You have surely seen Ruslan Hanushchak’s films – at least one of them. Ruslan went through the Maidan with a camera in hand, working for Spilno.TV. It is he who recorded Serhii Nigoyan’s last interview. He also filmed the Instytutska Street shooting of activists on February 20, with snipers in the focus.
Then he went to war. He often visited the Donbas on behalf of the German ARD channel. He worked as a cameraman in Donetsk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Luhansk. He saw the conflict arise, gain momentum, and turn into a war. He mingled with Ukrainian volunteers and servicemen. And, finally, he understood that it was not enough to be just a cameraman at this difficult historical time and signed up as a volunteer in the Azov battalion. Now Ruslan is fighting and filming videos. He posts the footage on Azov’s website, from where national TV channels often borrow it. And his 26-minute-long film on the Ilovaisk tragedy has been seen in New York, Warsaw, and many cities of Ukraine. The picture was recently shown in Kyiv too. Ruslan says he has gathered enough material for the next film about Shyrokyne.
When The Day reached Ruslan on the phone, he was repairing the equipment somewhere near Shyrokyne. The call surprised him a little.
“I feel it awkward at being made a star of sorts, for I have done nothing special. I just found myself with the right people at the right moment with a camera in hand. I made and showed this film about Ilovaisk because I couldn’t help doing so. We must speak, shout about, and recall this! People must know their heroes. They should know who the volunteers are, what they are fighting for, what their motives are, and that it is a war.”
Do you think the people who are hundreds of kilometers away from the war know what it is? Whenever you come to Kyiv or your home city of Ivano-Frankivsk, can you see the awareness of this war?
“I can see parallel worlds. As long as you are in the ATO zone, hear gun salvos, explosions of mortar shells, and mingle with the people who have something to do with this, who see death and lose their friends, relatives, and colleagues, it is one reality. But when you go even to a neighboring village which does not hear all this, you feel an entirely different atmosphere – people are at rest. Take, for example, Berdiansk. It is just about 90 kilometers from the front line, but still it is a normal sea resort in the summer. Yet local residents complain of a shortage of tourists. Earlier, they used to receive people from Luhansk, Donetsk, and Russia. Now the cottages stay empty. Nevertheless, people keep coming for a vacation. I am not saying that it is bad – we should not fixate on the war alone. But still the impression is that the war is of no concern to some. I happen to read or hear such things as ‘it’s going on somewhere else, I stay out of this,’ ‘I wish it would all come to an end, I’m fed up,’ ‘what’s the difference who is in power – if they only stopped shooting.’ There are different people and realities.”
“THIS SHOULD BE DISCUSSED AND SHOWN”
You make videos at the front and show them in peaceful cities. What do you think is the result of your work?
“It is an inimitable feeling, when you see the results of your work. I first showed the film Two Days in Ilovaisk at the Ukrainian Museum in Manhattan, New York. There were about 20 viewers there, but I could see people crying. They looked stunned after watching the film. They thanked me, shook my hand, and said: ‘We knew there is a war in Ukraine, but we did not know that it is so serious, painful, and terrible.’
“This film helps people feel this war, this pain, and this tragedy. When I was showing the film in my home city Ivano-Frankivsk, I managed to attract people via Facebook, invite my friends and acquaintances. The cinema theater was full to capacity – some people even stood in the aisle. The audience applauded and thanked. It was clear to them that it is a right film and it must be shown. Every time I show this film I get a confirmation that this should be discussed and shown.”
“THE NEXT FILM IS ON SHYROKYNE”
You film in the ATO zone. How do you work? Do you show everything or leave something off screen?
“Naturally, it is wartime and you cannot fully show all that you want and plan. It is connected, first of all, with some military secrets. Some soldiers ask me not to show their faces because they have relatives left in Luhansk or Donetsk – they don’t want them to get into a trouble. Some people came from Russia to fight on our side, and they also ask not to show them. There are a lot of circumstances to be taken into account. For example, there is a god material, but you can show it later, not now. The same story was with this film on Ilovaisk: I could not show it until all the prisoners taken in this ‘pocket’ were set free. I was afraid that some of the captives might be in the footage. This could do them harm.”
When you are filming, what are you focusing on – the hostilities or the human stories? What is the most important for you?
“I am not just a free artist or a self-styled director who films what he wants to. First of all, I do my work. I am a military reporter and prepare certain news items for our website and television. But, in spite of all this, I accumulate all kinds of interesting and unique material. For example, I am going to make my next film about Shyrokyne. I am personally interested in the human factor – why these people are here, why they left their homes, families, wives, children, business, and studies. More than a half of people in our regiment have higher education. They don’t seem to be special – they seem to be ordinary people. But when you begin to talk to them, you see that they are great figures. An ordinary person cannot find himself in a volunteer unit by pure chance. All these people are extremely interesting. I speak to them and record interviews. I want other people to know more about them.
“Ukraine is said to be losing the information war. It is true. Clearly, our enemy is taking preventive action, whereas we cannot say the simple truth in time, let alone use some ploys. We don’t need to apply any special technologies to prove that we are right – we should only speak more ourselves and the fighters, tell their life stories: who they are, what are they fighting for, why they went to war… And, to begin with, one must know history. One should know why, how, and what for our ancestors fought. Then the present-day situation will be clearer.”
“EVEN IF YOU ARE FRIGHTENED, CLOSE YOUR EYES BUT LET THE CAMERA GO ON WORKING”
Tell me please about your film Two Days in Ilovaisk. Ilovaisk was your first operational assignment. What was your first encounter with war like?
