us.  Almost a thousand days in the Army... Trust me, that's a lot for someone who never thought about building a military career and was already planning a quiet pre retirement life. pre retirement life without previously very frequent Middle East trips or other adventures.   These almost a thousand days in the Army means really a lot because in 2022, I was given only a couple of weeks to live. All our nation was given only two weeks. Free world was ready to sacrifice us for, I still don't know for what. Maybe for an illusion that for the Russians, destruction of Ukraine will be enough and they will not go any farther. Stupid and dangerous illusion. And very pricey. But we survived. And thanks to my brave brothers and sisters in arms, I can live to one more birthday. Today is also my mother's birthday. She gave birth to me on her own special day, and it's also my brother's birthday. He's only 20 minutes older than me. But I don't even want to mention him with traitor who's still sitting in Moscow.  When I first celebrated my birthday in the Army in November, 2022, I had a hope for a miracle. After all, it was on November 11 that the first World War ended, so why couldn't this war ends on November 11 as well? But nothing happened then and nothing in 2023 ever. And now in 2024, it's just another day of war. Nothing special, just the same as the nearly thousand days before it.  I've never had any particular rituals connected to my birthday, and even if I had, I would not be able to keep them. Many of the people who used to congratulate me have died. Some have cowardly the fled the country, and others are now going through the own tragedies linked to the loss or injury of well loved ones, so they certainly don't have time for me.  A gloomy celebration, right? But really none of our holidays are joyful right now. Still. I'm grateful to have you and to be able to tell you everything honestly. Well then, happy birthday to me.  

Nov 4th 2024 Yuriy outlines the new phase of conflict where Ukraine faces off against both Russian and North Korean forces, examining the geopolitical ramifications and the hesitations of Western allies. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)       It is 4th of November.  Our work has entered a new phase. This is obvious. First of all, we are now facing two regular armies: the Russian and the North Korean. Over 10,000 soldiers of that stupid greedy Kim have already taken positions with the Russians near the Ukrainian border, and thousands more are currently preparing in military camps in the Far East. This completely changes the configuration of the war.  Previously, all the Putin allies, the likes of Lukashenko, the half-dead Iranian, Ayatollahs and Kim, numbed by his own life of luxury- limited their support to supplying weapons, or providing territory for invasion. Now, everything has changed. We are facing two regular armies and both from   countries with nuclear weapons.  And where is our nuclear arsenal? We had one. Oh right, we gave it up in the 1990s in exchange for promises to respect our sovereignty and to keep our borders intact. And who made those promises? Russia, who took our weapons and now is destroying our country. And who was the guarantor of those promises? Who assured us that life without the bomb would be better and safer? The United Kingdom and the United States. Google the Budapest memorandum if you don't know this story.  Please don't think that I'm an ungrateful wretch who's forgotten all the weapons and other aid the Western countries have given us. I actually remember and deeply appreciate it, but I also know that we could destroy the Northern Korean expeditionary forces right now, before they have the chance to kill wound or rape anyone. Yet we don't have permission from Washington or our capitals to do so. They've told us directly: as soon as we cross the border, hit them with our weapons. Until then, no, no, no.  We are also not allowed to use Western missiles to destroy the Russian air fields from which planes launch daily to bomb our cities. We're also forbidden to strike at their drone stockpiles. Have you seen these drones? They are huge, the size of the car, packed with explosives powerful enough  to demolish an entire building. Just in the past few days, strikes by wars, drones on Ukrainian apartments have killed two children.  These drones- and this is another indicator of a changing nature of the war- are now being used much more frequently here even deadlier explosives. Thermobaric ones. When they explode, they burn everything around them, including people. I've seen how they work. No horror film could show you this, but we all see it every day.  Remember that you can support me. It's still extremely important. Without this help, things would be much harder for me than they are now. All details are in the description. I'll be back soon with shall we say a special episode because my birthday is coming up soon

October 23rd 2024 Yuriy recounts the tragic effects of the war on everyday life, emphasizing the shift in mindset even among children. As he shares heart-breaking stories of loss and fear, the harsh reality of living in a constant state of danger becomes evident. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    It's October 23.  Russians killed a 14-year-old girl in Sumy. They simply sheltered with city and hit her while she was walking her dog. The dog is gravely injured and its honor is dead. In Kherson a Russian FPV drone killed a doctor while he was driving to a patient. Near Kharkiv, a bread truck driver died after ran over a mine, left by Russians. Russian missiles flew several thousand kilometers and killed a mother and her three daughters in Lviv.  Russians kill civilians every day. Every single day. All over Ukraine. Imagine we are the largest country in Europe- almost twice the size of Germany, yet there are no safe places here. Our insane neighbor can strike anywhere. And it's been like this for nearly three years now. In these three years, we have turned into a nation of fatalists. I constantly hear people, both civilians and soldiers, talking about the future, saying things like "if I survive" or "if I'm not killed by them."  It's become so common that it no longer sounds jarring as it did few years ago. Everyone talks like this now, warning that we might not be able to do something or travel somewhere if they get wounded or killed by the next Russian attack. This has long become a crucial factor in planning anything. But for a long time, I fought this, only applied to adults. And do you know why? Because I hadn't been around children for a while. But recently, I had to be.  About a week ago, I was waiting out a very loud shelling taking shelter under the canopy of an entrance of some building I was walking by when the shelling started. It's already a habit -if you get caught outside during a shelling, find some sort of roof to avoid getting hit by shrapnel. Next to me was a young woman with a boy of about six years old. When an explosion went off very close by the child had a full blown panic attack. He turned pale, started shaking, and it seemed like he was about to pass out from fear. His mother, hugging him, started telling him how we would break a pie together in the evening, how we would go for a walk when the shelling stopped, and how we would watch his favorite cartoon before bed.  Listen, I just hadn't thought about this. I didn't really understand how children experience the war. They live in constant fear and it's much harder for them than for adults. And they no longer say, "when I grow up" they say "if I grow up." At the very least, that boy asked his mother, if I grow up and finish school, will the war still be going on?

October 9th 2024 Yuriy shares his thoughts on the future, the new projects he's embarking on, and the true stories of resilience and hope from Ukraine. Plus, find out how you can support his work and read his latest Substack post: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/ruins-of-palestine You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    I've written a new post for Substack. It's about Hamas, Palestine, and Israel. Check it out if you are interested in this topic. I'll add a link to it in the description of this episode. It's important to me. Although, I feel like over time, my writing isn't as vivid and sharp as it used to be. After all, practice is key to any craft. I don't have as much of it as I once did. I'm losing skills with once seemed natural skills I thought I had mastered for good. I don't know what the future holds. Maybe I'll have to find a new job after the war. Maybe no one will hire me as a reporter anymore. They might say "old man, your time has passed. Go away." I'll think about this often, about the future, and honestly, it doesn't bring me much joy. But in recent days, I found rays of hope. I've put together my own small studio, bought microphones and a mixer. Everything is almost new. I've already recorded a radio play with this equipment, a real play. But in podcast form.  I also have plans to translate and record a podcast play based on the script my friends wrote about how he lost his leg after stepping on the Russian mine. It's just a man who wrote a play about losing a limb about his comrades, pulled him out under fire, how he lost consciousness, how he joked, and how we joked with him during the evacuation. Sometimes it's terrifying and sometimes it's hilarious, just like life, and it's the true story of a real hero. The Ukrainian version is already been recorded and edited. Thanks to all of you for your support. I bought the studio equipment with the money you are still sending me. There is still small debt left, but together we'll manage it. I'm sure of that. Thank you once again. Read my text on Substack, help Ukraine and never give up.

October 1st 2024 Yuriy underscores the critical role the Ukrainian army plays in defending not just Ukraine but the broader Western world against Russian aggression. He highlights Russia's inhumane military practices and warns of their intentions to use subjugated Ukrainians to wage war against NATO, emphasizing the importance of supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)       I think some of my listeners abroad believe that I'm exaggerating a bit when I say that the Ukrainians are now defending them too, that I'm deliberately overstating the importance of the Ukrainian army, but that's not the case. In the description of this episode, I will leave a link to the military plans of so-called Russian Ministry of Defense. You will be able to read them using an online translator, or you might not need to read them- I will tell you a bit about them and provide some explanations.  Let's start with the fact that they still call the war in Ukraine a, liberation one. They came to "liberate" Russians according to very bizarre calculations. Just recently, 96.7% of people in Ukraine were Russians. Where this number came from, don't ask. I don't know. It's some special Putin science- counting Russians where they don't exist. So, next, the Russian military rights that were insidious West imposed some wrong values on these Russians and turn them into enemies of Russia. And that's precisely why putin started this war to turn this, 96.7% of Ukrainians into Russians.   And do you know why Putin needs these people- and we are talking about millions of people? Can you guess? Well, okay. I will tell you to be at the forefront of the armies that will march under Putin's command   to destroy the West, which on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Defense is called 'Satanic'. The ultimate goal is to bring all of Eastern Europe back under Moscow's control. In other words, the Russians openly say, they want to fight NATO, but with the hands of subjugated Ukrainians.  Is it possible to send Ukrainians to fight against their Western neighbors? Well look at two. Today's Russian army, it is more than half made up of conquered peoples from the Caucuses,  Siberia, and other regions. It has thousands of Chechens, including wars, who just recently -20 years ago- fought against Moscow for independence, but now they're fighting for the very people who turned Chechnya into a damn feudal khanate with portraits of Putin who killed tens of thousands of Chechens on every corner.  And there are also many Ukrainians in the Russian army from the occupied territories. They did not join because they suddenly wanted to fight for the invaders. No, they were simply grabbed of the streets, taken to the military base and made cannon fodder. That's right, cannon fodder. The Russian army does not know how to fight any other way.  And the fact that you haven't experienced it yourself yet, the fact that this father isn't storming your cities, the fact that your loved ones haven't been forcibly sent to be part of this Russian cannon fodder, all this is thanks to Ukraine. By the way, today is October 1st, the day of Defenders of Ukraine. So don't forget to congratulate your Ukrainian friends. They deserve it.   

September 23rd 2024 Yuriy he recounts his recent travels across war-torn Ukraine, including a visit to his hometown of Kharkiv. In this episode, Yuriy delves into health issues exacerbated by constant stress, the agony of seeing his city under attack, misguided foreign perspectives on the war, and heartbreaking stories of Russian oppression. He ends on a hopeful note by discussing his involvement in a veterans' theatre project and plans for a new podcast initiative. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      Hello, I'm back with you again. It's September 23.  I've been away for quite some time. This is partly due to health issues, which are certainly not getting any better under constant stress, and partly because over the past few weeks I've had to travel around Ukraine for my military duties. I even visited my hometown of Kharkiv, which suffers from daily bombings, where soon there won't be a single intact window left and which the Russians are trying to simply destroy. It's an incredibly heavy feeling- being in the city of my childhood, the city of my daughters childhood, and witnessing how it suffers from shelling, how people there are in agony, it's unimaginably difficult. The only thing harder is reading how foreign commentators are teaching us how we should deal with Russians. Lately, I've been coming across more and more advice from foreigners directed at Ukrainians, which sounds more like calls for capitulation. Of course, if they don't phrase it that way. Usually, it's just amusing about how one can live under any regime and, but it's not necessary worth suffering and dying just to prevent your state's flag flattering over your city being replaced with that of another country. I even suspect that these aren't Russian bots, but real people from Western countries who just don't fully understand what's actually happening here. What this war is truly about. Let me give you some examples.  A few months ago, two Ukrainian priests were released from Russian captivity. They had been captured in the Kherson region at the beginning of a full scale invasion.  They weren't chaplains. They had no ties to the military. We were simply from a church that were Russian authorities deemed uncanonical and incorrect because it does not recognize the primacy of Moscow and holds services in Ukrainian language. Just four this, the two priests were arrested, sent to camps, tortured and abused. Naturally their congregation, was given a "proper" priest. One with a Russian passport, a prayer book edited to feed the times, and probably an FSB ID too.  In occupied territories, not only praying in Ukrainian forbidden, but even speaking, it is prohibited. That's why the occupiers immediately destroy all books in schools and libraries burned down the offices of Ukrainian language publications and bomb printing houses. Russians boast in very news about sending a young shop assistant from the occupied territories to prison for greeting customers in Ukrainian, out of habit, not knowing that they were Russian soldiers. For the simple words, 'good day' in a banned language, she was sent to the torture chamber.  The Russians aren't just replacing one flag with another; they want everyone to immediately become Russian to forget, their language renowned their faith and even throw away favorite books into the fire. This is a deliberate destruction of everything that matters to a person. Everything that makes a person human. Their history, their roots, their understanding of the world. None of that is supposed to remain. The Russian government has restructured its own country into a vast territory, full of people without their own thoughts, without their own views, without their own values. Everyone is ordered to love what we're told to love, hate what we're told to hate, and ignore everything, not mention it by the authorities. And this is precisely the order they want to force upon Ukraine. And kill anyone who disagrees.   I don't think it's worth ending on a said note again. So here's some good news. I'm currently serving in a unit that, among other things, focuses on the rehabilitation of veterans and war disabled individuals. We even have a special project, the Veteran's Theater, where 15 veterans have been trained in the basics of dramaturgy and have written their own plays about our war. I've joined this work and now I'm working on creating a Veterans Podcast where we will record the plays in radio format and discuss them.  I'm slowly putting together a studio for this. I've already bought a recorder and one microphone. I'll be ordering two more microphones and a mixer, even if we're slightly used, very soon. And all of these. Thanks to you. Without your help, I would not have the money to set up the studio that we are building right now. There wouldn't be the opportunity for war scared people who engaged in creativity and share the stories of the world. True stories of heroism and resistance. And you are all directly part of this because if you are listening to me and helping -you are the resistance.  

