KHARKIV: Math
teacher at the front
For
months the Ukrainian army has been fighting hard in and around Kharkiv. They
have succeeded in driving the enemy away from the city. But at night the
rockets still fall. So what do you do when your area
is struck almost every night? You quit your day job and join the army.
Volodymyr (36) - Volodymyr was a math teacher before the
war. When the first bombs fall on his city he thinks
about fleeing but he can’t. Now he has
been fighting in the Ukrainian army with the Territorial Defense
in the city of Kharkiv.
SCRIPT:
Soundbite: rumble
Q: Volodymyr
00:04:00 - 00:08:05 Doesn't sound too far away, actually.
Reporter:
- Not too far?
00:09:20 -
00:12:01 Rather close, actually.
Q: V 00:15:05 -
00:20:11 I do not have a lot of experience
to estimate
what the distance will be.
Q: V 00:22:06 -
00:26:03 How far from here is the front line,
you think?
Other soldier - 00:26:06 - 00:29:04 Around ten kilometres.
Q: V 00:30:08 -
00:32:24 Not far from the ring road.
00:35:02 -
00:40:19 It's difficult, but we have to stand
our ground
here. We have to defend.
00:40:22 -
00:43:22 And we need heavy weapons. A lot more.
00:44:00 -
00:50:19 We want to inflict a heavy blow on them.
Other soldier - On them, not on ourselves.
(projection)
00 50
22 - 01 02 03 He never expected to end up in the trenches as a soldier.
University graduate Volodymyr had just begun his career as a teacher,
when war broke out.
Q Volodymyr 01:03:10 - 01:07:23 Just after the invasion, I was
afraid.
01:08:01 -
01:14:15 For any normal person
war is
extremely scary.
01:14:18 -
01:19:05 But after a while I regrouped...
01:19:08 -
01:23:17 ...and I realised I had to do something.
Soundbite: 01:26:02
- 01:28:20 (explosion) Dammit.
Q Volodymyr
01:28:23 - 01:32:04 My city was bombed heavily.
01:32:07 -
01:38:03 After a few direct hits,
I decided I
had to leave.
01:38:06
01:40:18 It was really dangerous.
Soundbite:
music, few sec
Q Volodymyr
01 43 10 - 01 51 09 I
went to the train station thinking:
I do not want
to leave the country.
01 51 12 - 01
58 20 But as I was queueing, I thought:
I do not want
to leave the city.
01 58 23 - 02
02 18 I just wasn't able to leave the city.
02 02 21 Volodymyr is
a reservist nowadays.
Q Volodymyr
02 07 08 - 02 13 21 The territorial defence force
is a unit of
the Ukrainian army.
02 13 24 - 02
20 24 In these challenging times, extra units
are needed to
defend the country.
02 21 02 - 02
25 22 Because no country is ever ready
for a war
like this one.
02 27
06- 02 38 19 We can't film at the headquarters but we
can travel with him to an outpost. (graphic Kharkiv to
???) The exact location remains unknown. In the car Volodymyr tells us he was
quite happy being a teacher.
Q: volodymyr 02 39 03 - 02 46 03 It was my dream to be in
the classroom
and teach
children.
02 46 06 - 02
50 06 To help them learn.
That dream
had come true.
02 50 09 - 02
56 09 Not the way I expected, but it was
a personal
victory for me.
02 56 12 - 03
00 18 I had to work hard for it...
03 00 21 - 03
05 23 ...but I succeeded.
03 06
01 - 03 09 14 Even during the war he tries to stay in touch with his former
occupation.
Q Volodymyr
03 09 17 - 03 13 24 I love maths and physics.
They are
great subjects.
03 14 02 - 03
18 11 Absolutely for me. I'm also interested
in computer
science...
03 18 14 - 03
22 19 ...but my knowledge in this area
is really poor.
03 22 22 - 03
28 09 I want that... Now, I also want
to improve,
improve, improve.
03 28 12 - 03
33 07 Despite of the war
and all these
horrible things...
03 33 10 - 03
38 03 ...I try to take a little time every day
to read some
pages...
03 38 06 - 03
43 14 ...and to just solve some problems.
It makes me
feel better.
03 45
04 - 04 00 03 He lives in the North part of Kharkiv, in Saltivka.
Here, Volodymyr witnesses the devastation of these bombardments on a daily basis. A colleague of his showed us around
earlier that day.
SoundBite
:Come
on in.
04 12
04 - 04 20 14 After
a half an hour drive out of the city Volodymyr stops the car. We have arrived
at the second defence line of the city of Kharkiv
04 20 14 -04 22 04 SoundBite:
walking in trench
04 22
05 - 04 41 18 Volodymyr is mainly responsible for strategic issues at the
headquarters but sometimes goes outside for consultation. Here Ukraine has been
holding the line for months now, with an army of professional soldiers but also
with 10.000 Territorial Defence volunteers in the city of Kharkiv and more than
100.000 in the whole country.
Q Volodymyr 04:42:16
04:44:18 Hello
04 45 14 - 04
48 17 Did you ever think
you would end
up here?
04 48 20 - 04
50 14
In this
situation?
04 50 17 - 04
57 01 I tried to repress that idea
as much as
possible.
04 57 04 - 05
01 00 Up till the last day, I could not believe it.
05 01 03 - 05
06 08 Only when I heard the explosions,
I realised it
was war.
05 10
00 - 05 16 21 Of course the bombardments in his neighbourhood are dangerous, but moving so close to the frontline might be
even worse.
Q Volodymyr 05
17 12 - 05 22 06 Of course my mother is worried.
All mothers
worry.
05 22 09 - 05
28 14 But to be honest, I never consulted her
about doing
this.
05 28 17 - 05
31 22 I never asked my parents' permission.
05 32 00 - 05
35 09 It was my own decision.
05 35 12 - 05
40 24 So yes, like every mother she worries,
but she's
also proud of me.
SB: shelling
Q Reporter
- 05 47 08 - 05 52 23
I almost can't imagine you
sitting
behind a desk...
05 53 01 - 05
55 20 ...with a book and a computer.
05 55 23 - 05
58 05 It's far away, yeah?
Q Volodymyr 05
58 08 - 06 03 19 Yes, but as time shows, not so far away.
06 03 22 - 06
09 14 You will be back.
- Every man has to be prepared...
06 09 17 - 06
17 13 ...to defend their families, their houses
and their
country as well.
06 17 16 - 06
20 11 And the neighbourhood.
-
Neighbourhood.
06 20 14 - 06
26 01 So, you have got to do this?
- Yes, of
course. No doubt about it.
06 26
19 - 06 34 15 Later that night, we see that the battle
for
Kharkiv is still raging. During the filming, we already heard the shelling.
06 34 17 - 06
38 00 SB: shelling
06 38
18 - 06 46 13 And a few hours later, Saltivskyi
district
is
targeted again.Resulting in
six deaths
and at
least thirteen wounded.
Endtime 06 49 12
Music:for tc see: edl file
- SOCIAL NETWORK OST - TRENT
REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS
-
BMGPM-CET9013-TR05-BEYOND_THE_GALAXY_MAIN_-DELGADO.AIFF
-
ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY.MP3 000027 SFX_NUSMEDIA.WAV
Program: EenVandaag
Network: Avro / Tros
Camera: Roel van Hees
Editing:
Thijs Nusmeijer
Reporter:
Simone Timmer 0031 6 22 49 52 32