‘Letters of heaven’: Kyiv coffee shop manager proud to be called up to fight Russia

By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press on July 30, 2023.

Anton says he has always been willing to pick up arms and fight for Ukraine.

He recently got his wish, receiving a letter calling him into military service in his country’s battle with Russia.

“I am going to the army,” the 29-year-old coffee shop manager from Kyiv told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.

“I wasn’t surprised really. Now is the time that mostly all men receive these letters of heaven, as we call them.”

Anton worked last month as an interpreter for The Canadian Press. Members of the Ukrainian military are discouraged from revealing their last names for the safety of their family members in the country.

Men ages 18 to 60 were banned from leaving Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in February 2022. The Ukrainian government is not forcing men to fight, but they must register and remain in the country.

There is a chance of enforced conscription if the violence continues.

“It’s just my duty. It’s a matter of honour,” says Anton, who isn’t pleased with men who haven’t registered with the government.

Anton manages an upscale coffee shop just steps from Independence Square and hopes to own his own café someday. He has lived in the capital all his life and has a fondness for the music of Frank Sinatra.

“And as Frank Sinatra would sing, ‘You’re in the army now,'” he says.

He has been told to report Monday to a military checkpoint to begin his military career before heading to a remote area for training.

“You need to go this checkpoint and they say, ‘Yeah man, welcome,'” he says with a laugh.

As the tall, slender man prepares for a month of basic training, he has more pressing issues – making sure he has enough cigarettes and proper body armour, including plates, ballistic goggles and military-grade boots.

He is to later join a marine unit, and doesn’t know what kind of equipment he will receive.

“Armour would also be given by the unit, but it’s basic. It could be nothing. It may not fit me, which is also a problem, but I don’t care. Good armour is good armour.”

Dima Niekazakov, a 36-year-old graphic designer, has a charity that helps members of the armed forces of Ukraine. He says there’s an urgent problem in making sure soldiers have body armour, helmets and weapons.

“I’ve bought by myself about five body armours and about two or three helmets to give to soldiers,” he says.

“In some battlefields, it’s a very big difference.”

Niekazakov says fundraising to buy protection and even guns for Ukrainian soldiers is common as those from poor families don’t have an opportunity to get help.

Anton isn’t worried about being in the military, but he is nervous about the training. He says he’s not in as good a shape as he should be and knows he has lots to learn.

“It could be just hard physical training, but I need some basic knowledge about tactics and other things. How to move in a group, how to stay in positions, how to retreat from positions.”

Anton says he’s not worried about going to a dangerous area.

“Yes it’s dangerous, but it’s dangerous everywhere in Ukraine, also in Kyiv, also in Kharkiv and other places.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2023.

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