‘Such Attitude Of Ukrainians When They Learn Belarusians Help Them Defend Their Country’

What surprised the “Kalinovite” in the war in Ukraine?

Pavel Shurmei, the prominent Belarusian athlete, champion in rowing and participant in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, has been fighting in the ranks of the Belarusian Kastus Kalinouski Regiment in Ukraine since February 2022. In an interview to the Charter97.org website’s Studio X-97, the fighter whose call sign is “Dziadzka” told what surprised him as he went to the war in Ukraine:

— We all want victory to happen this year. But we must psychologically prepare for the fact that this year this will not happen. We have already talked about Russian resources, both manpower and stocks of old equipment. My opinion is that, most likely, someone, I apologize for the expression, will beat Putin with a stool, adding Ukraine's successes at the front, adding Russia's military fatigue — then, perhaps, we'll talk about victory.

— Pavel, what surprised you in this full-scale, as we call it, war after February 24, 2022?

— When ordinary Ukrainians, no matter whether they were servicemen or civilians, find out that we are Belarusians and have come to help them fight, to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression. When people in the subway come up and thank you. When in queues at the clinic, if, for example, a woman comes and the doctor finds out that her husband is fighting at the front, accept without waiting in line, and if this is a private clinic, then they accept her free of charge. In villages, on nearby roads, just tens of kilometres from the front, where we sometimes take positions, ordinary residents meet us. This is the attitude of Ukrainians when they find out that the Belarusians help them defend their country.

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