EP. 9: How a former showman is helping war veterans

00:00:16: Luzia Tschirky Welcome to the podcast, Yak Ty? Ukraine Live. Yak Ty? means in Ukrainian, how are you? I am your host, Luzia Tschirky, a former correspondent, now a book author and a freelancer. On this podcast, I'm always talking to a guest live from Ukraine. The aim of this podcast is to give people in Ukraine an opportunity to share their very personal experience of Russia's full-scale invasion of the country. I am more than delighted to welcome today's guest on the show, Serhii Velichansky. Serhii is a former showman, event host and moderator. In February 2022, he joined the Territorial Defense Forces and fought all over the frontline. After he retired from service, he founded a club for war veterans. Welcome to the podcast, Serhii.

00:01:01: Serhii Velychanskyi Thank you, thank you for having me.

00:01:04: Luzia Tschirky As always, I start this podcast with the question, Yak ty saras? How are you right now?

00:01:11: Serhii Velychanskyi That's a very good question because I'm in my month and a half back into the civilian life after the service. So I would say I'm good. I'm good. I've found again the things I'm that I'm created for, the things I'm called to do and the things I take a lot of pleasure and joy in doing. And that is the improvisation, applied improvisation, or sometimes people call it improv comedy, but not for the entertainment necessarily, but for the psychological development, renewal, recreation. To answer your question: Yes, I'm doing good. Thank you.

00:02:00: Luzia Tschirky I'm very glad to hear that you're doing good. Can you tell us how did it actually came that you went from being a showman to being a soldier? How did that go?

00:02:13: Serhii Velychanskyi Well, for about 20 plus years I was in show business, entertainment business and did a lot of trainings. For instance, back in 2005 I was a drummer for Eurovision 2005 sound contest with the Ukrainian band Greenjolly. I was the drummer there, you know. The most handsome boy on the band, was me. But then in 2012 I was the official host speaker for Euro 2012 in Kyiv, all the games, all the matches, including the final. I was privileged to host the audience, 65,000 people right there on the pitch. And many, many other things like this. But since 2014, when the Russian Federation annexed Crimea and part of the Donbas territories in Ukraine, a lot of my friends were involved in the service, in the defending as volunteers or enlisted, drafted, whatever, but they were involved. So I was, I started thinking: How can I help? I wasn't sure about my health and my age, I'm 53 now, but back then I was 43. I thought I'm no longer good for the service because I did not have that kind of training and physical shape. So I helped as much as I could with the English language content, creating a Facebook page with up to 10,000 subscribers and a Facebook group with up to 40,000 people that subscribed. And then in January 2022, I joined the trainings and workouts of the Territorial Defense Battalion because I already knew, I felt that it's going to happen.

00:04:22: Luzia Tschirky How did you feel that back then in January 2022? Because I, when I did a little bit of research, I saw that you joined the Territorial Defense or that you started training before the full-scale invasion. And this would have been my next question. How did it come to that?

00:04:36: Serhii Velychanskyi So many different warnings from different, uh, special services and reconnaissance and intelligence. Uh, it seemed like only our, our president didn't believe it. At least that's the way he communicated this to us. But, uh, most of the people that were quite, um, um, intelligent, observant, could probably say, yeah, it will happen because it looks like it, the way they're preparing their troops, their army, their resources, looks like this is going to happen. So the question was only when. And so I joined the reserve of the territorial defense. We started communicating started going on to the range, doing some tactical preparations and stuff like that. And then February 24, early in the morning, it started.

00:05:41: Luzia Tschirky How were people reacting back then in January 2022? When you were telling them: "On Saturday, I can't meet you, for example, because I'm training and preparing." What was the reaction back then of people surrounding you?

