Viktor Ozhogin has devoted almost his entire life to journalism. He worked his way up from a newsman to the general director of a regional television and radio company in Dnipro. He also worked as a sports journalist and commentator, and was a member of the Commission on Journalistic Ethics. He has been fighting in the East since 2014, and when the full-scale invasion began, he went back to defend Ukraine.
The soldier is currently undergoing rehabilitation in Kyiv, recovering from another serious injury. Ozhogin spoke about his decision to join the army, the realities of war, sports journalism and his plans for the future in an interview.
Viktor Ozhogin- In the first days of the full-scale invasion, you were 64 years old and no longer of conscription age - you could have stayed at home and not gone to war. However, you decided otherwise. What made you go to war? Why do you think this war is your war?
- I had no choice. I went to war to save the lives of young boys. You know, I've already lived and felt that people like me, like "father-commanders", are needed to restrain the guys a little bit, to give them some advice, to share their life wisdom and experience. Although we also had no combat experience, we gradually gained experience in combat.
In 2014, I was 56 years old. When the war broke out, I went straight to the military enlistment office and was not accepted either. And then I found out that Petro Poroshenko had raised the age limit for reserve officers to 60, so I sent my family to Odesa and went to the military commissariat. Well, even then I was taken away. I was a platoon commander. We defended Mariupol in 2014. I fought for a year and to this day I am proud that we all came back alive. It was the greatest achievement.
In 2022, there was no choice. How will the guys fight there without me? And immediately on the day the invasion began, I contacted my comrades. We went to the military enlistment office and out of three thousand soldiers, I was the only one sent home because I was 64 years old. I returned in despair. And later I heard that the Dnipro-1 battalion was recruiting volunteers. I applied again and was sent home again.
My commander said: "Take the documents and go talk to the military commissar yourself". I went to his office, locked the door from the inside, went up and corrected the year 58 to 68 in my military ID card. Thus, I became 54 instead of 64. He said to me: "They'll put me in jail for this," and I replied: "You'll get an order for finding a fighter like me." That's how I ended up in the Dnipro-1 battalion.
- During your time at the front, you fought in different areas. Where was the most difficult?
- It was difficult in all the cities where we fought: Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Izyum, Lyman... In February, we left Bakhmut and I thought that the hardest part was in Bakhmut. But then we got to Kreminna, and now I can say for sure that it was there that it was the most difficult. Because we were in the Serebryansky forest, where our positions were completely destroyed. It was almost impossible to fight there, because the enemy was 100-150 metres away in the forest, which was completely burned, there were no trees on top, only trunks. It was impossible to shoot from a grenade launcher there - only small arms and artillery. Every day we were shelled as best they could, and unfortunately, we had almost no cover. We had 10 mines a day, or even two, and 50 were flying every hour.
What was the price? I'll tell you. I had 66 people in my company - 8 killed and 50 wounded. That's how we came back home. My group was made up of five groups from the former Dnipro-1 battalion, which fought in Donbas for a year. We spent 11 months without replacement in Donbas in 2022. And my company was formed from these people. 66 people went to defend Serebryanske Forestry and Ukraine. Unfortunately, not all of them returned.
- You fought in the ATO and later returned to the front after the full-scale invasion. How do you think the army has changed since 2014?
- A lot has changed. Our army has gained a lot of experience over the past 10 years. And, of course, when we started in 2014-2015, we were not allowed to shoot at all. We were shelled every day, and we could not respond in kind. We were only allowed to use small arms.
We had a bassoon (ed. a portable Soviet anti-tank weapon) and one day we decided to shoot it so that the soldiers would at least know how to use it. And there was one "expert" who said: "I used to shoot when I was in the army". With his first shot, he hit the orcs in the ammunition depot - they started fighting each other, and we watched. For about two hours, they were shooting at each other - one village after another. They thought they were surrounded. And we were watching. We were all laughing, jokingly recalling this story. And that was the only time we used any weapons other than small arms.
At that time, the Minsk Agreements prevented us from fighting, but they did not prevent them from fighting - they were constantly covering us with tanks, artillery, hail... But then there were no such assaults as are happening now in Avdiivka or Bakhmut.
