Ukraine war diary: I grew up in Russia. Now I fight in Kyiv for Ukraine
During some downtime, the writer and filmmaker explains how being discriminated against growing up in Russia cemented his Ukrainian identity.
Paste BN Opinion is presenting the story of Illarion Pavliuk, a renowned Ukrainian writer, documentary filmmaker and journalist. Through his own words, we will show how he went from father to one of the many citizens in Ukraine who have decided to fight back against the Russian invasion.
This is the ninth dispatch. He is communicating with Paste BN Editorial Board member Carli Pierson through the Telegram app that has become popular in Ukraine.
There have been so many men wanting to enlist in Ukraine's civilian volunteer army that our contact, Illarion Pavliuk, has not been able to join active fighting yet. Instead, he has been helping train and organize other volunteers, as he and other citizen volunteers work to fortify the capital city of Kyiv.
Why do we say 'Kyiv,' not 'Kiev'?: The political history behind Ukraine's capital city
I wake up every morning to check if I have messages from Illarion and my other sources in Ukraine. Thank God, so far everyone is safe.
And I take advantage of his downtime to ask about his remarkable personal story of exile in Russia and his return to Ukraine at the age of 16.
Illarion explains that his Ukrainian identity and language were the cause of many tears and many fights during the years he spent in Russia. He tells me that the kids taunted him, telling him that Ukrainian wasn't a real language, that it was only messy Russian. He says, somewhat bitterly, that he was often called a derogatory term that is used by Russians to negatively identify ethnic Ukrainians. These experiences did not diminish his identity, however. Instead, they solidified his sense of pride and national and ethnic belonging to Ukraine.
Illarion is one of the legions of Ukrainian men willing to die to make sure that their children are given that dignity that has been systematically denied to their people, intermittently, since the late 18th century.
Here is his latest war dispatch from Kyiv.
Illarion Pavliuk is an author, screenwriter and producer of more than 10 documentaries and films, and served as a member of the jury for the 2011 Emmy Awards. In 2015, he served as an intelligence volunteer in the war in eastern Ukraine.
Carli Pierson is an attorney, former professor of human rights, writer and member of Paste BN's Editorial Board. You can follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq