"If Valera is gone, will we all be here?" In Zaluzhnyi's hometown, people light candles for his health

What were the school years of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi like? What did and still do his classmates call him? Where did he run away from vocational school classes? Did girls like him? Who predicted that Zaluzhnyi would become a general? And what is he really like? Does he live up to the image we all love so much?

Hromadske learned about this having visited Zviahel in Zhytomyr Oblast, where Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who will turn 50 this year, was born and lived until he was 19.

With a military father in a city of military men, you dream of only one thing - becoming a military

The city of Zviahel with a population of 55,000 regained its old name only three months ago. The locals have not yet gotten used to it and call it by its old name: Novohrad-Volynskyi. It is known as the birthplace of Lesya Ukrainka. And from now on, it is also the birthplace of Valerii Zaluzhny.

There are a lot of military units here, so people call it: “the city of the military”. No matter who you start a conversation with, you'll find a son, son-in-law, or brother-in-law in the family who is a military man. There are even whole dynasties. Zaluzhnyi comes from one of them – his father is a military officer.

Out of 11 city schools, the parents chose the “ninth” for their son. Not an elite school for military children, where all subjects were taught in Russian. It was an ordinary school for the children of workers and railroaders. In the neighborhood where they lived, between the machine-building plant and the train station. Valerii's mother worked there as a cashier.

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September 1, 1980. A little boy with a big bouquet, as they said at the time, “crossed the threshold of the school for the first time”. The future general did not tear up, holding his mother's hand. His primary school teacher, 79-year-old Tetiana Shatulska, remembers this well. We are talking in the geography classroom of a gymnasium, not school No. 9.

The Soviet building has been modernized as much as possible, there are new windows and blinds, a stand with 11 heroes who studied here and died in the war, and a photo exhibition from the Maidan by one of the graduates. A small, agile woman with fashionable purple hair sits at a desk on a heavy chair that has been painted and repainted a hundred times.

She says with pleasure: “We lived on the same street, so Valera knew me and was not afraid to go to school. Although some children cried, of course. He said right away: 'I want to sit at the second desk in the middle'.”

Little Zaluzhnyi already knew the letters, quickly learned to read, and was “good” at his reading technique. Tetiana Hryhorivna names his character trait, which all of our interlocutors will repeat later: “Calm”.

“He was very responsible, if he needed to do a report, he did not drag on, and he did not forget. He was always the first: ‘Can I be on duty?’ And this means wiping the blackboard and putting their slippers on straight: they changed their shoes in the classroom. You would come to their house: everything was on the shelves, and textbooks were wrapped (in those days, students made their own paper covers, sometimes from wallpaper – ed.) When they graduated from primary school, I was still asking secondary school teachers about them for 2-3 years: ‘How are my children? You better not spoil them’," Tetiana Hryhorivna gestures actively.

She says she noticed back then that Valerii Zaluzhnyi would be a good man. Because he is persistent. He said: “I will become a military,” and that was it.

“I was so proud when my grandson called me a few years ago: ‘Grandma, congratulations, Zaluzhnyi is a general!’”

“He was helpful, fulfilled his assignments with honor, was sensible, studied well, and had no bad habits.” Does it really happen? It happens when a general grows up.

We go to the home of Zaluzhnyi’s class teacher, Olha Antonenko. She is also 79 and lives on the outskirts of the city, in the area of detached houses. It would be difficult for her to get to school now because of her sore legs.

Zhanna Vasianovych, Zaluzhnyi's classmate and geography teacher at the same gymnasium, shows the way. She was an activist then and now: she knows everything about everyone, carries a photo album with her, hugs and kisses the teacher, and fixes her hair. She sits down close to the window in a room that is furnished simply: a sofa, a table, and a few chairs.