On the third day of our stay at the front, everything in my company burned down - personal belongings, tent, sleeping bags, but we survived and continued to defend Ukraine.
At that time, even in 2022, the Russians were not shooting so accurately. Now they have learnt how to fight. Perhaps, some trained fighters have come, who have good training. Unfortunately, we underestimate the enemy. He is also learning to fight and does not want to die on our land for nothing. Although many of them still do not understand why they are here and what they are fighting for. We are fighting for our land, fighting on our land. And what about them? Maybe they are fighting for money, because I can't find any other reasons.
- What was the main fear you had to face as a soldier?
- You see, each soldier has his own degree of fear. No two people are alike. In 2014, I had a very young team. Most of these guys could be my sons. All of them are still fighting today: they are all experienced now, and they are helping other young soldiers.
Now, as a company commander, I had to become a father, a psychologist, a psychotherapist... We have to talk all the time. After the first combat engagement, many were in a stupor. They couldn't bring themselves to do it and said they wouldn't go to the front line anymore, but I talked to each of them and said: "Look, do you have children? We went to defend our families, our children, our grandchildren. And now we're going to protect your children, and you're going to sit in the rear. Is this normal? How are you going to look your children in the eye?" And this was probably convincing on my part, and many of them understood, slept through the night, and in the morning came up and said they were ready to perform combat missions.
And so we did - no one was afraid, no one retreated. There were moments when it was scary, very scary, but everyone survived and came back, although not all of us did.
Unfortunately, 8 of my comrades did not return. On one day, five of them were killed - they had an unsuccessful shift at night. It was the most terrible day for me. I had a very difficult time with it. It seemed to me that it would have been better if I had died at that moment and the guys had lived. Then I had to pack them all in black bags and, you know, the tears were rolling down, I couldn't help myself. Just yesterday I was sitting with them, drinking tea, talking, sharing bread, and today they are gone. It was very difficult, but I knew I had to keep fighting. To fight for these guys who died. We agreed with our brothers that, of course, we would take revenge.
Now they are preparing to go to the front line again. They have been transferred to Kharkiv. I don't know where they will be sent yet.
- You are currently in Kyiv. This is your second injury since the start of the full-scale invasion. How is your treatment going? What do you plan to do next?
- I will return when my rehabilitation is over. I will be in Dnipro in a week to visit the guys. I haven't been transferred to another unit yet, but I have to go back and try to negotiate. I don't want to leave them, I feel sorry for them. I understand that at the age of 65, there are no such company commanders in the army anymore. But I feel fine, physically ready to perform combat missions. And then everything depends on the decision of the command. And if they don't allow it, well, then...
- You have worked as a journalist almost all your life. Have you ever thought of changing direction and documenting the war?
- Of course, as a journalist, I wanted to write a book after the war in 2014-2015, but then I was getting further and further away from it and thought about it: "What am I going to write about?" I can write about my comrades, some interesting stories. But what about the truth? We still don't really know the truth. You know, there were a lot of agreements that we have no idea about. We were not allowed to shoot, but we were poured with lead every day. What can I write about this? And will it be understandable for an ordinary citizen?
I could tell a lot about this war too, but it's not even possible to tell. Everything is not as good as it seems. And everybody says that we are one of the best armies in Europe. Unfortunately, this is not true. And we are still a long way from NATO standards, like a long way from Kyiv to London. Unfortunately, the best that was in the modern army has been preserved in our modern army, and only the heroism of ordinary soldiers helps.
- Social media often features videos of soldiers watching Ukrainian national team matches while at the front. I know that you love football and have worked as a football commentator for a long time. Do you follow the performances of our footballers and have you been able to watch matches at the front? How important is this for the military?
- It was an outlet for us to watch the national team matches. Of course, we always support the national team, and there are many fans among my friends and my comrades-in-arms. And most of the guys from my company knew that I was a sports commentator.