00:05:54: Serhii Velychanskyi Most of the people were like: "Oh, you found yourself a hobby!" I was like: "Okay, yeah, that's a big boy's hobby. You know, put on camouflage and run around in the village or in the forest, in the factory, doing some tactical training or whatever." So it's like airsoft, you know. But with the more combat training. Basically, many people didn't think anything is going to happen. Many people listened to the government and the government didn't really communicate that at all. In fact, they communicated the opposite thought that it's going to be okay. They don't see any motivation and preparation on the Russian side to attack. So basically I responded: "Hey, listen, if nothing happens, at least I found myself a hobby. But if it does happen, then at least I know who I'm going to fight with and what commanders I will have. And we will have some kind of organizational structure that I would already know." Because many people think that it's enough to just learn how to shoot your rifle, but no, it's not. Modern warfare is completely about teams, about understanding each other, about being mobile, about being disciplined about trust to the commanders and the fellow soldiers, brothers and sisters. So it's not just, it's completely, it's very far away from just learning to shoot a rifle. So that was very important for me.

00:07:51: Luzia Tschirky Were there any specific moments in all this time you have served that had a profound impact on you looking back on the time you have served?

00:08:02: Serhii Velychanskyi Well, it completely has changed me. Though right now, even in the months and a half past, I'm looking back and I'm sometimes I'm like, wow, what a terrible long dream I had. And now I woke up, you know, it seems like it does look like sometimes that it's so far away, especially first year 2022. For me, the first year was the more difficult one, 2022, because I was a private, just a soldier, a rifleman. And together with our company of about 90 or so people, we were all volunteers. And the uniqueness that we had, and that still impresses me now. We had about literally three higher educations for two people. We had so many people with higher educations, doctors or with different achievements, people that joined. That was a real typical good example of the Territorial Defense. So together with them, we went to our first combat, which was in Irpin, Irpin-Bucha. Many people know about the massacre in Bucha. The massacre in Bucha took place because it was invaded and captured. Irpin didn't let them in too far, so we held the positions in the Irpin area. For me it was difficult. I still am looking for correct words to describe what I felt because Irpin is about 15 kilometers or maximum 20 kilometers from downtown Kyiv. So it's not far. I mean it's not far. It's like one of the regions, suburbs of Kyiv. Like organizationally it's not Kyiv, but it feels like it's part of Kyiv. Because most of our, every other guy in our company, in our battalion had at least some some like apartment or some kind of ownership of some kind of real estate or they know somebody or they have part of their families so it is such a close town for us. And in fact about three months before that we were with my friends we were there in the park having a picnic. And it was the same park where my first position was when we arrived to Irpin. So you can understand that it's not like somewhere far away there is a war. It's like right here in your backyard. And it was overwhelming. Emotionally, it was overwhelming. And then one of the first times when I felt, when I knew, when I saw the phosphorus bomb exploding over our heads, you need to understand that the phosphorus bomb looks like a fireworks. It's beautiful, but it's a hellish beautiful because as good as it looks, you know, when it's falling, it's going to burn everything with 800 degrees Celsius temperature. And it exploded right over our heads. And that was one of the moments when I thought, that's just one way ticket. We went to defend Kyiv and this is it for us. But somehow miraculously, the wind blew this fall of the phosphorus about 3-5 meters away from our trenches. So that was a good feeling.

00:12:07: Luzia Tschirky After leaving service, have you ever thought of going back to these places? You know, as they are so close to your home, you're now back in Kyiv and Irpin is, as you said, not far away from Kyiv. Have you thought about that, going back there and just have a look around how the place looks like?

00:12:23: Serhii Velychanskyi I had gone there a few times already. When I was in 2022, when I was in a hospital in Kyiv, so I was able to, that was one of my first desires to go back to feel, to have this, to enjoy the feeling of victory, you know, small but victory. So... That was very emotional as well. I brought my son, he was 23 back then, and I brought my son with me to show him where everything, how it happened and what was happening. So yes, definitely that was one of my first desires to go and see.

00:13:08: Luzia Tschirky What would you say, what did help you personally as a war veteran to reintegrate in everyday life besides like going to the places that had a special meaning to you? What were other things helped you to reintegrate after service?