Olha Yukhymivna, wearing a fluffy blue sweatshirt, folds her hands in her lap. She doesn't remember Zaluzhnyi well from school, more than 30 years have passed. But, realizing that something needs to be said, she prepared a whole characterization. In the best traditions of the Soviet school. She reads quietly from the sheet, worried that she would get it right.

She says that “his parents raised him very well, he helped his friends, fulfilled all his assignments with honor, was reasonable in difficult situations, studied well (mostly with “3” and “4” on a five-point system – ed.), and had no bad habits. And his behavior was exemplary.” She cannot recall anything specific.

Zhanna Vasianovych helps out (prompts): “Valera was calm. His leadership qualities had not yet manifested themselves at that time. He was an average student. Not a bully and not an excellent student. It's hard to remember how he stood out. If we were naughty, then everyone was. If we ran away from class, we did it together. But if we went on an overnight trip, an excursion, or a competition, then everyone did too. He played football and went skiing with the boys.”

We look at black-and-white photos from the 8th and 9th grades: Zaluzhnyi has an open, clear face and thick, curly bangs. In one of the photos, he is tall and thin, holding the school banner on the line. Back then, it was considered an honor.

“This was my best class,” Olha Yukhymivna chimes in, “No incidents. If something minor happened, say, someone didn't learn a lesson, I visited them at home. And their parents didn't miss meetings. In those days, there was a strong connection between parents and the school.”

“Olha Yukhymivna,” the student adds, “or 'Olushka' as we still call her, taught us to be kind and understand others, to be responsible for our actions.”

The pensioner says that when her student became a general, she announced it to all her neighbors:“I am happy when all my children achieve something. When I meet parents in the city, I always ask them: ‘How are they doing?’”

As a farewell, the student laughingly promises to bring her the song “Zaluzhnyi Krutyt Dvizh” and play it for her teacher.

The girls nicknamed him sweetly “Valierchik”. It stuck right away.

We return to the gymnasium. In the principal's office, there is a map of Ukraine made of amber, presented by the general on the 100th anniversary of the school. On the way, I ask if the girls liked young Zaluzhnyi.

“He was tall, athletic, curly-haired. He had a nice haircut. He was witty. He was an activist in collecting scrap and waste paper (a common practice in Soviet schools – ed.) Once, as winners, we were sent to Leningrad for a few days (now St. Petersburg, Russia – ed.). We were traveling on a second-class train, and on a top shelf, there were boxes of fruit, obviously for sale. The apricots and peaches smelled so good to us that the guys climbed up and got us all some. We ate so much that our stomachs hurt in the morning,” says Zhanna.

She also recalls that on February 23 and March 8, the class would gather at someone's apartment or house. They would order a cake from a pastry shop and celebrate with games and dancing.

Another classmate, Serhii Stepaniuk, who now lives in the capital, was Valerii Zaluzhnyi's best friend at school. We get in touch with him:“We studied at the time of the pioneers and Komsomol members. We had an active life: clubs, sports competitions, Olympiads, and artistic performances. We didn't stay at home. I was the secretary of the Komsomol organization and, accordingly, I invited everyone to some ideological events and meetings. But Valerii was not interested in this. I was even offended: I'm your friend, damn it, help me. ‘No, I won't go.’ And as for the real thing, for example, helping grandmothers (a common practice of the Timurovites in the USSR – ed): ‘Okay’. And he would go to fetch firewood, or rake leaves in the yard, or dig a garden.”

Even now, the man is analyzing his friend's behavior: he was not attracted to diplomas, cups, and awards. He did not rush to the stage or the rostrum. If he was asked to play Santa Claus at a first-grade matinee, for example, he did it, no problem. He had a task, and he did it honestly. But he did not seek publicity himself. In all the photos of Zaluzhnyi, even at a class reunion 20 years later, he is in the back row or behind someone's back. Only his head is visible.

