Young Ukrainian: Maidan was a huge change

Photo: Liis Treimann

According to Oleksii Renkas, from Bila Tserkva, Kiev Oblast, the events of past month have united Ukrainians together.

I’m meeting Oleksii Renkas (21), a University student from Kiev, in the green atrium of North-Tallinn Regional Hospital. Mr Renkas is one of the five young men, wounded on Maidan, who came to Estonia for treatment, three weeks ago. His left hand bandaged, Mr Renkas shows me ho, after medical rehabilitation Haapsalu which followed surgery at the regional hospital, his fingers are moving again. 

As hairdo, Mr Renkas wears a proud long «tail» – the very kind a Cossack is entitled to sport, having been in battle. Bogdan Ljutjuk, manager of the Ukrainian culture centre in Tallinn, smiles: currently, youth with Cossack hairdo like that do abound in Ukraine, at the moment.  

In what condition did you arrive, in Estonia?

I came here a month after I was wounded and, by that time, I was more or less well – just the fingers would not move. Great thanks to Estonian doctors and many others who have treated us and supported us!

When and why did you go to Maidan?

I’m studying in Kiev, in National University for Food Technologies, to be refrigeration equipment engineer, and our hostel is in city centre. I went to Maidan the very first day, on November 1^st, when the people gathered there. I felt I could not stay away from these events.

Didn’t make it to the lectures at the university, then?

In the beginning, I did attend from time to time. In the beginning, the authorities told university rectors that they aren’t allowed to let student go to Maidan. Whoever did go could be repressed at the university – one might get kicked out of a university for just one missed day.

In our University, they had a more loyal attitude towards the students, and there were no harsh sanctions. In some universities, the attitude was different.

When did that attitude change?

About a month and a half after the events started, on Maidan. As students started to go on strike against rectors and universities, then president Viktor Yanukovych announced nobody was going to be persecuted any more, for Maidan. The last month and a half, I spent nights on Maidan, and slept during the daytime – at the hostel.

Were your other fellow students also on Maidan?

No, almost no one.

Why did you decide to go?

I just couldn’t do otherwise. I was beyond me not to go, not to stand for my future. That would have been wrong. 

Why did the others not come?

There were many students from other universities. We have lots of passive people in Ukraine who do nothing if not directly affected by events. I felt it did very directly affect me.

Why did it eventually come to people at the square being shot at? How can it be that people shoot their own?

I don’t know, I cannot imagine what went on in the authorities’ heads. I think they just got afraid. Repeatedly they tried to scatter our peaceful demonstrations, and in the end a situation was created where there was no way back.

The authorities realised that we were not leaving, and the authorities could also not retreat themselves and just surrender. They shot us to scare us, hoping we would all run away. But we kept on standing.

Who shot you?

We still don’t know. On the first day, there seemed to be no snipers. Now, these past days, the new interior minister has said they seem to have found people who shot us.

Do you believe in the authorities in power now, in Ukraine?

I would not say these authorities deserve more trust than the former ones. Maybe it’s a good authority, but during complicated times they haven’t been able to protect us.

When problems arose in Crimea, they did not do anything, just waited for support from Europe and the USA, and some kinds of sanctions. Why?

What could they have done? Start a war?

No, no! But at the beginning they could have at least closed the borders, take preventive measures. Being at least ready to negotiate. But they did nothing. That was strange.

Are you ready to stand on Maidan again?

If we don’t like what the new powers are doing, we will stand on Maidan again. We’ll see how it goes, after the elections.

What do you expect from the elections?

I hope these will be substantially more honest elections, than the earlier ones. Europe has promised to send independent observers. For me, that’s very positive.

Usually, our elections have come in a very closed form. There’s been much cheating. During the previous presidential elections, they even had cameras installed at the polling stations and falsifications were also filmed; even so, the court later judged that the recordings were not sufficient physical evidence for them. Why then have the cameras installed anyway?

For Maidan to really benefit the future of Ukraine, a whole lot needs to be changed. And that cannot be easy.

A whole whole lot needs to be changed. From top to bottom, the entire system is out of whack.

Will every person have to change?

The people have already changed after Euromaidan. Before that, everyone just stood for himself. Now, all people have united on Maidan, and a national idea has emerged – something to rally around. I saw people like me around me, people who thought like me.

What I liked after Maidan was, for example, how we came here to Estonia, the five of us. We did not know one another, we just met at the airport. From the first moment we felt we were alike, having been There. At once, we begun to relate as friends.

You five are united by Maidan. Over the three months, what do you think how many people participated on Maidan?

I think maybe five million people went there, during that time.

Of the 45 million inhabitants of Ukraine, that’s a very big percentage. And to think that the five million have relatives and friends who were with them in the spirit, Maidan indeed has united very many people in Ukraine!

Exactly. That’s a whole lot. We hope all will change, from the very grassroots.

People may have hopes that they’ll get rich and all will have a good life, but that won’t come so easy.

Everybody knows that life will get more difficult and poorer than right now. Everybody is ready to tighten their belts and hang in there.

Are the presidential candidates at the May 25^th elections the kind of people you would like to vote for?

There are almost no new candidates. Still the old faces who have been linked to the old system and have compromised.

I do not believe that they are able to make the basic reforms that are needed. Like Julia Tymoshenko or Petro Poroshenko. We’d need totally new people who have not been linked to the old power.

Probably, the main issue is corruption.

Regrettably, Ukraine has not had a president over these 20 years who would have liked to develop Ukraine so as to have no corruption. This has to be pulled up by the roots.

Thanks to Maidan, there is already a change in people’s heads that giving and receiving bribes cannot be. On the common people level, we feel this is not right. Once you bribe someone, from there the corruption will spread on.

