Berdychiv, UKRAINE Mikhael Dudadiev, 39, understood by his war name Benor, remains in the small cooking area of a Soviet-era apartment or condo, preparing Zhizhig Galnash, a standard Chechen dish made of meat, pasta and garlic sauce.It advises me of the dishes from my childhood.A thick brown beard frames his face, and his broad shoulders mean his time on the cutting edge in Zaporizhzhia.
Benor becomes part of the Obone unit, a department of the Foreign Legion focusing on close fight, mainly composed of Chechen volunteers, and associated with the government of Ichkeria (the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic) in exile in Kyiv.After weeks on the front lines, Benor is taking pleasure in a brief moment of break in the rear.
He dips large chunks of boiled meat into the garlic sauce and consumes them in hearty bites.Next to him, among his pals, Vakha *, a Georgian, pours himself a glass of Coke.
Benor is a veteran of the Second Chechen War.
Vakha, who combated in the Georgian army, participated in his nations 1993 war against Russian-backed Abkhaz separatists.In the background, a radio is relaying the news: Following the phone call between U.S.
President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, an American delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a trip to Riyadh and met with the Russian foreign minister.
Volodymyr Zelensky, who was arranged to check out Riyadh the exact same day, canceled his flight.The two males barely focus.
Theyve heard everything before.The last light of the day sticks around on Vakhas face.Im not thinking about politics any longer.
All I can state is that Russia will never honor its dedications.
It never has.
Not in Georgia, not in Chechnya, not in Ukraine after the addition of Crimea.
Why would it now? states the 60-year-old.
Benor resting after a long day in his apartment.Joseph RocheHaving immigrated to Moldova in the 1990s, he signed up with the Ukrainian army at the extremely start of the war.I do not truly know why anymore.
I simply couldnt kick back and do nothing.Since then, his life has actually been a cycle of frontline fights, training and rotations.I do not feel nostalgic for any homeland.
I feel comfortable all over on the front, in a trench, in Kyiv, and even here in Berdychiv, he laughs.A fight for a lost homelandBenor imagine spending his final days in his homeland.
Born in Grozny, he signed up with the Chechen resistance throughout the Second Chechen War.
He was barely 16.
Borne out of the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
in the 1990s, this dispute pitted Chechen Muslim independence fighters, led by Dzhokhar Dudayev (to whom Benor has no household ties), versus Russia.
Benefiting from Russias compromised post-Soviet power and their regions mountainous surface, the separatists secured an initial triumph, culminating in the Khasavyurt Agreements (1996 ), which required a Russian military withdrawal.Vakha in the kitchen he shows Benor.Joseph RocheHowever, in 1999, under the pretext of an anti-terrorist operation, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin released a brand-new military intervention.
Divided and under-equipped, the Chechen separatists surrendered in 2009.
Ever since, Chechnya has actually been reintegrated into the Russian Federation and is ruled by the Kadyrov clan, a close ally of Moscow.Every day resembled Bucha, Benor recalls.
Every day, the Russians would rob our towns and massacre males, females, and children.
They eliminated more than 100,000 individuals and destroyed every city in the country.Exiled in Norway because 2008, Benor, now married and a daddy of 5, also signed up with the Ukrainian army in March 2022.
Just the failure of Russia will one day enable me to see my homeland once again.
Thats why I fight.Salevi Subotsky, known by his war name Stare, a fighter from Pinsk, Belarus, shares Benors view.
Though he doesnt express a particular desire to return home, he understands that Russia, through its ally Alexander Lukashenko the pro-Russian totalitarian of Belarus has actually sold his future and required him into exile.I left for financial factors, not really political ones.
Initially to Switzerland, then to France, where I tried to sign up with the Foreign Legion, and finally to the Netherlands, where I worked on a tulip farm.Benor and the Obone Battalion.Joseph RocheAccompanied by a pitbull, Stare walks with a straight back, running a turn over his shaved head.
I came here because I had Ukrainian buddies and saw what Russia was doing.Since then, the Belarusian KGB has attempted to intimidate his household back home.Theyve jailed my relatives numerous times to get information about what Im performing in Ukraine, he states.
Its a corrupt nation, entirely managed by Russia.
And they wish to do the exact same thing in Ukraine.
They want to damage the Ukrainian language, the culture, and whatever that even remotely opposes the Kremlin.
And if they cant install a dictator like Lukashenko in Ukraine, they wont stop the war.
No matter the treaty.
Ukrainians should continue fighting.Three years later, neither man expected the war to last this long.Benor throughout a training exercise.Joseph RocheYou cant trust PutinIn a poorly lit room, behind dusty-colored curtains, Adam *, known by his war name Berkhi, another Chechen fighter, focuses on his prayers.
Drones and shells being in a corner.
On the sofa, a number of rifles are stacked haphazardly.We can never trust the Russians.
I lost my country since of that so-called peace contract (the Khasavyurt Accords).
History is duplicating itself.
We won the First Chechen War.
They took their time to rearm while dividing us, and in the end, they won.
They will attempt to do the exact same thing with Ukraine.
You cant trust Putin.
Hes a phony and a killer, Berkhi says in reluctant French.
After living in Belgium, he signed up with the Ukrainian army in 2016.
For him, Ukraine must keep battling since this refers survival for Europe.
The next target, he thinks, will be the Baltic states.When I hear talk of settlements, I get flashbacks to the Chechen peace talks in 1996-1997.
A peace treaty with Russia deserves no more than the paper its composed on, he says.Ukraine should be really careful, Benor insists.They will attempt to divide Ukraine, restore their army and resources Im 100% sure of it, he continues.
Thats precisely what they made with Chechnya.
They will use everything they need to take complete control of Ukraine.
They will never ever stop.Stare on leave.Courtesy photoVakha takes a drag from his cigarette.
He, too, understands what the Kremlins word is worth.They won in 1993, then started again in 2008.
Today, Georgia has a pro-Russian president.What Trump is providing Russia, Vakha states with disappointment, is absolutely nothing short of Ukraines capitulation.
The Russians will never ever stop.When they run out of men, they will send out the ill, women, and kids into battle if they have to.But in an unusual moment of optimism, Benor attempts to temper the discussion.
He argues that Ukraine, with the help of European allies, could likewise utilize a ceasefire to rearm and prepare for the next war.He keeps the prophecy of Dzhokhar Dudayev, the leader of the Ichkerian independence motion, assassinated by the Russians in 1996, who once stated: Russia will fall when the Ukrainian sun rises.Benor sighs.
Well see.
* Last names have actually been kept for security reasons.