“After 9th grade, we had military training. And the first photo of Valera in his Soviet uniform is from that time. All year we studied military training at school (Zaluzhnyi got A's in this subject – ed.), and it was like graduation. We spent two weeks in the barracks. And then we went to Leningrad. There was only me and Valera. During the day we went to museums and palaces. And one evening we went to the girls' place. We played cards, talked, and before we knew it, the night was over. Teachers came to wake us up, but we hadn't even gone to bed yet. They wanted to punish the girls, but Valera and I took the blame. So on the way back, we were separated, and the boys were pushed to the back of the train,” says Serhii.

When asked if the girls liked Zaluzhnyi, the man answers:

“Well, if they called him 'Valierchik' in a sweet way, what do you think? It stuck right away. We still call him that. I think the girls were more interested in him than he was in them. He treated them like the Komsomol,” he laughs.

“We have an impulsive president. This one, in contrast, is calm”

Valerii Zaluzhnyi studied at a machine-building vocational school (now a polytechnic vocational college) from the age of 16 to 19. His specialty was: “maintenance: repair of agricultural equipment”.

This education is thrown out of the official biographies of the Commander-in-Chief, leaving only the military ones. And this is undeserved. Because it was at the vocational school that he went through his youthful formation. He started school with a 3.9-grade point average and graduated with honors. So, he set out on his own path, he liked it here, according to his teachers.

The archives have preserved his personal file, which includes a certificate of 8 years of education, an entrance dictation in Ukrainian written with a C, and a record book with increasingly better grades.

Bronislav Pekarskyi, who taught the “Iron General” technical mechanics, came from Zhytomyr to share his memories. He realizes the full responsibility of his status for teaching such a student.

The direct, friendly, and strict teacher also prepared notes. He noted that he remembers Zaluzhnyi very well: “Tall, slender, calm. He was serious, but not gloomy, so lively. It was a pleasure to talk to him, he is a man with a sense of self-esteem. He knew the subject perfectly.”

We look at the photo from the graduation. The same curly bangs, but a strong-willed chin is already emerging. The pensioner shows a Facebook post where Zaluzhnyi commented on a photo of him and his former colleagues in 2019:‘What wonderful people.’ He is flattered. He says he follows his student's progress: ‘Whom can a teacher be proud of? His students.’”

Another teacher, Viktor Makhovskyi, saw Zaluzhnyi every day, although he did not teach him.

"He was physically fit, he used to do kettlebell lifting. And people of this caliber are balanced. He had a high level of knowledge and perseverance. Such people achieve something in life,” he recalls.

He shows a course project developed by student Zaluzhnyi. Such works are usually kept for 3-5 years. This one is 31 years old. It was left as a sample.

“Fate has it that we have an impulsive president. This one, in contrast, is calm. The president is public, a man of the stage. And we hardly ever see interviews with this one. They complement each other. And our country will only benefit from this,” believes Viktor Makhnovskyi.

“He is not perfect. We used to smoke on the street when we were running away from classes”

At the college, Oleksandr Pyvovar, a friend and classmate of Zaluzhnyi's, is the head of the boiler room. He's athletic, concrete, and businesslike. His whole figure is full of importance: I know a lot, but I won't tell you.

“He was an ordinary person. Just like everyone else. The only thing was that studying was easy for Valera. He never learned anything by heart and was not a nerd. He pulled the whole group along. When the four of us were doing our graduation project, we didn't sleep at night, and he was dictating the theory. Well done, a good man,” he laughs with satisfaction.

In the 90s, sometimes the heating was turned off and the guys would go to the gym from their classes to lift weights. After training, they would be invited to join some company to have a drink but the friends would wave them off and go to the garage to work on their cars.

“He was tall, 189 cm, handsome, and the girls liked him. There were only boys in our group, so the girls from other groups were interested in him. One girl, Ira, was chasing him. Well, he was shy in those days, although we went to discos, yes. But he was ordinary, not perfect. We used to smoke in the street when we were running away from classes,” says Oleksandr.