00:13:24: Serhii Velychanskyi Eh. You know, we need to understand that when we talk about PTSD or moral weariness, being tired, weariness, emotional, psychological. In Ukraine, this is something that is very difficult for other armies to understand. First of all, it's the war on your own soil. Secondly, now this is almost three years now and there is no end in sight. You can't see when, when it's going to happen. So when a soldier like me joined the army the first week of the full-scale invasion, we were hoping that we'll serve for one year and then we'll... Go back. But no, this is the third year, the fourth year will start and there is no ending, there is no vision of when the soldiers will go back to their civilian life, because the war is so heavy, so intense. It's difficult to organize that the soldiers would rotate. We don't have enough soldiers to do that, to do the rotation. That's why people are tired and physically and emotionally and psychologically and all that. And so our PTSD is mainly, it's a... When you are, when you're devastated, when you're tired, when you're depressed, when you are down and then you are again depressed and feel down because of the previous time you felt down and you were depressed and you were devastated and tired and then again your tiredness, your depression, your loss of faith, understanding of what's happening is again developed because of the previous one and the previous was because of the previous one and so you have so many different layers of tired after feeling tired after tired that you just don't know what what kind of a normal person you will be when you come come back it's just it's like a hammer that is shaping you completely into a different person. It's like clay when you shape it up and it then becomes a stone and it's gonna be hard to unshape it, it's gonna be hard to reshape it because of so many different circumstances, the combat and the atmosphere and the situation and the ability to cope with the challenges is very... It's just that's the uniqueness when you come home. Like me, I was discharged because of the health issues, I came back and we still have the rockets and the UAV, the Shaheds flying over. So there is... It is kind of like a not typical peaceful environment when you come back. You still are in the wartime territory, though we do have visitors, and foreigners that come here and there and they don't see war, Kyiv or even the western part of Ukraine. A lot of things are happening, lot of forums, events, people are trying to, restaurants are working, people are trying to do the job. But when you come home as a veteran, you do feel... You just think that it's such two different worlds. You know, you go 500 kilometers away and it's two different worlds. But still, other parts of Ukraine are not that safe. You still feel the air raid alarms. You still hear this and that. So that's to understand the idea of the veteran coming home. It's completely not a typical Western idea when a veteran coming home, home, and just relax, relax.

00:18:40: Luzia Tschirky What can you do? Like, what does help you personally to relax at least a little bit? Because I assume that your body being under permanent stress for situations at a certain point, you stop feeling any stress. And this is as far as I understand also a sign of PTSD. What are you trying to do so you can at least relax a little bit?

00:19:04: Serhii Velychanskyi Well, I don't have a PTSD per se. I have some signs here and there. I do have emotionally, sometimes I'm very intense or some flashbacks or some things like this. Because I was involved for the past year or so, I was involved in the moral and psychological support of the unit. So I was helping others. So for me, helping others is a good way to help myself. So this is one of the things because speaking and talking and collaborating with colleagues, it helps me to be able to observe how they do the work and then help the soldiers and help the units as they either getting ready for a new deployment or are just coming back from the deployment. Most of the times it's just there is, besides the awards, there is not much you can do and so... That's where the trust issue is a big thing. Because if the soldiers trust the messenger, then they will listen to the words. If the soldiers don't trust the messenger, somehow, either it's a civilian or... You know, there is this issue with the draft, right? Mobilization. Those soldiers, they feel like, hey, we've... We've taken the first shot, we've taken the first hit back in the year 2022 and 2023. Now we hope that you, the civilians, will take the baton and move on and we will come back to the civilian life. But unfortunately, it doesn't happen like this. Somehow, a lot of different issues with the mobilization. Some government mistakes and some mistakes of the army have led to the situation where, plus the informational attacks of the Russian Federation. They purposefully working towards disrupting the mobilization process. Because they purpose, this is like how they do this. They create different messages like, go into the army, you are dying. Okay, so putting this in one sentence, joining the army and death, joining the army, death. People start thinking, yeah, I will die when I join the army, but this is not the case. Yes, death can happen anywhere, but in many cases people can join the army for different, depending on their education and experience and skills, they can join different positions, not necessarily the assault riflemen, infantry man or whatever or airborne or whatever.