“An alert was sounded at night, and we went. I did not know where, why, and for how long we were going. This was the first time I was driving a vehicle as part of a military column, so I had to learn how to keep the distance and move with the lights out. I had to learn all this on the move. Then I understood that we were heading for Ilovaisk. We had to change the route twice. Our column ran into an ambush a few times. We had started at 1 a.m. but only arrived at our destination after the lunchtime. It took us a very long time to reach Ilovaisk, although it would have been about two hours’ drive on a usual road.
“Why is the film titled Two Days in Ilovaisk? Because I was in fact for two days there. On the first day, I failed to get into Ilovaisk, and I stopped at the last line, where it was more or less safe. I simply did not know where to move. We were told to wait there. I decided not to just wait and began to film. Searching for interesting people, I found medics and recorded them. I also recorded the driver of a Prianyk armored vehicle, with the call sign of ‘Wicked,’ and some artillerists. Then I decided to film the sunset, and while I was doing this, our battalion broke camp, leaving me alone. I had to move to the overnight stay place with a different battalion. On the next day I decided to accompany others in their battlefield assignment. But, for some reason, there was no place for me again in the vehicles with our soldiers, so I had to hitchhike to Ilovaisk. First I rode on a Ukrainian Army truck that carried tank projectiles. Then the battalion Shakhtarsk picked me up. At last I found my people and never left them again.
SERHII LOIKO POSTED THIS PHOTO IN HIS FACEBOOK WITH THE CAPTION: “IN A TRENCH UNDER RUSSIAN FIRE TOGETHER WITH RUSLAN HANUSHCHAK” / Photo by Serhii LOIKO
“I just worked sort of subconsciously, filming everything. Cameramen have a rule: never switch off the camera. Even if you are frightened, close your eyes but let the camera go on working.
“I saw the wounded ‘Aksion’ being carried in. ‘Khoma’ was killed on the spot. This film is in fact dedicated to these two heroes. These guys were among the first losses of the battalion Azov in this war. They were young – 18 and 20 years old. I then recorded very many interviews which were not included in the film. Khoma’s friends from Volyn told me about their basic training course and once began to discuss ‘what would there be if...’ So, they simulated the following situation: suppose an enemy grenade has landed, what will you do? And ‘Khoma’ said without a hesitation: ‘I will immediately lie down on this grenade so that none of my comrades suffer.’ And it happened exactly like this.”
“THIS FILM IS A SMALL FRAGMENT OF THAT GREAT TRAGEDY”
What do you think about the Ilovaisk tragedy now, a year later?
“I cannot judge about the whole situation and claim or analyze something. It is a small fragment of that great tragedy, where many hundreds of people died. I will only say about two lost destinies. Luckily, our command managed to make a right decision soon, and we broke free with such light losses. Other battalions suffered much more. This film is a small touch, a tiny fragment of that great misfortune. But it is a true, realistic, and vivid one. I didn’t do much editing, I only cut out the ‘noise’ and left the very essence intact – without the author’s text or any off-screen comments because everything is clear in any case.”
“WE MUST DO SOMETHING, CHANGE SOMETHING IN THIS LIFE”
When did you realize that it is not enough for you only to film in the east and you decided to volunteer?
“I am just a person who cannot stand aside. I was an active participant in the 2004 revolution and went through the entire 2014 Maidan with a camera in hand. I used to go east and I saw and filmed the formation of the so-called LNR and DNR. I filmed the birth of ‘Donbas,’ the first volunteer detachment. I just understood that I couldn’t stay behind at home.
“It is much easier to take part in this than to just watch, suffer, and moan. We must do something, change something in this life. After all, when your child asks you: ‘Daddy, where were you when there was a liberation war in Ukraine?’ what will you answer?
“For me personally, the final result is not so important, for I know that Ukraine will be free and independent and the truth will be on our side, but this may take a long time and I don’t know if I will see this. What is important for me is the process itself. I have met a large number of interesting people in the past year. I’ve understood and learned a lot of things in this life. This is life. We are living in a unique time, when we can change something. If every Ukrainian begins to do something instead of just surfing through Facebook, there will be changes in Ukraine. What is Ukraine’s great misfortune? We have developed the mentality of a slave in the past few centuries: why should we decide and assume responsibility for something if there are politicians for whom we voted? Let it be their headache. But this is wrong! We must understand that it is our country and our life and nobody will fetch us freedom and independence on a silver platter. We gained independence under certain circumstances, but this does not mean that it was gifted to us just because we are so good. There is a struggle going on, and we are winning back our independence at the cost of our life and blood. And what we will win back will be ours.
“I worked for almost 10 years at Ivano-Frankivsk regional television. Then I worked at Kyiv’s central channels for more than a year. Then I began to freelance. I cooperated with Ihor Zakharenko in ‘Breathtaking Travels’ on the 5th Channel. We traveled and filmed tourist programs. I met friends on the Maidan, who suggested that I work for the German ARD channel. It is extremely important that people abroad should also know the truth and see what is going on in Ukraine. I am sure our team has managed to produce the right vision of the situation in our country for German viewers. Now, as my work requires it, I communicate with foreign journalists – from various publications and TV channels – almost every day. We are trying to show and explain to them as much as possible, to give them as many opportunities as possible to get in touch with soldiers and their commanders and see with their own eyes what is going on.”
