Since his trip to the capital to join the EuroMaidan Revolution in early December, Mykhailo Havryliuk's rise to fame has been rapid.
First he became a hero of the revolution, after a video leaked in which Havryliuk, stripped bare in sub-zero temperatures, is being taunted by Berkut riot police. The video was crucial in tipping many people over to the side of the revolution, which eventually ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Havryliuk, who received the nickname “naked Cossack” and became a hero of the revolution, gained a devoted social media following, formed a charity fund in his name and even created his own personal website.
Now he is setting his sights on his most ambitious project to date: the “Cossack Battalion”, a volunteer squadron which he hopes will join the government’s campaign to regain control of Ukraine’s east. Barely a week into its recruitment drive, the battalion has already received 450 applications.
While most are fellow Cossacks from Havryliuk’s native Chernivtsi Oblast, a Ukrainian-speaking region traditionally protective of Ukrainian independence, the campaign has raised interest across the country. It is spearheaded by a video clip consisting of black-and-white reels of the ongoing conflict and an emotional appeal by Havryliuk against a warlike soundtrack.
“Brothers! Ukraine needs our help. The time of severe trials is here – war has come to our home. I turn to all Cossacks not indifferent to the fate of our children. Those ready without hesitation to spill their blood and, if necessary, give up their lives. Join the Cossack Battalion and defend our motherland!” Havryliuk says in the video as he stands alongside armed men clad in military fatigues.
A promotional video for Mykhailo Havryliuk’s new “Cossack Battalion”
The 34-year-old is proud of his Cossack roots, something to which his distinctive appearance testifies. He has a traditional Cossack hairstyle: shaved scalp with a forelock – or oseledets – swept across his forehead and a thick handle-bar moustache. He makes frequent references to Cossack values as he speaks.
But Cossack blood is not among the criteria for joining the battalion, Havryliuk insists. “It doesn’t matter, so long as you’re a patriot,” he says. And male. “Women should take care of the house and give birth. War is no place for women.”
The Cossack Battalion is now waiting for recognition from the authorities, Havryliuk says. Once it’s received, the unit will be incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard and will commence training at its military compound outside Kyiv, he adds.
Havrilyuk says he has been in close contact with Ukraine’s Interior Ministry and expects to receive official recognition soon.
“I’ve had this idea for a long time, but only now has the government taken an interest. They said to me: ‘gather as many volunteers as you can, and we’ll look into providing money and equipment.’ So that’s what I’m doing,” he says.
For its part, the National Guard denies any affiliation with Havryliuk’s group. Spokesman Yevgen Rozhenyuk said Havryliuk and his volunteers will be subject to the same criteria as all those wanting to join the Guard.
“If Havryliuk wants to gather people to join the National Guard, by all means he can do so. But he will not be able to lead his own battalion without the relevant qualifications,” he said.
Havryliuk’s latest project is another in a series of initiatives launched by the former EuroMaidan activist. He recently set up the “Fund of Mykhailo Havryliuk”, which aims to develop Ukraine’s youth through what Havryliuk calls “military-patriotic education.” He plans to organize camps across the country to facilitate this.
“We need to educate our youth, they need to change. They drink, smoke, steal and have nothing to do. We’re going to make patriots out of our kids,” he says.
A video on his personal website promoting the project shows a bare-chested Havryliuk leading a group of equally bare-chested teenagers in a training session outdoors.
Havryliuk plans to organize training camps across Ukraine through his charity fund
The fund is financed through private donations. It has support from a Maidan-affiliated civic movement called Vidsich (meaning “repulse”), and receives private contributions, the highest of which was a Hr 10,000 payment from a lawyer, he says. “I have not spent a penny of my own, as I don’t have a single penny.”
Havryliuk arrived in the capital in late November, when he left his wife and 12-year-old son behind upon hearing news of the violent dispersal by police of protesters on Kyiv’s Independence Square. On that same square he erected a small tent, and called it home until it was cleared in his absence by other activists some three months ago. Since then he has been living in an abandoned building on one of the surrounding streets, he says.
“I have my own corner there. There are a few homeless guys, but we don’t pay attention to each other. I keep myself to myself,” he says.
In the meantime, a public campaign has been taking place to refurbish Havryliuk’s house back in Chernivtsi oblast, which he left behind in a state of disrepair. The initiative has its own Facebook page, although it has raised only Hr 20,000 of the Hr 100,000 sum required. Nevertheless, it is already putting what little it has gathered to use and claims work on the house has begun.
It is hard to accuse Havryliuk of taking advantage of his new-found fame. He dresses in worn fatigues and has few possessions, fingering a cheap mobile phone during our conversation outside the encampment that still occupies Maidan. Some have exploited the surge of goodwill following the revolution to enrich themselves, he says, for instance by claiming to gather funds to help the army, but he denies any involvement in such schemes.
He last saw his wife two months ago, and has not been back home since he left almost eight months ago. He carefully follows the Ukrainian army’s fortunes in dislodging separatist forces in the east, and admits with optimism that if its string of recent successes continues and the Cossack battalion is no longer required, its volunteers have other ways to help secure the country’s future.
“If we find out that we no longer need to fight, I will invite all those who have signed up to join my fund, and we will work on social projects across Ukraine. For 23 years everything was a mess, no one cared about our country,” he says.
When asked when he plans to finally return home to his wife and son, he insists he has his priorities straight.
“Right now the aim is to create peace. I don’t think about my family,” he says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Matthew Luxmoore can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @mjluxmoore.