00:22:09: Luzia Tschirky You mentioned briefly that you have a son, who is at the beginning of his twenties. Have you been talking with him about the possibility of joining the Ukrainian army in any future time or has this not been a topic you have been discussing with your son?

00:22:30: Serhii Velychanskyi He has already joined. Yeah, he has already joined. For two years he was preparing. I helped him get the, join a good UAV training. The drone, the drones training. And now he's a good experienced operator of the devices that fly and either intelligence, reconnaissance or attacking. So, yeah, he's already joined and that was his decision and I'm happy. Basically, he said that I was a good example for him in 2022, so I'm proud to know that.

00:23:12: Luzia Tschirky What would you say, what is more difficult, you know, you as a former soldier and a father of a soldier serving currently in the Ukrainian army, what is more difficult, like fighting yourself or knowing that your son is fighting somewhere at the front lines?

00:23:29: Serhii Velychanskyi The second. The first one when you're risking yourself, risking your life because you believe in it, because you know why you're doing it. Plus you've lived a life a little bit. So I was what, 50? Now I'm 53. And basically, yes, the idea was I'm there because I don't want our children to go to war, but unfortunately the war dragged so long that now it's term, when I get discharged, it's his turn. So of course the second is much more difficult because that's your blood, that's your son, that's someone you... your investment, your, you know, so, but yeah, yeah. B

00:24:22: Luzia Tschirky It's of course, it's your kid. It's absolutely understandable.

00:24:25: Serhii Velychanskyi But as a man that has gone through it, I personally believe that a good man sometimes has to make an unpopular decision to, you know, get find your part in the fight. as our former general commander of the armed forces said, it was and it will be difficult, but we will definitely never feel sorry for ourselves. Valery Zaluzhnyi, yeah.

00:25:00: Luzia Tschirky You did not feel sorry for yourself, definitely. After serving you founded a club for war veterans. What inspired you to create this space for your comrades?

00:25:10: Serhii Velychanskyi Because I've been doing improvisational, improv comedy since 2009. And since 2013 or so, I started using improv as applied improvisation, as the tool to develop, to build characters, build paradigms, build personalities with the improvisation people obtain new skills. Due to the fact that improvisation works on the level of developing new neural connections. That's why the skills are being developed and they're very helpful then in the life, in the daily life or business. Being on the front line, in 2022 we did one when we were in the Kharkiv area, I was able to do one recreational event for my company. It was a lot of laughter, a lot of fun. Mainly it was the idea to interact, to lift the spirit up, just get some laughs, get some smiles, get some jokes going. So that was a very good thing. And then in 2023, I started using improv as helping the officers and the commanders, those that work in the area of moral and psychological support of the units. And that's where I started dreaming about developing the project that's called Improv 450. 450 is a radio code that says, we are okay. That's the radio code 450. We are okay. It's got a few years of history, so it's typical, understandable that 450 means it has to do with the veterans. So it's a recognizable sign. And so improv 450, that was the idea that I had in my mind. But because I was serving here and there, it was difficult to implement because I couldn't, you know, in the army, you can't rely on your own time or any of your plans because you're, you know, you're under, um, your higher command. But in the summer I was able to start doing the improv specifically designed for the boys in rehab, in rehabilitation. So two times a week we would come and we would talk with them, play some improv games, discuss things and discuss the concepts and ideas that improv teaches. Because improv is an interesting thing, in a sense that it's not just for fun, it's not just for entertainment, it's much more, much deeper than that. Improv, for instance, teaches that it's not about the situation, it's about your reaction. So every situation that happens, it's not a problem yet. It's your reaction that makes it either a problem or a situation to solve. Or another thing, the skill to concentrate, to be able to concentrate, to learn, to concentrate on possibilities in the midst of hindrances. So learning to look at the possibilities in the midst of all the hindrances that are out there, that's a huge skill because wherever you are and even if you are a wounded or retired soldier, then it's much easier to concentrate only on the bad things out there, on the you know, things that the government doesn't do or the people, neighbors don't do or... And improv is really teaching and helping you understand that it's much more effective for your life if you concentrate on the possibilities here and now. So a lot of different things plus flexibility, quick reaction, quick adapting skills, coping skills to all the new circumstances and all those things. So improv is a good lecture, but it's fun. Guys love to play. So that's why it was not a big matter of thinking. What should I do? It was a complete understanding when I come home. Improv, Improv 450, that would be the thing to do. The only way is to find the possibilities. It's not a typical situation where you would find, you know, funding or money or whatever. So it takes some creativity and thinking and collaborating and discussion with others. But at the same time, I already have about 20 veterans that joined, my club and, they, twice a week, they come with pleasure to hang out, to play, to learn, to discuss and stuff. It's fun.

