“I will fight instead of Iryna Tsybukh” — a volunteer from Lithuania

Patriot of Ukraine born in Lithuania

I arrange to talk to Mindaugas by phone. He is now in Lithuania, in Klaipeda, his hometown.

I look through the volunteer's Facebook feed. All his posts are about Ukraine: the return of prisoners, stories of wounded children, and our songs. There is a photo of him in a vyshyvanka. At least a dozen of the last posts are about Iryna's death, the farewell ceremony that took place last Sunday in Kyiv.

His posts are in Ukrainian. He says he started learning it a year ago and is happy he no longer needs a translation app.

During our conversation, his Ukrainian was broken but completely understandable.

“Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Jesus Christ!” he greets me joyfully.

Mindaugas is 36 years old. He has been volunteering for Ukraine for the last two years. At first, he helped refugees in Lithuania. Later, he decided that this was not enough and that he needed to focus on Ukrainian needs here in Ukraine. He began to travel to Ukraine with humanitarian missions. He raises funds for the needs of the army. In particular, for military doctors. That's how he met Ira Tsybukh. They communicated only on Facebook.

“We talked about the pharmacy, about medicines. I really wanted to meet her in person, but it didn't work out,” he says. “The terrible news of her death made my heart ache. It was a shock. Before this event, I was thinking about how I might be needed at the front, but then I clearly realized that I would go. And I know for sure: I want to be a paramedic like Ira.”

If I save at least one person, all this is not in vain

I ask why Cheka's death prompted this decision.

“First of all, Ira is a hero. Secondly, she is a journalist. Thirdly, I was almost ready, and this was an impetus. Of course, I am not a professional doctor, but I love medicine. I will definitely go to study. God help me to become a little bit like Ira. It will be a miracle for me. If I save at least one person, all this is not in vain. Cheka thought so, and so do I.

Like her, I want to have children, and I want to plant tomatoes (Iryna talked about this in an interview), but above all, I want to win this war. I am ready to go to work anywhere, not necessarily in the Hospitallers battalion. I want to do this for all of you, for Ukraine, for our soldiers.”

During his last visit to Ukraine, Mindaugas stayed in Odesa for a month and heard explosions, several of them from ballistic missiles very close by.

“I realize how difficult the situation is here. My soul and body ache when I see the tragedies and wounds of war. And it will really be better if I help at the front as a volunteer,” he continues, “Of course I'm afraid, you can't help but be afraid. But I think this way: the front, service there, is not about death and pain. Rather, it is more about life. There I will be able to save people. And what could be more beautiful?”

During the conversation, the Lithuanian journalist often says: “our Odesa”, “our guys”, and “our country”.

He says he loves Ukraine as much as his native Lithuania:

“When I drive around Odesa, I think of Klaipeda, when I drive around Klaipeda, I smell the sea of Odesa. I like your carols, it's a miracle; your Easter traditions, Ukrainian roads, and Ukrainian landscapes — Ukraine is so beautiful! I would wear a Vyshyvanka all the time! And what a cuisine! Borsch, varenyky — it's all delicious!” the man says enthusiastically, “I enjoy every day in Ukraine.”

Wedding only with a Ukrainian woman

He wants to marry a Ukrainian girl. I ask him why.

“It would be a nightmare if a Lithuanian girl became my lover,” Mindaugas does not believe that she would be able to understand him as a Ukrainian woman would. Especially his desire to go to war.

In his mind, a Ukrainian girl is already a heroine, and she is the most suitable for him to love.

“When I'm in a bad mood, having a hard day, feeling hopeless, I go to a train station in a Ukrainian city and watch the couples, how a wife meets or sees off a soldier. I see so much love, so much warmth, and devotion. It's so real. That's why I want to be in Ukraine, in this moment, here and now. Because a real history is being made here. I want to be a part of it. Here is life as it is: with sorrow and joy.”

The Lithuanian volunteer could not attend Iryna Tsybukh's funeral in Kyiv because he had already returned home. But he and his friends went to church to pray for her.

“I was shocked when I saw so many young, healthy Ukrainian men in this large church. It's so hard to look at them. I thought, ‘Sh*t’,” he says with an intonation typical of Ukrainians, “I am Lithuanian, and I want to fight, but they don't. This is not right! There are many young women at the front. Ira was so young. She wanted to have children but chose to defend her country.

And these men live in Europe. I would like to see them deported. These guys are like Putin. Even though they don't work like Putin, they don't work to win either.”

Mindaugas adds that he wants “Putin to die quickly”.

I suggest: “We're saying, ‘May he die’.”

We laugh.

Finally, the man says that he believes in the victory of Ukraine and that God is with him and with all of us:

“I'm going to war so that there are fewer funerals so that children live. I am going for people, for you. Dear boys of Ukraine, let's go to the front together!”