Famous journalist, correspondent of the United News marathon Stanislav Yasinsky At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he began filming the documentary project “History of the Question.” The four films included in it, according to the author, point to the cyclic nature of history and the prerequisites for the Russian-Ukrainian war, which lie in the distant past.
“Everything that is happening now has already happened in the history of mankind,” says Yasinsky on the eve of the premiere of the cycle on 1 + 1 Ukraine. - Even the hybridity of the war, the authorship of which is attributed to Putin, was not invented by him at all, but by Alexander the Great. Combat drones appeared not 10 or 20 years ago, but in 1849. Land-lease ensured the victory and strengthening of not only the USSR, but also communist China. In fact, everything we face today had its analogues.
Four documentaries cover the issues of decommunization, military captivity, deportation and culture.
In an exclusive interview with FACTS, Stanislav Yasinsky told what finds struck him the most, where the brutal cruelty of the Russians came from, and how he met a full-scale invasion three kilometers from the airport in Vasilkov.
“Sometimes it’s really scary”
- How do you feel now, when the war has been going on for 14 months?
- There is an understanding that you need to reach the end. There are no longer any illusions that it will be fast, but there is an understanding that you need to dot the i’s. I am not a military man, but a simple journalist, so I do my job.
- When the full-scale invasion began, did you have a feeling that it would be for a long time?
- Then, most likely, there was a frozen state, because we all understood that a full-scale war was possible, but did not believe in it. Awareness came at a time when rockets began to fly in the sky and explode in Vasilkovo. To be honest, in the first days I could not analyze what was happening at all. I only had the strength to view information and chaotic attempts to do something. I took my family to the west, to Chernivtsi, then I left for Lutsk. A reserve studio “1 + 1” was formed there, and I started working. Without the conditions that television journalists need. We literally on our knees began to do what is now called the national marathon “United News”.
.jpg "«Ми всі розуміли, що повномасштабна війна можлива, але не вірили в це», — говорить Станіслав Ясинський")
- You ended up in hell itself - Vasilkov was bombed from the first minutes of the invasion. What was your February 24th like?
- I remember it very well. I have a birthday on February 23, in the evening I felt something very disturbing. He left, filled the car, took a can of gasoline with him. When I heard the first explosions, I understood what had begun. I live three kilometers from the airfield and at about 4 o’clock in the morning I heard the first aircraft, rockets. Immediately ordered the family to gather. We all saw Putin’s speech the day before, but, of course, there was hope that it would be possible to bypass all this. I remember that it took us about 2.5 hours to pack our suitcases. There was a stupor due to constant close explosions, so even moving quickly did not work. We packed up and went to Kyiv to collect my son from his first marriage - he was then with his mother. But Kyiv was blocked and it was possible to take it out only in the evening of the same day. On the way we saw clouds of smoke over our airfield.
When did you accept the situation?
- On the evening of 24, already in Chernivtsi, I saw our news. Colleagues worked absolutely selflessly - I had to return too. There were doubts whether to return to work or go straight to the draft board. But the very next day I received an order to go to Lutsk. When with Maxim Sukhenko (Journalist of United News. - Auth.) arrived at the backup studio, it became clear that everything was saved. Our place was there, we were needed - it somehow grounded us. It was around February 26th. The first months were very difficult. Half of the work left Kyiv, half - from Lutsk. I returned to the capital somewhere at the beginning of summer, and my family a little later.
See also: “People were shocked, with iron sticks and bags were put on their heads”: military Daria Litovchenko about work in liberated Kherson
- Isn’t it scary to be in Vasilkov now?
- We regularly hear the work of air defense, and there is no longer such a feeling as it was before, when you do not understand what is happening. It’s getting used to. Of course, sometimes it can be very scary. But there is no longer a depressive experience, a shock. We wake up from explosions, and then fall asleep further. Our house does not have a basement. I hope it’s in the private sector and it’s safer here.
“They cut off their noses and ears and let them go so that the people could see”
- When did you start filming a historical project?