August 28th 2024 Yuriy notes that last weekend marked two and a half years since the start of the war in Ukraine and he reflects on the profound losses and relentless struggle for survival. He calls on listeners to support Ukraine, emphasizing the dire consequences if the world neglects their plight. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is August 28th.  Last weekend, marked exactly two and a half years since I joined the Army. It's quite a long time. During this period, I found many new friends and lost many old ones to death or disappearance. During this time, my parents became refugees, my brother turned into a traitor and I started and almost gave up on making a podcast. I've been on many fronts, hid from shelling in Bakhmut, and saw the' Russians fleeing from Kharkiv. So much has happened. So many people have died in these two years. So much pain and blood. I've also seen how the rhetoric of Kremlin agents in the West has changed. At first, they claimed that helping Ukraine was pointless, but it wouldn't last even a couple of weeks and that the Russians would quickly seize the entire country. Then we screamed about Nazis, about terrible oppression of Russian-speaking Ukrainians that Putin was supposedly rescuing. Later, when it became obvious that the regions suffering the most destruction and deaths were war with large Russian speaking populations, these creatures started scaring the world with the threat of nuclear war if Putin began to lose.  Now we have a new narrative. I constantly see Americans and Europeans saying things like, "Not a cent of aid to Ukraine as long as our country has homeless veterans." This is not just nonsense, it's a crime. If the citizens of free countries stop helping Ukraine, you will all turn into homeless veterans- your children, your elderly parents, your friends, and your loved ones. If Ukraine falls, you'll all even be dead or homeless veterans. And you will consider yourself lucky if you become homeless veterans of your own national armies that have defended their independence at the cost of completely destroyed cities and enormous human losses.  Because there is a high chance that you'll become homeless veterans of fascist Russian army. It is forming entire brigades of people from occupied territories. It does not care about the motivation or loyalty of such soldiers. They are expendable. Most people driven into these brigades spent a couple of weeks on the front lines.  Then they either die or are severely wounded and remain disabled homeless veterans for life. And you'll be among them if Ukraine does not stand. Putin will need a lot of canon fodder for world domination and he's delighted when in another fool writes "not a cent for Ukraine" because that fool is his potential soldier. Help Ukraine. Two and a half years of war is very long and very difficult, but we are holding on and you should too. Believe me, it's much, much harder for us here.  

August 22nd 2024 Yuriy vividly recounts Ukraine's bold offensive into Russia, drawing parallels with General Sherman's historic march. As he shares his personal reflections and hopes for a decisive victory, Yuriy provides a raw and insightful perspective on the ongoing conflict. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)       It is August 22.  What you've read in textbooks, what you've seen in Epic paintings, and what has inspired you is happening right now. The Ukrainian Army is now replicating General Sherman's March through Georgia in Russia's Kursk region. Yes, it is the closest historical analogy. It's a strike at the enemies rear, a demoralizing strike, a painful strike with a far reaching, though still unclear to many, consequences.  One of the main tasks of any army forced to fight a war on its own territory is to transfer this war to the enemies territory. So that it's their, the enemies, cities and villages being destroyed by artillery. Their civilian population turning into refugees and their, not our, fields and factories burning from direct shelling.  For two and a half years, Ukraine fought with a wild and impossible limitation: our partners gave us weapons, but forbid us from using them outside of Ukraine. We had no rights to strike military targets in Russia while Russia had no such restrictions. Now, everything is changing. We are bringing the war to the territory of the aggressor country. They have sown the wind, and now we will reap whirlwind.  I would like our offensive to be exactly like Sherman's- all, the way to the sea, the baltic or the white sea, with the destruction of everything in its path, cutting the enemy fronts in half. Of course, it won't be that way- these are different times with different weapons, tactics, and logistics. But what is happening now is history, something that could become a turning point in this war. The Russians dreamed of capturing Kyiv in three days, but now over 900 days into their three day war, they are losing village after village on their own territory. It's been a long time since I have had a real reason for good cheer, but now I'm almost dancing- we have thrown the fire of war back to where it came from. Now we must push forward and not stop. I confess I'm a bit envious of my comrades who are now fighting in the Kursk region. When I left Russia more than 10 years ago, I told myself I would never return to that wretched, racist country. But now I realize that I would gladly go there for a couple of months in a Ukrainian tank.  If I do get there, and there is always a chance, I will certainly tell you about it. But for now, wish us all and all of Ukraine luck. Let Moscow be burned and its cannibalistic regime destroyed forever.   

