It took 25 days in Donbass to find a Polish volunteer, who supports the defenders of Ukraine here in the fight against the Russian invaders. But that is exactly what testifies to his expertise - a professional with military experience, respect from Ukrainian uniformed officers and, above all, a determination to, as he says, „help people who have been invaded” - Jakub Augustyn Maciejewski writes in the latest issue of the weekly „Sieci”.

In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, many wanted to become actively involved in the fight against the enemy. However, military recruiters do not only encounter experts, tough guys and professionals, but also those who, for example, merely want to gain a foothold in social media.

War attracts different people. (…) Among them there are professionals who can use both arms and their heads, but they have to be singled out from the group of people including adventurers who know war from TV series. (…) There are also people coming with their own problems. Whether it is a man betrayed and humiliated by his wife or someone who lost his property in an indecent way, they are looking here not for justice and defence against the Russians, but to prove their own worth. And that is hardly what the war is about - the Ukrainian military and recruiters emphasise.

To his credit, the Polish volunteer in Donbass, a man nicknamed ‘Batman’, is an experienced military man who has committed himself wholeheartedly to the defence of Ukraine. One of the tasks he has undertaken is to evacuate people from areas under siege.

So, when the first information arrives about whole families without shelter, about an Australian soldier in need of help, about a Chinese journalist who has to be evacuated from a town under attack, „Batman” sets off to the east. And he begins to soak in the reality of war in Ukraine. Once you start helping, it is difficult to stop later. „Batman” begins to remove more families from the places affected by the war - six people from bombed Kharkiv, a family from Nezhyn, a total of 66 people will be rescued in two months, using his own resources and relatively small financial help from family and friends. Our interlocutor has the qualities that open up many possibilities in Eastern Europe, namely Polish passion, wit, a touch of cheekiness when talking at successive checkpoints, and finally courage, which is a necessary condition to act in wartime - according to Maciejewski.

When in April „Batman” obtained permission to serve abroad, he moved to one of the units in the Donbass.

On the one hand, the man assures us that, all in all, he is not doing anything major, but when he shows the route on the map over the previous few hours, it becomes clear that this is a pretty tall order. He drove with his boys through the hell of the Russian offensive and through villages that were being battled over. What became apparent from the conversation was that this is a man of wide experience, of which the only thing he says is that he has enjoyed „travelling the world” for many years. And since this is a world engulfed by wars, we can only guess what he has in mind. He is now accompanying his new pupils, and in the reality of this specific war, he himself is inventing new methods of deception and tracking down the Russians - on account of military secrets, they must be kept to him for the time being. He teaches Ukrainians not only to shoot, scout and approach the enemy, but also to be responsible for their own. In the east, it is too often the case that a star on the uniform exempts one from personal participation in missions, while „Batman” sets an example, travels with his unit to places where the bullets are whizzing over his ears,- writes a columnist for the weekly „Sieci”.

Read more in the new issue of the weekly „Sieci”. Articles from the current issue are available online as part of the subscription to Sieć Przyjaciół.

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Tłum. K.J.