Polish photographer Stefan used to say: "They knock us down at checkpoints, put a gun to our head and search us. We risk every day. One day someone will pull the trigger and kill us."
It was late March 2022. In Kyiv, neither public transport nor taxis were operating. The Russian army had besieged the capital. Journalists rented cars.
That day, we were walking back from the Nivky district to the center. We had about 7-8 kilometers to go. Checkpoints were set up every kilometer. Suspicious people were searched harshly.
Stefan was right. We decided to raise our hands when approaching checkpoints. At the checkpoint behind the Antonov plant, soldiers suddenly jumped out, blocked our path and ordered us to lie down. Stefan started screaming, they fired at his feet. A female soldier was about to shoot him, but stopped at the last moment. After half an hour of searching, they let us go.
A month later, I interviewed Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. He had broad powers: police, national guard, border service, emergencies. He spoke about the chaos of the first days of the war and the assassination attempts on the president.
During the conversation, he said: "I personally gave the order to shoot any suspicious person on the spot." When I recalled my experience at the checkpoints, he replied: "I know. You Azerbaijanis easily identify saboteurs. But how can we? Our attackers are also Orthodox, we are too. He is Ivan, I am Ivan. He is blond, I am blond."
He mentioned that there were over 250 assassination attempts on the president in two months, and there were traitors within the government. A month later, he gave another interview in the same tone. Then accusations were made against him. Five months later, he died in a helicopter crash. The cause of the crash has not been disclosed.
