I would like to share with you a story of a person. His name is Reenat. He is a writer, a journalist, a sportsman, a warrior and my friend. This is his apartment. Books, vinyls, photos, guitar… It’s a cozy place and guests are always welcomed here.

Reenat was born in Donetsk, which back then was a part of Ukraine, he was studying at a jurisdiction faculty, he was participating in sports and he became a champion in kickboxing twice for his country. In 2014 after the government coup in Kiev, the Ukrainian army began to shoot over the city of Donbass, killing peaceful citizens of their own country, who suddenly were labelled as “separatists” only because they never accepted the new leadership within the country.

Reenat was 21 years old when the war came into his life. The youthful man never even experienced the first love and yet he had to be a true man and take a weapon into his hands. He protected his parents who lived in Donetsk and he couldn’t leave his home behind, his family and friends, his homeland, his beliefs. 

And that’s how, an ordinary fellow, a student, became a soldier. In the past few years he has had 4 injuries, he experienced deaths of his comrades in arms, he served in the artillery and he was given officer’s shoulder straps. Instead of having experience as a lawyer, Reenat had the experience of war, he became a war correspondent. You could regularly see him on the Russian TV  programmes, where he spoke about the events on the war front. It wasn’t his choice, but he had no other options. That’s how things were going.

Now my friend lives in Saint Petersburg, he publishes books and poems, he records different programmes and tries out in the scene of acting. But, at some point in time, he gets his bag ready, makes some phone calls and then he goes to the nearest train station. He is once again going there, the place where blood is shed, where his friends are fighting, where in this day and time his home Donetsk is still being bombed by the artillery. Now this is his choice.