August 5th 2024 Yuriy unravels the shocking truth behind a supposed ally—a Spanish journalist who turned out to be a Russian spy. Yuriy describes a real-life encounter with a Russian intelligence agent and the haunting aftermath of betrayal on the front lines of Ukraine. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It's August five.  I'm truly burnt out, which makes it difficult for me to do even simple tasks. Honestly, I even wanted to take a couple more weeks off from recording any episodes, but a few days ago I received a few dozen dollars on PayPal from you and realized that I still have an obligation to you. Today, I will tell you a real spy thriller to which I, for a long time without realizing it had a connection.  You have probably heard that last week there was an exchange of convicts between Russia and Western countries. The Russians sent to Europe and the USA journalists and several minor local and anti Putin politicians, and in return, they received a bunch of real criminals, illegal agents who hunted for secret information, hackers who stole money from Western citizens and transferred it to accounts associated with Russian special services and even real hired killers. I must admit, I personally know one of  those whom the Russians pulled out from behind bars.  We met in 2014, a few weeks after the then limited Russian invasion of Ukraine. At that time, we seized Donetsk and Luhansk, and there was a threat of an advance on the city of Dnipro. In the summer and autumn of 2014, there were a lot of journalists there, including foreigners. Among them was a Basque with a Spanish passport who spoke Russian with a noticeable accent, but very well. He eagerly told everyone that his grandmother and grandfather fled to the Soviet Union during the Spanish civil War, learned the language there, passed the knowledge on to their grandson. His name was Pablo Gonzalez.  At first, this name seemed too charicatured to me; there is no more stereotypical Spanish name in the world than Pabla Gonzales, but I did not pay attention to it at that time. Gonzales was as pro Ukrainian as possible. He condemned the Russian aggression, supported the revolution, and even criticized the West for insufficient support for Ukraine. He visited Kyiv and our cities quite often, and he even had a Ukrainian girlfriend. Usually, he wrote to me a few days before his arrival and invited me to a bar. I always declined and instead invited him to my radio show. It was actually interesting- a Spanish journalist, a Basque supports Ukraine, talks about what Europe and USA should do to help us and mentions details of political life in Spain and other countries unknown to the broader Ukrainian public.  I even encourage my colleagues from our media to contact Pablo if they needed someone knowledgeable about European affairs and people indeed contacted him. Pablo's round face with a truly Spanish conquistador-like beard occasionally appeared on Ukrainian television.  Then the big war came. I quit journalism and joined the Army, and I forgot about Pablo as well as almost everything from my peaceful life. And a few days ago I read about the exchange. The article had a photo of the exchanged. Among them was the portrait of Pablo Gonzalez. As it turned out, he was neither Pablo, nor Gonzalez. His name was Pavel Rubstov. He's a Russian intelligence agent. His task was to establish friendly relations with journalists and politicians in Ukraine and neighboring countries. He was detained in Poland a few days after the start of a full scale invasion in February, 2022, he was snooping around the Ukrainian border. He definitely did not learn anything secret from me- I never had access to any secrets, but unfortunately I helped legalized him in Ukraine. Made him recognizable without knowing the truth about him and recommended him to others as a speaker. I feel ashamed and hurt because of this.  Pablo Gonzales. This name is not caricatured as it seemed to me. It is a cover name. Go and try to find data about every Gonzales in the world. He chose it, or rather it was chosen for him by his commanders to lose him among millions of real Gonzalez's.   It's a pity that he was handed over to the Russians. I would like spies to stay behind bars, and I'm also curious about what happened to his Ukrainian girlfriend. Is she also a victim of his deception or an accomplice of a enemy who helped him in his wild work?  

July 26th 2024 Yuriy delves into the story of the small Ukrainian town of New York, which is facing relentless destruction by Russian forces. He highlights the stark contrasts and tragic connections between this town and its namesake in America, highlighting the symbolic and brutal nature of the ongoing conflict. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is July 26.  In Western News, this is not being mentioned, but the Russians are currently wiping New York off the face of Earth. They are dropping bumps from planes, launching missiles and destroying buildings one by one with FPV drones. Many New Yorkers have been killed, and even more locals have become refugees. It is so dangerous to be in New York, but the authorities have banned journalists and our civilians from entering. And this is all true. Except it is not the American, New York, it's a small town with the same name in the Dansk region.  Why and when this Ukrainian town became New York is unknown, but it has been called that at least since 1860. After Second World War during the Cold War, the Soviet authorities renamed the town, but a few months before the full scale invasion, New York once again became New York. Even when it was a frontline town. Since 2014, the frontline has been just a few miles away. The town was constantly sheltered by the Russians who had taken over parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under the guise of local separatists 10 years ago.  Yet the town was alive. A lot of interesting things were happening there. It even had its own literary festival attracting writers from all over Ukraine and even abroad. For a town with a population of just 2000 people, this is very impressive. However, there have not been 2000 people there for a long time. Now, only a few dozen residents remain.  The rest either fled or died. Several neighborhoods of a town no longer exist only ruins remain of the homes. The Russians are thrilled about this. Their social networks celebrate with destruction of every house, the killing of every local resident as a holiday. "New York must be destroyed" openly, write, Russian soldiers and propagandists. There is almost no strategic sense in this destruction. But there is a symbolic one. Propaganda depicts the war for Russians as a heroic confrontation with the West. At the beginning of invasion. Central Russian TV channels showed plans for advancing not only on Kyiv and Lyiv, but also on Warsaw, Berlin, and London, the most zealous propagandists called for immediate bombing of American cities, especially New York as a symbol of American might. Now, after two and a half years with none of their plans realized, the Russians are bombing the New York, they can reach -a small town that bears no resemblance of American one- but we do it with the pomp as if we are destroying the entire Manhattan.  They are obsessed with a desire to destroy, the desire to kill. Honestly, they would bomb the American New York along with Paris, Warsaw and other cities, but in their way stand, small Ukrainian towns and their defenders. The large and vibrant American, New York still lives its usual peaceful life only because the small, unremarkable Ukrainian, New York is dying for it now. Please remember this.   

July 16th 2024 Yuriy explores the chilling synchrony between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's acceptance of an honor from Putin and a missile strike on a Ukrainian hospital, showing how tyrants like Putin are normalizing evil today. He also examines how cultural icons and global politicians still engage with Putin, reflecting a troubling ambiguity in the world's stance against Russian aggression. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is July 16.  At the very moment when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, standing in the Moscow Kremlin bent his neck before Putin to receive the Order of Saint Andrew Kyiv, rescuers were pulling children killed by a Russian missile from the rubble of a hospital. This was not a coincidence. Putin wanted these to events to occur one right after another. It was important for him to show the world that he's not an outcast, that being a criminal and still being a reliable partner for many countries is entirely possible.  One could say that Putin bonded Modi with blood. He orchestrated everything so that these two news stories would follow each other: first, a Russian missile kills Ukrainian children, and then the one who gave order to launch the missile bestows an order on the Prime minister of the country, that calls itself the world's largest democracy. The Indian Prime Minister then muttered something about the necessity of peace, about war not being the answer. But Modi did not discard the foolish dog-collar like order, nor did he admit that his visit to Moscow was a mistake. Did he not know he was visiting a murderer? A person who has unleashed the bloodiest war in Europe in the last 80 years? That Putin had already killed children in Mariupol, Bucha, and many other cities. He knew everything, saw everything, and accepted everything. He only disliked that Putin decided to strike the Children's Hospital on the very day the Indian delegation arrived. If it happened a day earlier or later, Modi would have completely ignored the death of Ukrainian children.  Perhaps you have not noticed yet, but we are witnessing the normalization of evil. For decades, tyrants of all kinds have hidden way crimes trying to appear courteous and honest. Since Pol Pot, who sent Khmer youth to kill our parents with Host, no one has openly boasted about mass murders and destruction of entire cities. Putin has become the first after Paul Pot, and many are fine with this. It's not just about Modi. A couple of weeks before him, a whole delegation of world musicians who can without ation be called jazz greats visited Moscow. Richard Bona, Allan Harris, Avishai Cohen, Dhafer Youssef and others.  They played at a state organized jazz festival, the faces of this festival were are propagandists who daily talk about how main task of Russians is to kill Ukrainians. Fees came from the same state budget that pays for the production of bombs and missiles to destroy Ukrainian schools and hospitals. And all these stars knew this very well. But they went anyway because evil has been normalized. Because the democratic world has not fully defined its attitude towards Russia. First, greedy fools like Youssef and Cohen go to bow to Putin, then ultra right politicians like Modi and then he will start being accepted in your formerly democratic countries. Or will he not? It depends only on you, on your attitude towards evil and your resistance to its normalization. Sorry to remind you, but please, if you like my stories, you can always support me with a couple of bucks while donating. You are also fighting against evil.

