About 150 activists gathered in Washington, DC on October 24 to unfurl a large Ukrainian flag at the Washington Monument. Charles R. Davis/Insider
- A Ukrainian soldier spoke to Insider about his meetings with US lawmakers this week.
- The soldier, who will be sent to the front next month, said many don’t know how the aid money will be spent.
- His message: “We don’t want to be colonized… We want to live in a democracy.”
WASHINGTON, DC – Vitaliy Boiko was working in real estate when the bombs started falling. From the business of buying and selling real estate, he turned to defense, serving in the Ukrainian armed forces during the Battle of Kiev, when almost everyone thought a Russian victory was only a matter of time.
“When the war started, my family traveled to the UK,” he told Insider. “I went to the recruiting station.”
Boiko’s current brigade, now serving in the Ukrainian National Guard, ranges from infantry on the Eastern Front to anti-aircraft units that continue to protect the capital from Russian missiles and Iranian drones. This week, however, he is engaging in warfare of a different kind – politics – even though he should be on leave and resting for another deployment.
“I’m on vacation now because I’m going to the front with the brigade in two weeks,” he told Insider as the sun set over the Washington Monument, where about 150 activists had previously attended a pro-Ukraine advocacy summit in Washington attended what organizers claimed was the largest blue and yellow flag in the world. But he is actually working, meeting with members of Congress to share his perspective on the war and explain why he believes his country’s defense is still worth supporting.
It’s an intervention that comes at a time when Republicans in the House of Representatives – who will set next year’s legislative agenda – are split down the middle on whether Ukraine’s fight is also America’s. So far, Boiko said, the meetings have been enlightening.
“It was very useful and interesting because no one knows that financial aid to Ukraine does not go directly to Ukraine,” he said. “They think they gave so much money directly to Ukraine, and they don’t know where from.” [it] is now. But it doesn’t go directly to Ukraine. It’s still in the United States. Only old equipment goes directly to Ukraine – and that is not enough when we have a huge front line of more than 10,000 square kilometers.”
The United States has provided cash to Ukraine: over $26 billion to support the country’s public spending. But a “good portion” of the total $113 billion in aid to Ukraine was actually “spent in the United States or on U.S. personnel,” according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington think tank. Much of the weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine came from existing stockpiles, which Congress has allocated $26 billion to replace, a figure that the Biden administration lowered in its recent $61.4 billion proposal for new aid would like to increase US dollars.
Boiko said that while some in the United States are on the fence about more aid, he wants Americans to know that people like him are determined to keep fighting.
“Every soldier in the trenches knows that he is fighting for his family, for his children and for freedom. We don’t want to be colonized… We don’t want to be rich slaves. We want to live in a democracy,” he said. “If you don’t want to participate so as not to lose your life on the front, please give us equipment and we will protect you.”
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