[radio chatter, click]
[speaking foreign language]
[gun clicks]
-Our job is to hear the saboteurs,
which are in Kyiv, and, plus, we have many sleep saboteurs,
which are waiting for command and will do sabotage.
-[speaking foreign language]
-For now, we have a little squad.
It's the military and policemans.
I'm the commander.
We have two sniper groups.
We have one RPG group.
We have four shooters, four vehicle driver shooters,
and medic, of course.
This is our first patrol.
[dog barking]
[Radio plays Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman"]
-♪ Don't come hangin' 'round my door ♪
♪ I don't want to see your face no more ♪
♪ I don't need your war machines ♪
-[speaking foreign language] [radio chatter, clicking]
And, after we came there, I had a phone call
from the chief of this police department.
He said, "Sorry, man, we checked the information.
It's not true."
I saw my team today, at first, so it was our first task
and our first patrol and we have a lot of work to do,
but, for the first time, it was good.
Alright, we'll be getting it sorted now.
Again, it's all about coordination.
[ Coughs ]
-And you ran a pizza place before this?
-Yeah, we are run pizza place.
Yeah.
I love pizza.
This place is only business.
So, when we started the war -- when Russians started the war,
we need to have a place, a base,
so, it's perfect base.
We live here, yeah.
From the first day, I live in Kyiv,
but I don't -- I wasn't at home
for all this time because I'm here with my team.
Our recruiting centers are full, Army are full,
Territorial Defense are full, police department full.
But with all this, we have people
which want to do something
and which want to be useful for the war.
Skiba.
What is your main aim
in this life for today?
-Kill Russian fuckers.
-Thank you.
[laughs]
Everyone which is in military, National Guard,
police department, all are volunteers.
-Most of us here, we knew each other since it started, so,
when it started, we start giving calls to each other,
"Hey, what's up? What are we doing?
What are we going to do?"
"You know, come here.
We'll see what happens."
And, somehow, it formed into a very good bond
and a nice group of professionals.
Although we look like pirates, but we are highly professional.
-Yes, I got it. The first one, then the second
and the third one move further and then they all leave.
-I was born here in Kyiv, but when I was 18,
I moved to the United States.
I joined the U.S. military in 2012,
with one tour to Afghanistan.
After the Army, I joined film school --
New York Film Academy, in L.A.,
but then the pandemic started.
I took a break.
Came here, visit my family.
I was about to go back,
but, my plans have changed, as you see.
-Was that a hard decision to [stay in Ukraine]?
-No, it's very easy.
I served in the U.S. Army.
I have experience, sort of, war experience.
And I see 19-year-old boys here, and girls, joining the forces.
And I thought to myself, "What?
I mean, I cannot leave."
With my family and friends, we just --
You know, a lot of people want personal updates from me
on what's going on and I just tell them, "I'm fine."
I don't go into a deep conversation with anyone now
because I really don't have energy for that.
And it's exhausting.
Not even more physically, but mentally.
So when I have time, I just, you know, reply, take a selfie,
put it on Instagram, and that's it.
I just watch some stupid videos just to, you know,
to go far away.
[indistinct conversation]
Who's winning? We are.
They're losing against our military.
That's why they target civilians --
they want to create chaos again.
But it doesn't work.
Ukrainians are stronger mentally than Russians.
We don't panic much.
We just get angry and
we're just gonna kick your ass even more.