Ukrainian Canadians Are Returning to Their Homeland with Salad Bowl Helmets

Roman in some of the gear he's bringing back to Kiev to protect protesters. Photos via Roman Pokorchak.

Salad bowls, scarves, earplugs, and goggles. These are a few of the supplies Roman Pokorchak, a Ukrainian Canadian, is taking back with him to the violent protests in Kiev, Ukraine. He’s trying to offer protection to his fellow protestors, who have been victim to extreme violence from Ukrainian riot police since mid-January.

The protests, which have been ongoing since November 2013, escalated in violence when Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych signed into a new set of laws aimed at banning anti-government demonstrations. The laws appear to have been passed illegally and are considered by many Ukrainians to be unconstitutional. Led by ex-boxer Vitali Klitschko, protestors have been fighting back with anything they can, including Molotov cocktails and catapults.

Ukraine’s government resigned on Tuesday, and has repealed anti-protest laws, but protests continue as the opposition is still pushing for further change. Roman was just in Toronto collecting what he can before going back into the front lines of a demonstration that has already claimed at least five lives.

Canada’s Ukrainian community is outraged at the level of institutionalized violence and police malpractice: “We are absolutely horrified that it has been allowed to go to this extent—it’s beyond words,” says Ukrainian Canadian Congress member Oksana Bondarchuk. Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Paul Grod blames the Ukrainian government for the chaos in Kiev in a recent media release: “Canada must strongly condemn the deliberate beating and killing of protestors and journalists. The Government of Ukraine and its leadership are to blame for this escalation.”

Meanwhile Ukrainian Canadians like Roman Pokorcak are taking matters into their own hands and returning to their homeland to join the protests. I reached out to him over the phone before Tuesday’s repeal of the anti-protest laws to talk about giving up his simple Canadian life to be on the front lines in Kiev.

VICE: Hello Roman. What have you been doing the last few days?
Roman: I was just on the front lines in the protests in Kiev, and just came back to Toronto. I am stopping here shortly to get supplies to bring back. The people need protection because the police are fighting with real guns and using bombs—it’s real violence. They don’t care about journalists. They don’t care about anybody. They’re just trying to stay in power. Too much is too much, people need protection now.

What exactly are you taking over there?
I am using everything I have. I am taking things to cover people’s heads—like salad bowls, scarves, and construction hats. Not everyone has helmets and police are beating people over the head with sticks. I’m also bringing goggles because people have already lost their eyes from police bombs on the street. I’m bringing earplugs because of the noise bombs. I am taking the money I have as well—a few hundred dollars. I am taking 23kg of things on the plane because they don’t allow more than that.

Protester camp in Kiev.

Where will you be staying?
I made lots of friends in Kiev who invited me to stay with them. They are all very friendly people helping each other. I will be living with other protestors. They are mostly very young people who need a change because it’s like a police state, like North Korea or something.

What’s it like being on the front lines? Were you afraid going into it?
This is my first time at a street protest. It was scary at the beginning; you’re there on the line and you can look the police right in the eye. But then you lose your fear and just start fighting. That loss of fear is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s very dangerous. There are 8,000 officers trying to remove everybody from streets. At night they beat the guys, undress them, and leave them in the snow. What the police are doing is just crazy, it's like they’re on drugs or something. I know it’s dangerous, but I just can’t stand looking at the recent events. I want a change and I don’t care how. I wish I could stay there this time.

What about the life and the job you have in Canada? What are you leaving behind?
I am self-employed, doing renovations. I am a simple guy, you know? My family is all in Ukraine right now, so it’s only friends I’m leaving. I got my home mortgaged to get enough money to go.

Are you worried for your family?
I fear for their lives. They used to live in a peaceful, good country. It was the country I grew up in, now they might get their eyes blown off if they go outside. If I protect just one person then I have done my job. I can only imagine how many children there are right now in Ukraine who can’t go outside because they might get killed. I never thought my country would come to this, nobody would believe what’s happening if you told them, if it weren’t for the photos.

Do you know anyone else coming back to get supplies like this?
I am here so briefly that I didn’t get a chance to speak to anyone, but I heard that a few guys came back here from Kiev to get supplies. I am going by myself. The support in the Canadian Ukrainian Community is very strong; it’s a really nice community. There are petitions going around in Canada right now.

What is the ultimate goal, for you and other protestors in Kiev?
It would be nice if we have a parliamentary election and a presidential election, but I don’t think this will happen. There has to be justice brought to the riot policemen, they are really doing crime. They are directly fighting journalists, of which there is video proof. We have to remove them from the country. If we want to punish someone it’s the minister of police in the Ukraine that’s responsible for the violence, for killing people.