I have personally seen how the change is taking place. Take the hospital where I was treated, in Ukraine. Even there, bribes were the norm. I remember that I once, earlier, had to just have a few stitches made, on a wound – to begin with, the doctor asked for 200 hryvnias, about 20 euros... That’s not much, at least in Estonian terms, but still.    

I did not have the money to give, but basically that’s how things were done. After Maidan, my wound was cleansed, sewn – all that was needed, without asking for a bribe.

But the different regions in Ukraine – in the East or in the South –, how do they look at what’s happening?

Maidan had people from every region. There were people there who love Ukraine, and that’s why they came to Maidan. Not for whether to join European Union or not. That, in the beginning, was just what triggered off the events on Maidan.

We had a much broader desire: to topple the authorities, to get rid of the old corrupt system. As the people in the East and the South realised that, they came to Maidan from all over Ukraine. There was no longer any difference between Eastern and Western Ukrainians.

Should Russia try to take yet another piece of Ukraine, would that not be as simple any more as in Crimea?

I think that Russia will proceed no further.

Now, it has been easy to say that Russian pensions are bigger and people swayed towards them.

They presented that to the inhabitants of Crimea so plain and simple; but I think that even the inhabitants in Crimea will begin to realise that it is not all that simple, and they will regret that they joined Russia. Well, time will tell.

I do not believe that the propaganda by Vladimir Putin, the lies that they show on Russian TV, will stay hidden for long. Sooner or later, people will realise they have been used in the propaganda. It’s not all that simple, with Crimea.

That Russia took these steps, it has brought along large changes in Ukraine. The army has begun to be built up. Before Crimea, the Ukrainian army was almost altogether broken apart. The technical base was very poor, the planes did not fly, the tanks did not ride.

After Crimea, the development has been amazingly fast. Young men of my age have volunteered for the army. There are huge lines behind the recruiting offices’ doors.

Over such a short time, there are changes in the army?

Precisely, and a national guard is being formed, made up of volunteers only. That’s like the Estonian Defence League. We have realised we are vulnerable; in order to protect ourselves in the future, we need to be less vulnerable.

There’s even a hotline: you dial a number and you can send an SMS, to support the army. Probably I will enlist in the National Guard myself.

Obviously, Maidan changed a lot in your life.

A whole lot has changed. These were unbelievable events. I got a huge experience. During the three Maidan-months, I met so many people from various parts of Ukraine and I realised we were all Ukrainians, who think almost the same.

How did your parents look at you being on Maidan?

The parents of course were against that, as it was dangerous. The more so I’m the only child – they are parents, aren’t they; they are supposed to worry...

As things got more complicated and it became more dangerous, Mother said she’d not give me money. Fined me, essentially.

But now?

Now she says I’m a good boy, that I won.

You a hero now, home in Bila Tserkva?

Well yeas, sure. After I got wounded I visited home and then all the friends gathered around and said oh my you’re wounded. (Saying that, Mr Renkas turns timid – A. A.)

Do you remember anything at all from the Orange Revolution times (2004–2005 – edit)? You were about ten, then. This time, it’s the next generation that came out?

As much I can remember, the Orange Revolution was much softer. It was indeed a revolution, people rose up, but then the authorities just stepped back and let the power be taken over. This time, all was much more concrete.

This time, the authorities had more to lose.

Sure. When Yanukovych came, he created a very powerful corrupt system and naturally he didn’t want to lose the money he’d gotten. Ukrainian authorities were totally tied to that system, everybody was stealing and robbing.

How do you like it here, in Estonia? Have you been here before?

This is my first trip abroad ever, and the first time I have flown on a plane. The first moments, as I sat on the plane, I felt I’m in Europe. I have experiences that people are just the same here as in Ukraine. It was a great joy and we have felt strong support.

For instance, when we wanted to rent bicycles in Haapsalu, to just ride around, the man there was especially friendly as he heard we were from Ukraine. He gave us 75 percent discount – for the two of us, we were supposed to pay €40, but he just asked €10. There’s been many things like that.

Does Estonia look like you wish Ukraine would become?

Yes. One can see it’s a developed country. It’s good here. I’m looking at everything here, to remember what ought to be changed in Ukraine.

To change something back at home, one must travel a lot and notice things. I have thought about studying someplace abroad – maybe Estonia – and then to go back to Ukraine, to use the experience gained to develop Ukraine.

What kind of an Ukraine do you long to see? In ten years, say?

Then, Ukrainian agriculture is much more developed. We have such vast opportunities for that, we could feed the entire Europe.

Tourism will definitely develop. We have the Carpathians and... I was about to say Crimea, but we don’t have that anymore!

But you have Odessa!

We do, but that’s not Crimea. There are lots of beautiful places, of course. Tourists will surely have a lot to look at, in Ukraine, if we really develop that.

They are still standing, on Maidan. How long?

They have promised to stand there till the presidential election, on May 25^th.

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Ukrainian Culture Centre collects donation

According to Bogdan Ljutjuk, head of the Ukrainian Culture Centre in Old Town, Tallinn, €11,000 have by now been given towards families of those killed on Maidan, and the wounded.

Mr Ljutjuk said the five young men treated in Estonia are helping them to locate families in Ukraine who need help, to be supported with the money that has come in. «We are supporting some families where the father was killed, and the little children now haven’t even enough to eat. Or some wounded, who needs help,» he explained.

Also, Ukrainians living in Estonia have been of help to the five young wounded – just coming to see them at the hospital, and bringing hot pies etc. According to Mr Ljutjuk, this is been a chance for the local Ukrainians to at least somehow support Ukraine in these difficult times. PM