July 8th 2024 Yuriy shares his dislike for cinemas but draws powerful parallels between the movie 'Dunkirk' and Ukraine's current war against Russian aggression. He describes the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians, particularly children, and calls for global support to stop the atrocities committed by Russian forces. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is July 8th.  I don't like going to the cinema. It usually makes me very uncomfortable. Too many people, everything is too loud. It's just not my thing. I went to cinemas so rarely, but I even remember the last movie I watched on the big screen. It was Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. Moreover, I vividly remember the beginning of a movie. The scene where a British soldier runs through the streets of Dunkirk, stumbles upon the French barricade, and the French let him through with one shouting after him, "Bon Voyage." You know, this  it reflects our reality, our war. In Ukraine, we are like those French soldiers in the film- holding back the Nazi onslaught while the world runs away from reality. Just as the British soldiers fled in the movie. The French on the barricade wear helmets from the First World War, their machine guns are also very old. But we hold on and fight just like Ukraine fights now often gasping without new modern weapons.  It's fascinating to watch such films from our time knowing that those British guys are neither cowards, nor traitors, but we continue to fight against Nazism and will return to France to liberate it.  As for the future of our war, we know nothing. Will we continue to fight alone against terrorists who destroy entire cities and dream of conquering Europe? Will our partners continue to help us or will we betray us for cheap fuel and Putin's promises not to attack them? We don't know any of this. Nolan has not made a film about us: our future's script is being written right now and it is being written with the blood of Ukrainians.  Just today, the Russians launched a massive missile strike on Ukrainian cities. In Kyiv their missile hit a children's hospital. The ward for children with cancer. These Russian monsters have nothing sacred, where not humans, where mindless values immoral scum. Russia is at war against children with cancer. Brave Russian pilots drop bombs and missiles on children's hospitals without hesitation, and they even receive promotions and medals for it. This is not a coincidence when you, what we are doing and did it intentionally. And we will keep doing it as long as we have missiles and bombs. These children are Russia's terrible enemies; they committed an unforgivable crime in the eyes of the Russians, they they are born Ukrainians. And for this, were being bombed. For this, we are all being bombed and we hold on while the rest of the world mentally  evacuates from our bloody modern Dunkirk.  Perhaps I don't like going to the cinema also because I can't help with people on the screen who get into trouble. It's like I'm spying on them, when I should at least do something for them. But the war in Ukraine is not a movie, and when democratic world is not an audience helplessly watching a tragedy and not helping wars suffering before their eyes. The world can help, can provide weapons, can show Putin and his humanoid scum that they, cannot bomb children with impunity. And I really hope that this  will be the case.  

June 24th 2024 Yuriy shares the emotional journey of his film's premiere and gives a sneak peek into his next project dedicated to the realities of war. Discover the stories behind the scenes and the people who inspired them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAHe_g7Z3vg https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/cannibals-but-partners-why-the-west?r=dzvo1 https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/putins-stability-is-being-blown-up?r=dzvo1 https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/unleashing-azov-why-one-of-ukraines https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/chronicle-of-kharkiv-during-the-war You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    It is June 24.  Well, my film has finally premiered. In fact, there were two premieres. First Kyiv at the War film festival, and one in Cherkasy, the hometown of a person the film is about. I have to admit, the audience liked the film, the mother and sister of the film's hero cried and thanked me for preserving the image of the loved one on screen. The film is already on YouTube and there will be a link to it in the podcast description. I must note that it is in Ukrainian and the people in it are unlikely to be familiar to a Western audience, but it is still worth your attention.  Also, I have a cameo in the film. I appear on screen for a few seconds. You probably won't recognize me because the scene ends so quickly, but I'll give you a hint. The soldier with a camera around whom a small dog is running, is me. It's such a successful scene during the shooting of which we all almost died, that it'll be also included in the next film I'm working on. It'll be dedicated to Bakhmut from which I have several hours of footage. Unfortunately, not all of the people in these shots are still with us. At least one person, a young, cheerful girl, died a few months after I filmed her story. I don't know if all this will be interesting to the viewer, but it is a reflection of reality -life in war, unembellished and uncolored, just as it is. I also have three links for you today to my film and to two of my new articles. I hope you not only enjoy listening to me but also reading my works. By the way, I have a video somewhere where I talk about my combat scooter and its strange journey. I used it to get around in the early days of the war. If you are interested, let me know and I will edit it at English subtitles and post it on Substack, and don't forget what GoFundMe operates daily, that there are no small donation and that without your help, neither the podcast, the articles nor videos from me can exist.  

June 18th 2024 Yuriy reflects on the grim reality of war, where death becomes an all-too-familiar presence. He discusses the heavy emotional toll of losing friends and colleagues, both through warfare and other tragic circumstances, highlighting the insufficiency of psychological defenses built for war when faced with non-combat deaths. https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/unleashing-azov-why-one-of-ukraines https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/chronicle-of-kharkiv-during-the-war You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is June 18.  We have become accustomed to people dying in war. It is very clinical, but there is nothing you can do about it when every day, hundreds of people die from bombs sharing mine explosions and missile strikes. You get used to it. You just know that by the end of the month, several of your friends will have died, and by the end of a year, several dozen. By the end of the war, it'll be hundreds and hundreds. This is a kind of forced fatalism that is unavoidable in war. It quickly becomes part of each of us.  We have indeed become used to the fact that war constantly takes away friends and relatives. This has become the grim norm of war time. We are so accustomed to it that we forget that death can come not only from bullets and shrapnel but also from cancer, heart attacks and accidents. And when such a non-war death suddenly intrudes into our difficult pain field lives, the usual psychological safeguards fail. We are turned to a different kind of pain. They are entirely focused on war, and so they don't help.  A few weeks ago, my senior colleague, who had greatly helped me in my profession, died of a heart attack right at his workplace. He was an excellent specialist who knew everything or almost everything about Ukrainian politics. I used to invite him to my show every month and when we would discuss for a couple of hours more what we didn't have time to cover on air. After I joined the Army, I saw him only once- we met by chance in Kyiv when I came last year to receive an award from Zelensky. His death was a very heavy blow for me and it wasn't the last one. My colleague in journalism who is much younger than me, but from whom I have learned a lot. Was hospitalized with cancer in a stage that leaves almost no hope for recovery. I don't know, maybe it is somehow connected, but a few months ago, her boyfriend died in the war and she has significantly declined since then.  Death has become routine, we get used to it, but nonetheless, it can still shock us. Because of all this news, I fell ill and for several weeks, could barely think clearly. Today I have prepared two links for you. The first is a new text about how Russian propaganda has painted Azov as Nazis, and the second is a video from my native Kharkiv. Read, watch and leave comments if you like it.  