00:30:45: Luzia Tschirky Can you tell us, Serhii, what is the reaction of the war veterans when they come to the club for the first time? How do they react on that idea of improv?

00:30:57: Serhii Velychanskyi Almost everyone doesn't even know what to expect. So it's very important when I communicate, very important to tell them that this event is planned. In this event, we don't expect everyone to participate in improvisation. You don't have to. You can just sit back and just relax. You have the right to do that. Or this event is not for the experienced improvisers or actors. So you don't have to have the background of all that theatrical stuff. So those kinds of things help them to understand, I'll just join to hang out and those that like, then they are invited to come to regular sessions, regular rehearsals and training sessions. I would say I call it a hobby-oriented therapy. Hobby-oriented therapy. So it's not a hobby-based therapy. Basically, the hobby, in this case improvisation, is in the center of our attention. And then the hobby sparks the moments of openness and sharing and trust. So that's what it is. It's a hobby-based therapy that we do.

00:32:34: Luzia Tschirky Would you say as far as all the people who are joining the club are former war veterans? Would you say like the language and the expressions you find there and like all the people that join the club is different and from like everything that they can share with other people who have not like the same experience outside of the army, have never been part of the army, would you say there's a difference?

00:33:00: Serhii Velychanskyi Of course, of course. a lot of... know, improvisation is about recreating or creating new circumstances or new things, right? New stories, storytelling. And of course, when you are... You've lived for several years in a certain circumstances that are common to all the other fellow soldiers and brothers and sisters. Of course, it will be easier just to use this or that term or reference to this or that situation which everyone will identify. So that's cleverness in communication. If your audience are on the same page, right, it's easier to communicate with them. Of course, we will be thinking of possibly creating an improv kind of a show for the relatives, friends, non-military people, of course, but later, a bit later.

00:34:05: Luzia Tschirky Do you feel like that at the very moment there are certain questions concerning funding from abroad for organizations and clubs like yours? Do you feel like that there is less support for organizations or would you say no, that you are currently at the very moment not desperately looking for new funding for the club?

00:34:29: Serhii Velychanskyi Well, it's hard to say right now because of the fact that I not so long ago left the army. I'm open for all kinds of different corporations and I'm even open to visit the forums, the conferences or different events to learn new things in improv, leading and connect with new organizations, different organizations that could help. I'm still looking at ways how to manage the organizational and the financial side of my thing. For now, it's just that's just what I do because I do corporate training which I charge some funds and I make money off of that. And it's again improvisational trainings, but for corporate clients. And so this helps me pay the bills. But of course, if I find the partner or whatever partners that will enable me to do more and spend more time with the improvisational veterans project then I would be able to do this not only in Kyiv but in Lviv and other cities. So I'm open. For now I don't have I have not had yet time to really develop the structure. Just like an improvisation you make the first step you keep doing it. So, or the phrase I love to say to my students, if you don't know what to do, do what you know.

00:36:05: Luzia Tschirky Serhii Velichansky, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast Yak ty? Ukraine Live and I wish you all the luck on the world for your club and your very important work with war veterans in Ukraine. Thank you very much.

00:36:16: Serhii Velychanskyi Thank you.