The Freedom Fighter: A memoir of a member of the Donbass Militia in the War in Ukraine

by Vitaly Fedorov

The Freedom Fighter is an author’s account of the Donbass Uprising in 2014. Vitaly Fedorov was the managing partner of a small casino in West Africa, when people of Donbass rebelled against the authority of an oppressive Ukrainian government, which was trying to take away their land for large gas shale companies and to prohibit them to teach their children their native language. Being a man of the right-libertarian views, Vitaly has left behind his well-organized life, went to Ukraine, joined the people’s militia and fought against government troops, participating in the defense of "Russian Alamo" - Slavyansk.

In this book you will not find knights in shining armor, but just good people who rebelled against the dictatorship for the right to live on their land as they wish. There are a lot of good stories about a successful uprising of men against an oppressive government. This one is no different from them, except this one is real.

Genres: Ukraine

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 4, 2016

Reviews

[Pip · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting account of the War in Donbass from the boots-on-the-ground perspective. Does a great job describing the action early in the conflict within the separatist militia side and filling-in the blanks for the reader with helpful footnotes and flash-to-present descriptions of some outcomes. Told in a casual manner and translated quite directly from Russian, though for anyone with even a slight idea of Russian idioms/language it will be easy to grasp. Some typos in text, but nothing causing confusion.

Since the book is casually told through the observer's viewpoint (Vitaly's) it contains quite a bit of his views on life/world. Being a right-wing, nationalistic Russian, these views can be quite controversial (especially in the West). However, the snippets of his personal views/stories throughout the book help better establish his character and that of his rebel peers. I found the insight valuable as to what drove him and many others around him. (Many of the personalities he meets along the journey feel like echoes of the post-Soviet world and quite interesting to read about).

Latter half of the book covers militamen's life in Donetsk, some internal government affairs, power struggles, and Moscow's interference in politics, all of which were interesting to read since this is not a largely written about topic (at least in English).

[Murilo Forte · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's possible to find some elements of revolution from the author but unfortunately, moved by racism and nationalism, this revolution only open space to another apex predator of the individual liberties (government) appear and subjugate the people following another ideology, there's no freedom in this fight...

Some quotes that I find interesting and reveal the author's motivation to fight:

"A-ah-ah-ah!!!! I’m shot!! A-ah!!!! Help!!! Help me, guys, please!!!” Curiously, he was yelling in Russian, not in Ukrainian. Where the hell was his patriotism at that moment?

Although I am a racist, and always looked at interaction with local women from an ironical-pragmatic position

The FSB ain’t sleeping and, contrary to popular Western beliefs, they consider us, the Russian conservative and right movement, as the biggest threat to Putin’s regime.

I wake up early in the morning, then there is a taxi ride through the sleeping city, and then a steel bird takes me to the capital of terrible Mordor. The question now is, how not to be caught by the eye of Sauron...

So for me, being a fusionist-racist and a Russian patriot, the choice of side is obvious. Frankly, if the choice was between the white race vs. Russians – for example, take this purely hypothetical situation: the EU is hit by riots of immigrants, and as a reaction, far-right governments come to
power, and are subjected to harassment by the international community, and under external and internal pressure they are increasingly radicalized.

Simplistic, but true. It’s not just about the girls, men too often try to enter paradise riding on somebody else's shoulders, using the courtesy of others, their reluctance to get into a conflict, and their fear of being rude.

A favorite pastime of kids on the west bank is trolling the U-warriors with cries of "Allahu Akbar!" a phrase the Ukes are really afraid of. Apparently, they are imagining how the evil Chechens will cut their heads off.

The news, unfortunately, once again is about the concentration of some sort of formidable teams of the Russian army along the border, and that our great and glorious asshole President Vladimir Putin won’t hesitate to use force to stop the Ukrainians from committing a genocide. Well, and some other nonsense from the arsenal of the servants of His Darkness. However, this
dull propaganda has a certain effect, I’m forced to admit. The guys seriously begin to fear that while we sit here, the Russian Army will enter Ukraine in force, and we will miss all the fun. To my shame, I have to admit that it is contagious. Though in my mind I know that the likelihood of such a development is about zero, or maybe even less, but the heart, the heart...as one of the people most hated by me wrote, "One cannot live in society and be free of society."

Plus, of course, plenty of naïve hopes that Putin gives a shit about the genocide that the
Ukrainian government is committing here, and will stop it.

I tell him about the right to rise up against tyranny, he tells me about the need to restore the legitimate authority and the government’s monopoly on violence. Kiev’s authority and Ukrainian government, of course. Yeah, sure. Dream on!

[Hugh Jassle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great first hand account of the events of 2014. It mostly covers militia activities of the time....both the ups and downs, particularly the difficulties in supply and manpower. This book is a great companion to Pavel Gubarev's Torch of New Russia, which covers the evolving political situation in the Donbass in the same time period. One thing I wish The Freedom Fighter included was an elaboration on Afrikaner's political philosophy, so I dropped a star for that, but it's a minor critique. It's really more of a 4.5. The first person prose often interjected might have become tiring if the book was longer, but it works well in this format.

Overall it's worth the read. For people well-versed in the Russian side of the conflict, some familiar call signs show up. It really helps to round out a much more complete understanding of all the events and motivations unfolding in the early stages of the Donbass war. Afrikaner alludes to Strelkov and his men in Slavyansk, which you can read about in "85 Days in Slavyansk".

Hopefully these men will get the world they've been fighting for.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kewl first-person read of a bit of how the war is being run from the separatist/pro-Russian rebel side in Ukraine. I can't tell how true the whole account is, but it does ring true, told in the voice of what feels like a Russian "operator/beez-neez-man/entrepreneur/jack of all trades". Some of the content suggests the author may have more military experience than he lets on. Even if you think it's not all true, a good "this is how it COULD be working" read.

[Garen Gregorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important and intentionally one-sided book to begin understanding a conflict that should have never been. Invaluable in that this is a rare insight of how this conflict looked like in the trenches, but not many details about the background behind decisions and the courses of certain key events. A must read regardless of position in this conflict.

[Ezra plt]

On the same day, that is yesterday, I came across twice on the same homily:"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom frighter." The first time, it was pronounced by an ex-IRA volunteer, as they put it, in a BBC documentary, Funeral Murders, the second time as an epigraph to these memoirs of the war in Donbass by a Russian nationalist who fought against AFU.

To be continued.

So I finished it a few ago, the first few pages, set in Africa, where the guy used to operate a probably shady operation - a casino (which he doesn't mention in the book), are interesting in how they bluntly display his racist, macho view of the world. As to his adventures in the Donbass, they are predictably bathetic and don't warrant more than those few words. Nonetheless, it gives you some insights about the human psyche, as they say.