June 13th 2024 Yuriy recounts 841 days of war, underscoring the invasion's intent to annihilate Ukraine entirely. He highlights the miscalculations of Russian forces and the continuing resilience and struggle of the Ukrainian people. https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/p/putin-the-miracle-worker-and-the   You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is June 13. I have been at war for 840 days. That's exactly 840 days more than anyone should ever have to spend at war. But in reality, I have no choice. None of the Ukrainians who went to war had a choice. It's now clear to everyone that this is a war of annhilation. For the Russians, the ultimate goal is not just seize part of Ukraine, but to completely destroy it. They have no other plans. The Russians thought it would be an easy and simple task, that they could annihilate Ukrainians, forcing some to give up their identity and executing others- in a matter of weeks. That Ukraine would be scared and surrender immediately.  That was the calculation in 2022. It was supposed to be a blitzkrieg, A shockingly swift and successful operation for occupiers. Putin did not want a war; moreover, he did not believe it was even possible. In his mind, the destruction of Ukrainians was supposed to be walk in the park, something that would later be written about in history books as his unqualified triumph. I don't know if you've heard this, but the first burned columns of Russian equipment were filled with parade uniforms. The Russians, were preparing for a parade in Kyiv right from the start. They didn't expect any real resistance.  War is very risky, full of unpredictable elements; there's reason we talk about the fog of war- the uncertainty that comes with it. That's why Putin did not intend to wage a war. He wanted to win without one, just by ratting his weapons and scaring the world. But it did not work out; the Russians had to fight. War- a large bloody war- has been our reality for. 841 days now for both us and we, and every day war becomes more significant in Russian politics. More important for them. Putin started it; he tried to control it, but now it increasingly controls him. That's exactly what I wrote about in my article for Substack.  Read it and remember that the war has not gone anywhere. But Ukraine is fighting, but every day the best sons and daughters of our country are dying. And I want to warn you that this war is here for the long haul. These almost two and a half years of full scale fighting are, just the beginning, but more on that another time. ‍

June 7th 2024 Yuriy just finished his documentary film about the war and he shares some of the creative process and how he feels about it now. https://open.substack.com/pub/yuriymatsarsky/p/taliban-draft-dodgers-and-the-pillars?r=dzvo1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It is June seven.  When you listen to this episode, I will be at the prime year of my film. I have finished my documentary about a person who volunteered for the Army and died. In the credits I'm listed as a screenwriter, director, cameraman and editor. There are many things I don't like about this film; some things I would do differently now, some I would remove, some I would add, but it's still a film I am not ashamed of. It is compromised in many ways- I didn't have the opportunity to go everywhere I wanted. I didn't have the best cameras. I shoot with what I could afford myself. But I understand that probably none of the filmmakers, even the real ones, are ever 100% satisfied with what they have filmed. If this film becomes publicly available, I will share the link with you. Though, I'm not sure if you will find it interesting. However, I might be wrong. Maybe it's better to share all possible information about the war with the world so that people don't forget what's happening to us more precisely, not to forget, but not to become accustomed to the war. It seems to me that in the world, this war is already perceived as something usual, something to be accepted, but that's not the case.  I want to counteract with habitation to war. I want to make sure that even now people understand what it is, terrible and wild, that there is nothing normal in war. I don't have many tools for this, only this podcast and my Substack page. I decided to make my texts there open to everyone. So read, share them, recommend them to your friends. If possible, subscribe to me on substack or donate on Go Fund Me or Buy Me A Coffee. This will help the creation of the new texts and episodes and in general, it'll support me. I still haven't recovered from the illness. The terrible stress simply destroyed my mind, and I'm piecing it back together bit by bit. So your support will be welcome, as always.  I translated for you the text, what I wrote in Ukrainian a couple of weeks ago. Today it is published on Substack. Sorry, that my episodes are so short right now. It's really hard for me to make them longer and fuller at the moment. I hope this is temporary. 

June 3rd 2024 Yuriy recounts the harrowing daily bombings and assaults on his hometown of Kharkiv, sharing personal stories and reflections on the Russian invasion and its impact on his life and community. He has written a new substack on it, which subscribers can check out here: https://open.substack.com/pub/yuriymatsarsky/p/in-vain-expectation-of-betrayal-the?r=dzvo1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)    It is 3rd of June.  While you listen to this story of mine, the Russians are bombing Kharkiv and launching wave after wave of their suicide assault troops against Ukrainian positions near it. Kharkiv is a very special city. It is located just a few dozen miles from the Russian border, and the Russians have always called it a "Russian city". All my life, as someone who was born and spent my childhood in Kharkiv, I heard this from them, "Oh, Kharkiv, that's a Russian city." This always infuriated me. Why did they decide that Kharkiv was theirs? Why did they feel the need to constantly emphasize this? I never understood.   But this foolishness of theirs, the confidence that Russians live in Kharkiv saved the city from occupation at the beginning of the full scale invasion. My new text on Substack starts with exactly this- the failure of the Russians to capture Kharkiv, as they were convinced that they did not even need to capture it, that the residents would run to the occupiers themselves.  Please read it; this text is very important to me. It's about my native and beloved city, which is now suffering from daily bombings, which the Russians are trying to destroy, simply because they no longer understand how else to fight. Read, comment there, suggest new topics. I am almost recovered, though I was once again on the brink of despair, and I am gradually returning to normal and can write again.  

May 30th 2024 Yuriy has written his first Substack post, it's an article he has talked about previously that an American outlet didn't want to publish. You can read it here: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/publish/post/145119038 You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions) It is 30th of May.  I'm sorry for a long silence. I'm going through a very difficult time right now. Several important people in my life have passed away or been killed, and I myself have fallen seriously ill. Only now do I have a strength to upload the first text on Substack and tell you about it.  I mentioned it, this text in one over episodes. It was commissioned by an American editorial team, which later rejected it because it did not fit the worldview of media's leadership. This text is about Russian position and why it cannot be considered an a lie of Ukrainians. If you like it and want to delve deeper into the relations between Russians and the Ukrainians, they will prepare a new text for you on how the destruction of Ukraine has become a national idea for Russians. But first, I need to recover.  And one more thing. This text is available to everyone for free, but when I will be forced to publish articles only for war who subscribe to me, I hope you will be interested. 

