Taras Ostapchuk | Humphrey Carter

TW

TARAS Ostapchuk, the Ukrainian yacht engineer who attempted to sink the Russian-owned super yacht on which he worked in Puerto Adriano, Mallorca, last weekend, told the Bulletin from Kyiv today that he has enlisted with the Ukrainian army and is awaiting further instructions from his district military commander.

“The biggest problem is that so many Ukrainians have enlisted to fight, we don’t have enough guns.

“We have basic food, meat, cheese and bread but what we need is more guns, lots of them,” he said.

He left Mallorca on Monday after being detained for attempting to sink the yacht on which he worked which is owned by a Russian arms dealer.

He said that he took the action after watching a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian tower block. Taras enlisted in the Ukrainian army on Tuesday night and is awaiting orders. He said that there was no great shortage of essential food in the Ukrainian capital.

“My work in Mallorca is now finished, now I fight to save Ukraine,” he told the Bulletin.

“I left Mallorca on a flight to Zurich, from there I flew to Warsaw and was given a free ride in a car to the border with Ukraine. I then managed to catch a lift to one of the main railway stations and caught a train to Kyiv.

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“It was chaos in the station, it was full of women and young children trying to flee the country - half of Kyiv is now empty.

“But last night (Wednesday) was a quiet one. We slept well.

“My family is out in a nearby village for safety so we are mainly all men left in the capital and we’re all ready to fight.

“Kyiv is now one giant military fort, there are soldiers and checkpoints on all the bridges and streets and we’re not supposed to take any images of the city.
“But this morning, there were people out trying to buy what basic and cheap food was left on the shelves.

“It’s kind of funny, all of the basic foods are selling very quickly, running out in some shops, but all the expensive chocolates and sweets are untouched, no one can afford them plus they are not a necessity right now. We are at war and at war with a crazy maniac. Putin is a criminal rogue who is only interested in blood and money.

“He wants to destroy us and Ukraine because, in his opinion, we are a failed state because we refused to be ordered about by Russia. It is Russia which is a failed state, Ukraine is a real state and has the full support of the whole world. Putin has been left with just a few international friends.

“I am angry, but I also glad to be home and fighting to save Ukraine from Putin. Everybody is angry, and also very sad. Families are being split up, refugees are flooding over the borders. But the Ukrainians are very proud and strong and we are all ready and willing to fight to the death. We’ve already taken out some 6,000 Russian troops and we’re hitting their supply chains, their lorries and convoys but we need more weapons and military equipment to continue the fight because this is a real war, it is like the Second World War all over again.

“There are fighters arriving from other countries, but as I said, we’re not short of people, we’re short of guns.”