At the national team match, we would get together - there was no TV, so we would switch on the tablet and watch, cheer. Well, these are moments like that, there were not many of them in our lives, but we watched all the matches when the national team played. We knew that they had their own front - they were fighting on sports grounds, and we had our own, a real one, and we had to win too. This encouraged us and it was better to survive some moments at the front.
- Assess the current performance of the Ukrainian national team under Rebrov.
- In my opinion, Rebrov has all the abilities, football talent and he has everything ahead of him as a coach. Despite the fact that he hasn't been in the job for long, he has already achieved some success at Ferencvaros, coached Dynamo Kyiv, and then worked in the Emirates... Of the young Ukrainian coaches, he is probably the most gifted and promising. I believe that everything is going well for him so far.
Football today is not at the level where we can talk about any progress for the players, but now the Ukrainian national team is in second place and I think this is a very decent result and there is every opportunity to stay in this position. But to do this, we need to play with confidence against the Italian national team. If we played, for example, in peacetime and at the Olympic Stadium, I think we could beat Italy, but it will be difficult to do so, but there are still chances.
- Please assess the chances of the Ukrainian national team in the game against Italy and give a forecast for this match.
- You see, the Italians are also not a team that can beat the Ukrainian national team by 100%, and in a decisive match. If we take each player individually, the Italian team is stronger, but, you know, there is always a chance to win. Even when there is no chance, there is still a chance. You know, it's like at the frontline - it seemed like there was no chance of survival, but you have to look for a chance, find one and survive. It's the same with the Ukrainian national team. This is football and anything can happen. As one famous commentator, unfortunately, now deceased, said: "The ball is round and the field is green".
- What will be the key to winning this match?
- The key is character, willpower and the desire to win. We can do it if we gather our will into a fist. We have enough players who play abroad, they will significantly strengthen the team. Mudryk is looking very good both in England and in the Ukrainian national team - we saw how he solved all the issues in the last match, finally scoring a goal for the national team. It may have been Malta, but all the goals were scored with Mudryk's participation. He is a very dangerous footballer. And for the Italians too.
They have a very good defence. The Italians have always been famous for playing well in defence, but still, everything is decided by the people who play in attack, in the midfield. Of course, the defender must not miss, help the goalkeeper to defend the goal, but still, the attacking midfielders and strikers decide the fate of the match.
- How important do you think football is for today's Ukrainian society and does it help Ukrainians to at least partially distract from the horror of war and unite and rally the nation?
- It is important, very important. We don't have many moments for such a spectacle, I would say. And football, and not just football, but sports in general... When an athlete, such as Yaroslava Maguchikh, wins the World Cup and the national anthem of our country is played, it is very important at a time when we are going through such difficult times.
I can tell from my company that we have a lot of guys who are football fans. At the slightest opportunity, they ask me, if we are on rotation somewhere at home, to arrange with the president of the football club to somehow let them into the stadium. Today, all the matches are played without spectators, but sometimes we are allowed to sit quietly in a stand. Here they are, sitting somewhere in the back row, cheering for Dnipro-1. That is, they want to watch football.
This is very important today - not only for the military. It's not the right time for football, of course, but if there is an opportunity to watch, especially since these are qualifying matches, the national team's game, then, of course, everyone is worried and no one watches the news that evening, they have already watched it in the morning, studied what is happening at the front, and football means that we all sit down and wait for our team to win. Any victory always unites the nation.
- More than 9 years have passed since the start of the ATO, and the full-scale invasion has been going on for almost 2 years. The military often say that it is difficult to accept life in the rear during rehabilitation and holidays, and they notice that society is already partially distancing itself from the war. How do you perceive this?
- You know, it's hard to accept. Most of my comrades, when they come home, and in rare moments, when they go out with their children for a walk, a stroll in the park, they are surprised to see how many young guys are drinking. And how many cars there are... Do you know what we fought on? We had no cars at all, we had UAZs that were 50 years old. What volunteers bought for us, we tried to repair and fight in the woods ourselves. And we had to drive them. And here are these cars - it's impossible to park in Dnipro or Kyiv. And there is no one to fight today.