May 24th 2024 Yuriy has made a decision about the future of the podcast, and thanks you for all your messages of support as he has considered this decision... You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)     It is 24th of May.  You know I'm not going to shut down the podcast. I received some very important messages from the listeners and realized how significant it is for people. The podcast no longer belongs to just me.  I will start posting texts on Substack next week, and for some time I'll be using the podcast to explain these texts or add something to them. I don't feel strong enough morally to continue sharing detailed personal stories related to the war. However, if something very important happens, I will definitely talk about it.  I hope this adjustment, which is likely temporary will help me get back on track a bit. I should say that most of the texts I plan to publish and discuss here are awesome about our war, but since I have already lived through and reflected on the events described in them, I hope it'll be a bit easier and less traumatic to talk about them. Once again, thank you all. Your support truly works wonders. See you next week.  

May 22nd 2024 Yuriy explains why it's so hard to continue making this podcast. Yuriy is considering ending the podcast and starting a new model. He wants to know what you think! Email him at fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com to let him know what you think. You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)   It's 22nd of May.  I have to admit to you that every episode of this podcast is a deeply traumatic experience. Every time I write an episode, every time I record it, and every time I edit it, I relive all the horrible things I have to talk about. Every single damn time. It really hurts because I have to constantly remember things I wish had never happened. Remembering the deaths of friends, the captivity of those who served with me, with destruction, with pain, with tears, with countless people who can never be brought back, the time and the happiness stolen from us by the occupiers.  It's very hard. And very painful. And also I do this in my free time. I don't get this time to distract myself from the pain and the war, but instead I dive back into them to make another episode. And each time it gets harder. A few months ago I gave up trying to make the podcast daily. I think I would have gone crazy if I had tried to keep it up that often. For a while it helped me a bit doing it once, maybe twice a week was easier than four or five times a week.  But it turned out that it was not a solution. It's painful and hard and each time. I force myself to record the podcast. I don't really understand why should I continue to force myself to do it.  I used to feel that I was making at least some impact on the general opinion abroad, but now I realize that this impact is very small, barely noticeable, really. I used to be able to tell myself, yes, it's hard, but it's not in vain- thanks to the podcast, you can pay for your daughter's education and help your parents, but that has long ceased to be true. I am very, very grateful to those who still support me, but I have to admit that this money has not been enough for a long time. So I'm torturing myself almost for free.  I'm very grateful to those who have sent me suggestions for improving the podcast. They are wonderful and interesting, but I just don't see a way to make them work in a way that fulfills any of the goals for which the podcast was started. I'm afraid I won't be able to make them generate income, maintain my skills as a journalist and be interested for foreign listeners. I'm sure that in any other situation, I would grab unto these suggestions and at least try to do something with them. But now I'm very emotionally exhausted and simply unable to radically change the project. I am truly trying to save it. It is very dear to me, but it seems that I just don't have best strength for it. I'm so sorry. I really think only a miracle can save this project.  

May 21st 2024 The Russians are mindlessly destroying the Northern Kharkiv region with artillery, targeting a settlement of Chernobyl survivors. Yuriy expresses deep hatred towards those who continue to bring suffering to innocent Ukrainians. Yuriy is considering ending the podcast and starting a new model. He wants to know what you think! Email him at fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com to let him know what you think. You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions) It is May 21.  The Russians are now destroying the Northern Kharkiv region. They are simply mindlessly demolishing everything with the reach of via artillery. There is no military sense in this. It's some kind of primal hatred towards Ukraine and Ukrainians. A wild desire to kill everyone they can. Among the villages and towns that are under constant shelling, there is a settlement of people who almost died earlier due to Moscow's actions, and now Moscow is trying to kill them again.  In this settlement live families who were relocated in 1986 after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Their homes were right in the path of a deadly cloud that rose from a destroyed reactor. People living nearby were forbidden to take with them not only their personal belongings, but even their pets. Even their clothing was destroyed after the evacuation, as it was highly radioactive. So people started their lives completely from scratch with nothing left of their past, except memories. And all of this is due to Moscow's actions.  The fact is that the personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had sufficient expertise and clear instructions to prevent the catastrophic. They knew what to do to ensure it never happened. But the Moscow officials who didn't understand a thing about nuclear energy, but considered themselves superior in everything forbade acting according to the instructions. And the frightened plant workers who feared the Moscow officials more than nuclear accident did. as they were ordered  and thus occurred the worst nuclear disaster in human history.  Those who survived the disaster and their descendants are now being killed by people who also fear the Moscow authorities more than anything else in the world. This fear makes them perfect executors of senseless and criminal actions. How else could you force a person to leave everything at home, go to another country and kill peaceful strangers there? Only by intimidating them with the idea that the authorities will be displeased if it is not done. You know, they fear death less when displeasing way superiors. It's easy for them to die, abandoned by their own comrades on minefield from wounds, and first, when to simply refuse to go and kill people.  This is some mysterious phenomenon, a mystical darkness that has engulfed a huge country and turned millions of people into frightened killers or equally frightened silent accomplices of killers. But their fear does not justify them. These shitbags bring so much suffering, take so many lives, that neither way nor way children will ever be able to wash off the blood of innocent people who were killed just because they were Ukrainians. I really, really hate them. You have no idea how much.  

May 16th 2024 Yuriy is considering ending the podcast and starting a new model. He wants to know what you think! Email him at fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com to let him know what you think. You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions) It is May 16, and it seems to me that this podcast is coming to an end. It emerged two years ago with three main goals: to keep listeners informed about what's happening in Ukraine, to maintain my journalistic skills, and to earn money for my parents and daughter. Initially, everything worked and was genuinely interesting and useful. Now, after two years, I have serious doubts about the project's continued variability.  The whole world already understand what is really happening in Ukraine. The terrible price we are paying fighting the war against Russian invaders and the extent of our losses. I simply have nothing more to add to this, I have already told everything I could. There are, of course, many other interesting things that I haven't shared, but I won't share them, even in the future, because they could be useful to the enemy or could hurt the feelings of people around me. I don't want that at all. So in reality, I've already told you everything I could.  It's no longer feasible to continue the podcast and keep myself in shape as a journalist, simply because I can't. I just don't have the right to tell much of what I know. It's becoming increasingly difficult for me. To find something new and interesting that I could talk about without harming our cause. I'm forced to repeat myself and sometimes say banal things. Obviously this does not embellish me as a journalist, but I'm no longer just a journalist. I am a soldier, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to return to my old profession although, of course I would really like to.  The monetization, that initially helped me, indeed, it saved my parents in the early weeks of the war, allowed me to pay for warehouse and medical care, ensure that my daughter was provided with everything she needed and allowed me to buy the necessary equipment for myself. This monetization has almost disappeared. Listeners are transferring less and less money.  So everything that this podcast started for has been exhausted, at least it seems so to me. That's why I'm considering ending it. I don't want to completely break with journalism, so I want to move to the Substack platform where I plan to publish new texts weekly, perhaps sometimes more often, and also add old ones about the Middle East, for example, what have never been published in English before. This could be interesting and probably a bit easier for me.  In this episode description, there is an email where you can send your thoughts and wishes, regard the future of the podcast. Maybe you have ideas on how to make it relevant, interesting, and profitable again, or perhaps you have other advices. Write it to me. Within a week until next Friday, I will make a decision. On what to do with this project. Close it and move on, or try to breathe new life into it? Help me decide.  

