Director Oleh Sencow became the commander of the battalion

The Ukrainian film director and screenwriter Oleh Sencow, who in 2014-19 was a political prisoner of the Kremlin, and from 2022 participates in the fighting with the Russian army, became the commander of the battalion-informed the Interfax-Ukraina agency.

– I have bad news for you: the war will not end tomorrow, it will not end in the day after tomorrow and most likely will not end this year – said Sencow during the annual conference of the Yalta European strategy (YES) “How to end the war” organized in Kiev on Friday and Saturday by the Pinczuk Foundation.

At the beginning of the full -size war with Russia, in 2022, Sencow defended Kiev in territorial defense units, and then, in the summer of 2023, he was promoted to the officer's rank and became the commander of the assault platoon of the 47th brigade. He was wounded several times. During the conference in the capital of Ukraine, he appealed to talk less about how the war would end and do much more to lead to its end.

The director pointed out that since 2022 the war has changed a lot. – We ran at Bachmut with rifles in hand – such a war no longer exists. Infantry sits in the trenches and waits, he doesn't want to be hit by (drone) FPV. Our opponent is the same: there are no more mechanized storms (units), there are no more brigades walking crowds (to attack). (Now) infiltration, small groups of people – he explained.

He emphasized that if the Ukrainian army operates “to the max” and stop every movement of the Russians, then the moment will come when the front simply stops and invasive forces will not be able to make progress because they will be destroyed. – Now they are moving a bit forward, but (a large) pace (offensive) is gone. And someday the day will come when we stop them, and then Putin will consider whether he makes sense to do anything more, “said Sencow.

He added that it is also important to maintain political and economic pressure on Russia. – The second stage of the end of the war is not only stopping the front, but (also) a change in the political regime in Russia. When Russia admits that this war was a mistake, when Russia is ready to give our territories, admit that it was wrong and apologized – this will be my real win. I believe that this day will happen – he said.

Oleh Sencow is a director, writer and former prisoner of the Russian regime, from Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Russia. In 2015, he was sentenced by a Russian court to 20 years of penal colony for the preparation of terrorist attacks on the peninsula attributed to him. The director rejected the accusations and claimed that the actions against him are political. The process was criticized by Western and international states of human rights defending. Sencow was released from the Russian penalty colony as part of the exchange of prisoners in September 2019.

After Russia began in February 2022 a full -size war against Ukraine, Sencov entered the territorial defense ranks and later fought in the east of the country in the branches of the regular army. (PAP)

IRA/ Szm/