The class teacher in the group was Borys Fedorovych Rudenko, known as Barfiet in the students' language. He was a tough, big man – “not a rag, not snot, but a man.” He served in the North and told army tales in political information classes. And when students did something wrong, he did not complain to the principal, but could take some of them to the closet and “tell them how to live in the world”. He was respected, and Zaluzhnyi, who had no father at the time, was drawn to him.

Pyvovar confirms that Valerii had been planning to study for the military all along. He also persuaded him to apply to the Odesa Institute of Land Forces. Six months before, they had helped repair the military's “lawn” in one of the city's units.

“The chief mechanic there was Viacheslav Kim, a retired colonel who had been through Afghanistan. He kept saying that Valera would be a general. He never said that to anyone else,” herecalls.

They went to Odesa and entered the university together, but Oleksandr soon dropped out of the university. It was not his path.

Thirty years later: “Zaluzhnyi's image is based on the features he has. It is not an artificial, foreign mask”

Even as an adult, Zaluzhnyi's classmates rarely see him. He came to the meetings only a few times. But he emphasized that everything should be done properly and that they should always invite teachers. Because without them, it's not a meeting, it's booze. He called them a taxi.

At one of the celebrations, when he came in his uniform (he was a lieutenant colonel or colonel at the time), handsome, though no longer curly-haired, the girls gasped. One of them burst out: “Valierchik, our future general!”

“Although he grew up in a military career, his human qualities have not changed. He is attentive and simple. He approached everyone: ‘How are you?’ He danced. He drank alcohol in moderation, and when the guys smoked, he did not go out with them,” Zhanna Vasianovych shares her observations.

He joined the class's Viber group chat and was active there until the beginning of last year's invasion. He made jokes, commented on photos, and congratulated them on their birthdays.

Serhii Stepaniuk believes that it was the school that laid the foundations of human values for everyone: “Valierchyk threw off the shackles of pioneering and Komsomol when he went to the vocational school. It slowed him down. There he began to do something practical. And he went on and on, on his own path. There is no doubt in our minds that he is doing well in such a high position. From those splinters of childhood memories comes the confidence that our Valierchik can do his job honestly, calmly, and quietly. He doesn't wait for a reward, as he did with certificates at school. In March 2022, my family and I stayed in Kyiv. So did my friends, they asked me to cheer them up. At some point, I understood that the realization that Valerii Zaluzhnyi was the one who was protecting us balanced me out.”

Pyvovar and Zaluzhnyi are still friends. Oleksandr says they last spoke about three weeks ago. They don't talk about military topics. Mostly about their health, mothers, and children. Before the invasion, Zaluzhnyi was rarely in Zviahel – maybe once every six months, but for two hours only. But he would always go to Barfiet with Oleksandr and his third friend Yevhen. He was waiting for them there, setting the table. They would joke, reminisce, and drink wine or champagne, but they haven't drunk anything stronger since they were students.

“I think Valera earned his rank and position by being well educated, he has four degrees, all with honors. He has been working towards this for a long time, even though he said that after 25 years of service, he would leave everything behind. He was tired of it. But who thought that the katsaps (Russians – ed.) would come? And all his knowledge and experience have come in handy now. He is a new-generation general. I hope that with him our army will become a NATO army. I am very happy for him. As for the image of Zaluzhnyi, it is based on the features he has. This is not an artificial, foreign mask,” Oleksandr emphasizes.

He has a son, two sons-in-law, and a brother-in-law who are officers and are fighting. And when he goes to church, he lights candles for the health of all his relatives and friends in the military. And for Zaluzhnyi.

“In the 90s, only drug addicts lived across the hall from him. And he knew who, where, and what they injected. But God had mercy on him and he didn’t join these companies. Maybe He was preparing him for all this? May the Lord protect him. If Valera is gone, will we all be here?”

Author: Nataliia Mazina. The material was created with the support of Mediaset.