May 14th 2024 Yuriy humorously reveals his struggles in readjusting to civilian life, leading to a comical mishap with his jeans.  You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)

May 10th 2024 Yuriy illustrates the challenging journey of a veteran struggling to navigate the complexities of ordinary life after years of intense military service. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)     It is May 10.   Have you ever returned from vacation to work and could not remember what to do? It seems to me that it's a quirk of the brain- it quickly forgets even the most important things under the influence of emotions, and just a few days are enough to forget what seemed completely familiar. Now imagine that you did not go on vacation, but to war, not for a week, but for several years with emotions so powerful and overwhelming that they literally override everything you've experienced  before. How do you then return to normal life, what to do to regain, not only work skills, but even everyday ones? Honestly, I don't know.  But I do know for sure that's exactly what happens- a person practically forgets what ordinary life is and how to exist in it. I've already mentioned that the specifics of a driving a car on the front line are in no way the same as driving in ordinary life. On the front line, no one would ever think of fastening seat belts because in case of coming under fire and serious damage to a vehicle, you need to leave the car as quickly as possible, and seat belts hinder that. On the front line, no one uses turn signals; everyone drives at the maximum possible speed. There is no chance of accidentally running over pedestrian or crash into a bus at a stop. And you quickly get used to this frontline driving style, almost instantly forgetting how to drive in other conditions. And when you have leave or vacation and you with your new skills, find yourself in the city and you drive there as if for the first time, constantly reminding yourself to use turn signals, keep distance, not exit speed. And it's really hard. Let me take a moment from this conversation to thank those who write me messages with words of support and those who donate money to my Go Fund Me and Buy Me A Coffee pages. I'm still holding on. Thanks to you.  Okay, back to it. I remember coming home for the first time after a few weeks in the Army. I was given a day to rest a bit and to clean my clothes. And here's the second task, I almost failed. I simply could not remember how to use the washing machine. My own washing machine, which I turned on almost every day for at least five years. I did it automatically without even looking, but just a few weeks in the Army, a few weeks of heavy stress, unfamiliar, powerful emotions, and that's all. The skill that was once automatic, vanished without a trace.  I forgot how to use ATMs, forgot how to pay bills for electricity and heating. My language changed dramatically. Many previously common wars simply disappeared because were unnecessary in the Army, but new ones appeared, which  belong to military life. And they've become so ingrained in me that I use them even when it's completely inappropriate.  You know, there are hundreds of thousands of people like me out there now. People who have forgotten how to live ordinary lives, who have become unaccustomed to simple things, who find it difficult just to be among civilians to communicate with them. I have a big request for you- don't laugh at the veterans who can't do things that seem simple and obvious to everyone else. In reality, war makes everything complicated and difficult. Several years in active duty completely changed a person. But even changed by constant stress, forged by heavy experience, a human being still remains a human being.  

May 8th 2024 Yuriy delves into the modern tactics of propaganda and the dangerous ideologies fueling the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Unveiling the twisted narratives and sinister intentions, he warns of the growing threat posed by the resurgence of fascism in a world on the brink of chaos. You can email Yuriy, ask him questions or simply send him a message of support: fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com    You can help Yuriy and his family by donating to his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yuriys-family   Yuriy's Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  ----more---- TRANSCRIPT: (Apple Podcasts & Podbean app users can enjoy accurate closed captions)      It is May 8th.  Today is the 79th anniversary of the end of Second World War in Europe. For many years, it was celebrated as the day when fascism was defeated. But I have some bad news for you. Fascism is alive and kicking and even has plans on you and your home countries. Maybe you still have not noticed it, but it's only because this modern fascism is dressed in a propaganda attire designed to deceive you.  Because there are no two things more dissimilar than, Russian propaganda aimed at foreigners and Russian propaganda aimed at its own Russian audience. What do Russians tell Europeans, Americans, Asians, and others? That Russia is peaceful, wonderful country full of spirituality, holiness and grace, and that evil Ukrainians have concocted deceitful plans to spoil this holiness and grace forcing Russians to start killing Ukrainians and destroying entire cities just to save themselves. It's idiocy, but many believe in it otherwise, they would have to face the horrific reality and  acknowledge that it's an unjust war aimed at destroying an entire nation. What does propaganda tell Russians themselves? It's also a celebration of idocy, but of a completely different kind. Everyday television convinces Russians that Ukrainians are traitors trying to switch sides to the godless West, instead of fighting alongside Russians against this west. Newspapers write about it, films are made and thousands of books are written. Armies of propagandists talk about how Ukraine should not exist, that that state should only be an outpost for the future war against the West. But Ukrainians are actually Russians confused by the West. and they need to be brought back to become the vanguard of Russian army during its invasion of Europe.  And they are that serious about it. They are preparing to fight the whole world and want Ukrainians to join them, and not just join, but consciously and joyfully. The war against the West has become the main ideology of Russians, their religion, their God, and they sincerely don't understand why Ukrainians don't want to worship this god and march with Russians to conquer Berlin and Paris. While various politicians in the West talk about how to negotiate better with the Russians, the Russians themselves almost without hiding it are making plans to destroy entire countries in the West. And they lament that were forced to spend time and afford storming small villages in the Donbas instead of Brussels and London. Ukrainians have no place whatsoever in the new religion of the Russians. We either have to become Russians and join the army or be destroyed together with the West, perceived as the main enemy to Russia. That's it. There are no other options. If I were are in the shoes of wars making decisions in the West, I would listen to all these Russian stories. They fantasize about conquering Europe dream of destroying the USA and openly talk about it. Prepare for the worst, these maniacs won't stop just like that. Perhaps at some point we might decide that taking Warsaw or Prague could be easier when capturing Kharkiv or Odessa and turn their war efforts towards you.