- First there were blogs. This is the format that we came up with at the beginning of a full-scale war. Conversational studios were handled by our editorial office in Lutsk, because neither archival materials nor editing studios are needed here, especially when it is possible to go live and contact guests online. Then I began to offer historical content, I realized how little we know about ourselves. When I started blogging, it quickly became clear that after five minutes you didn’t have time to tell the story of some issue. This is where the name of the project came from - “History of the Question”. Let’s say, “War captivity” begins with us at the time of the Stone Age. In the first season, we made four films, and now we are preparing for the second season.
— What was quite unexpected for you while working on them?
- I have an understanding that all this has already happened, the times of incredible cruelty are over, humanity is gradually abandoning inhumane things in the process of waging wars. But if you take Russia, they seem to be taking the worst cases from the history books and recreating them now, in the 21st century.
Did you find an explanation for why this is happening?
“They always carried out not wars, but punitive operations against the peoples that were part of the empire. They simply methodically destroyed the color of the nation of those peoples.
.jpg "Станіслав Ясинський: \"Здається, росіяни беруть найжахливіші випадки з підручників історії та відтворюють їх зараз\"")
- Can you somehow predict what will happen to Russia in the future?
- It is very difficult. My friends, who are now at war, say: “We are standing in the Kharkiv region, on the river, and Russia is already beyond the river. Every day we see the S-300 flying. We stand on the border of Ukraine with Russia, and what’s next? Without a complete loss to Russia, without its military defeat, this war will not end - they will continue to terrorize the border areas or fire missiles at Ukrainian cities. Even if we sign peace with them, they will always prepare for a new offensive. It seems to me that this should be some kind of military and humanitarian operation to win over Russia. This is a hybrid war against Russia, and it must be fought by the whole world, and not just by supplying us with weapons.
- So that at last only Moscow remains from Russia …
- Yes, first there must be this military victory, and then you need to understand where Russia is, and where the peoples are enslaved. By the way, these are the words of historians from Lviv, which I really liked. The denazification of Germany lasted for more than 40 years, and it has not ended to this day. Nazification there continued from 1933, that is, from the coming to power of Hitler. Nazism lasted 12 years. Almost 22 years have passed since Putin came to Russia. It will soon be 10 years since the war has been going on. We and they have already grown children who do not remember a world without war. At least 80 years must pass, and there must be a military tribunal that will dot the i’s. “Nuremberg 2.0”.
Read also: “I do not rule out that I will have to take weapons”: military commander Anna Kalyuzhnaya on trips to Bakhmut
- One of your films is called “War captivity”, and we know how the Russians treat prisoners. Where does their brutality come from?
- This is also from the history of punitive operations in Russia. To frighten your opponent, you do not need to be humane towards the prisoners, you need to cut off the noses and ears, as Moscow did with the Novgorodians. In 1471, a war broke out between the Novgorod Republic and the Moscow Principality, because the Novgorodians asked to be accepted into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Moscow, having heard about this, went to war against Novgorod. The Novgorod army lost, and those who were captured were cut off their noses and ears and released so that the people could see. Now they are acting in a similar way, trying to intimidate us.
So cruelty is in their blood?
— Yes, Russia’s punitive operations continued for 500 years. They always had a brutal inside, he was simply buried from the outside world.
Do you have a forecast for how long the war will continue?
- I’m afraid to give any forecasts, I’ll wait for them to come true, and it will take some strength. Our task now is to wake up and do something for the Victory. Every Ukrainian who is both under shelling and in peaceful regions should have an opinion at least once a day: What have I done to speed up our Victory?
The Reporters at War project was created with the participation of CFI, the French Media Development Agency, as part of the Hub Bucharest project with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier military correspondent Anastasia Volkovain front of whom her house burned down, she spoke about her work in the Luhansk region.
Source: Fakty
I am currently working as a news website author at Daily News Hack. I mostly cover trending news and have been doing so for quite some time now. I have always had a keen interest in current affairs and the world around me, which is what led me to my current job.