Our army is being emasculated. Those who are fighting with me, my comrades, are becoming fewer and fewer. I agree that we shouldn't send untrained people, but how many police officers, how many security guards we have... They are so fit, they go to gyms... So let's call them up, let's create volunteer units. Those who cannot fight should patrol the streets.
My unit from the National Guard, all those who are on contract, are in Dnipro - they patrol the streets. And they have a five-year contract. They have to go to the front and fight. And who is fighting? Those who are mobilised. And we draft people from the streets, catch the blind, deaf, crippled and send them to the military commissariat to undergo a medical examination. We will not win this way.
And you know that thousands of Russians die every day. Have you ever thought about how many of our own die? That is how many of our best sons, our compatriots, our best boys die every day. We don't have statistics, we'll find out later. But we need to change them, the reserves... We need to work on this constantly.
- What does Ukraine need to win this war?
- I didn't even think we would still be at war. I thought we would win in 2022. And we could have won if the Western countries had helped us decisively. If not for the United Kingdom and the United States of America, we would have lost this war long ago. The West must finally understand that we are not only defending Ukraine, we are defending them. Until we close the skies... Our civilians are dying. Because of what? Because we don't have proper air defence.
I remember Mariupol. It's gone now. It is such a pain. I defended Mariupol in 2014, and I get teary-eyed when I think about this city. What it was like and what the orcs made of it. And how many thousands of peaceful and innocent people died there...
I believe that we should end this war in the summer, but again, we need planes. Let's say F-16s. These are not F-35s, which are in service in most NATO countries. Just give us those F-16s. Today, why is the counter-offensive so slow? Because no country in the world would launch a counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia direction without aircraft. We have no planes. And we went. For the first two weeks, we put 20% of our equipment there. Because this is not the way to go on the offensive. Aviation and artillery have to work, then tanks, and then infantry.
- What do you think will happen to Russia after the war?
- I am sure that Russia will collapse. The empire cannot exist in the form it is today. There will be many countries - 15-16 republics. Just as the Soviet Union once collapsed... It will be the same with Russia.
Although, you see, Putin has managed to create a kind of concentration camp in Russia. I am angry that Russians do not have the right to vote. They cannot go to the square and say to Putin: "What are you doing?" 300,000 Russians have already died in this war. And how many tanks? How many armoured personnel carriers? How many helicopters? I don't know, it's just going to take decades to rebuild this.
But I'm not interested in how Russia will be there. We need to defend ours, to win.
I will never go there again. My sister lives in the Moscow region. My mother died in February, and I did not attend the funeral. I have not been and cannot go there. It's my pain, but I don't want to go there anymore. And may my mother forgive me.
- What will you do after our victory? Do you plan to return to journalism?
- I will return to journalism. They are waiting for me today at the D-1 channel in Dnipro. My younger daughter will only be 13 in December, so my task is to put her on her feet, to bring her up. She is a patriot... I went to the front when she was 3.5 years old. How she meets me...
But I haven't said everything in journalism yet, of course. I will still be working. I will work until I am 70, and then I will retire. I have many young journalists whom I have helped. And I'm proud that I went to the front, and they continue my work. They are waiting for me, they came to my hospital and are waiting for me to work with them again. For me, young people are the future of television, and they need a little help to learn the best of our profession and move on.
But I'm still fighting. I'm still here. And after the victory, I will return to journalism.
- Do you still plan to commentate on football matches?
- I don't consider myself a sports journalist, because I worked my way up from an editor to the CEO of a regional TV and radio company. But sports was an outlet for me. I played football all my life and I think I know a lot about sports. I commentated not only on football. I commentated on all sports that could be shown on television.
I probably won't commentate on football matches anymore, but it would be interesting to do one report, even if it's just for myself. Today, other commentators are working. They are all so, I don't know how to say it, intellectuals, and everything is entered into their computers. How did we work? You had a notebook with statistics. I commentated on matches back in the USSR, in Ukraine, and reported abroad. That's why journalism was a little different, and today, let the young people move on.
Solomiya Solovey, student of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, member of the Association of Ukrainian Journalists
