Soloist of the Lviv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Solomiya Krushelnytska and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Taras Berezhanskyi, has been combining his artistic career with service in the volunteer formation of the “Mriia” Territorial Defense Brigade for two years.
The singer shared this in an interview with Ukrinform.
“Like everyone, from the first days of the full-scale war, I was looking for an opportunity to be useful and join the army,” said the artist, who, before 2022, did not have proper military training. At the beginning of the invasion, when long queues of those wishing to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine lined up at recruitment centers, he was not mobilized in Kyiv.
Berezhanskyi noted that he worked extensively on stage but wanted to be useful in defending Ukraine during the war.
“I was looking for an opportunity that would allow me not to abandon singing because I had devoted so many years to the opera profession. It’s like for athletes: without constant training, even a small break takes you out of shape – it’s difficult or even impossible to get back,” he remarked.
According to him, in 2023, he came across information about the volunteer formation of the “Mriia” Territorial Defense Brigade, wrote a message to the unit’s deputy commander, and, after an interview, joined the unit.
“In ‘Mriia’, there are people from different professions. And that’s not surprising, because the Defense Forces include artists, athletes, businesspeople… People of creative professions, who by nature might be pacifists, all understand that we must defend our Homeland. Without us, no one will do it,” Berezhanskyi stressed.
He added that, overall, the core of the “Mriia” volunteer formation since 2022 has consisted of judges, lawyers, and attorneys.
Berezhanskyi usually serves as part of a fire group that defends Kyiv residents during missile and drone attacks, performing the duties of a machine gunner. The group consists of four people, and the entire unit has more than ten such groups. On the day of the interview, Berezhanskyi was on duty at a position with the group leader, Viktor Fomin, who, before 2022, was the Head of the Melitopol City District Court in Zaporizhzhia region. Also present was Volodymyr Chornovol from Kyiv, whose first profession was topography. Both are older men who could have retired but chose to serve.
“The main task of the fire groups is to prevent enemy weapons from entering the city. Our job is to protect the facilities we guard: we cover one area, and further on, others cover theirs,” said the fighter with the callsign “Opera.”
As reported by Ukrinform, Air Force Command spokesperson Yurii Ihnat stressed that during the full-scale war, in addition to the new nomenclature of weapons, mobile fire groups have become the main shield against Russian Shaheds.
Photo by Oleksandr Klymenko
Source: Opera singer Berezhanskyi shares how he joined territorial defense
