Fighting For Ukraine

August 24th 2026
On Ukraine’s Independence Day, Yuriy calls the celebration “nice but strange” as the country keeps fighting for freedom from the enemy in the north. He admits that he mostly says “Russians” only on the podcast; in real life and even on Ukrainian media he uses two older Ukrainian slur names - words that don’t mock appearance, but preserve lived history.
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August 13th 2026
Yuriy describes the fact that Russians are erasing entire Ukrainian cities—first with mass artillery and then with heavy KAB bombs—reducing them to ash and rubble while calling it “liberation.” He describes Kharkiv being bombed daily, with deaths, ruined infrastructure, and familiar streets and parks scarred but still standing, unlike towns that now exist only as piles of debris visible on Google Maps. He calls the attackers a death cult and thanks people abroad whose support has helped Ukraine hold them back.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

August 4th 2026
Yuriy reflects on a recurring message from a friend who has served since the first days of the war: “It’s a miracle we are still standing.” He recalls his first unit that defended Kyiv in February–March 2022, noting that out of roughly 100 people, by August 2026 only seven or eight would still be serving. About half were killed, many in the first two years; others are missing in action, discharged due to wounds or health, or allowed to leave after losing close family. He recounts a father and 18-year-old son who served together, the son’s death in the first summer, and the father carrying his body out before leaving the army. He describes prisoners in harsh Russian camps, some exchanged, others still held, and concludes that almost none of the early volunteers remain in uniform as he marks four and a half years - 10% of his life - in the army.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

July 17th 2026
Yuriy recalls meeting a Kurdish sheikh in Iraq about 10 years earlier, a lifelong warrior who had fought ISIS, Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein’s army, and rival Kurdish clans, and who said he “shot people because he couldn’t shoot an ideology.” When pressed on how such different enemies shared one ideology, the sheikh explained that the common thread was tyranny—systems that turn people into obedient pawns—while slogans like Arab socialism or an Islamic state were merely appealing “wrapping paper.” Yuriy says he often thinks of this conversation because it helps explain Ukraine’s fight today: Ukrainians are shooting Russians drawn to “senseless, bloody tyranny,” since the only alternative is submission and the spread of that brutality westward; resisting tyranny is the thin line protecting ordinary democratic life.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

July 9th 2026
After a long absence, Yuriy returns on July 9 and explains he’s been overwhelmed by depression and insomnia while continuing his military duties amid constant bombings, personal losses, and worry for his seriously ill father far away. With sleepless nights stretching on, he began revisiting and rewriting stories from his years reporting wars and revolutions in the Middle East, shaping them into something new. Friends pushed the manuscript to a major Ukrainian publisher, and it’s now being edited for an October release—if it can survive the reality of a Kharkiv publishing world repeatedly hit by Russian attacks. The result is a book called "The Last Superhero in Gaza," a war book with little shooting and much more friendship, love, despair, fear—and Elvis.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 
 

March 15th 2026
Yuriy recalls buying an olive military backpack in early 2022 despite friends insisting the Ukraine war would end soon, and now—after wearing through three and needing a fourth—he reflects bitterly on how long the war has lasted. He marks the time by his daughter turning 21 and laments missing key moments of her growing up, wishing her a life with more peace.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

February 20th 2026
Yuriy reflects on Ukraine’s Day of Remembrance of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, honoring protesters killed during the February 2014 shootings in Kyiv and describing them as the first victims of the Russian-Ukrainian war, driven by Kremlin pressure on Yanukovych’s regime and propaganda portraying protesters as Nazis and criminals. Recounting what he witnessed during the confrontation, he frames the uprising as a pivotal victory for Ukraine’s freedom—comparable to foundational historical turning points—and vows that despite the ongoing, exhausting war and terror, Ukraine will not return to dictatorship or surrender.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

January 21st 2026
Yuriy opens up about his prolonged absence and the challenges faced due to personal struggles with depression and caution in communication. He provides an insightful look into the difficulties Ukraine is currently facing, including severe winter conditions, escalating attacks on civilians and infrastructure, and the pervasive impact of the ongoing war on future plans. Yuriy shares a poignant narrative about the harsh realities of living in war-torn Ukraine and the need for global support and understanding.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

December 12th 2025
In this episode, Yuriy, a journalist-turned-soldier, reflects on his experiences with body armor during his reporting years in conflict zones such as Syria, Iraq, and Gaza. He explains his decision to forgo wearing body armor due to its cumbersome nature and the logistical challenges it presented. Reflecting on the early days of his military service during the full-scale war in his country, he discusses the difficulties in acquiring suitable protective gear and the realization that body armor has an expiration date. Facing an uncertain future, he hopes that the war will end before his current body armor becomes unreliable.
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/ 

November 11th 2025
In this milestone 300th episode of Fighting For Ukraine, Ukrainian journalist-turned-soldier, now war Veteran Yuriy marks his 45th birthday on the front lines — another year lived inside the Ukraine war. What should have been a day of celebration is instead filled with reflection, grief, and quiet resilience.
Yuriy looks back on the years the war has taken — from 41 to 45 — and the many personal losses along the way, including the recent passing of his beloved cat, his longtime companion and namesake for his army call sign. Through this heartfelt story, Yuriy opens up about the loneliness of a soldier’s life, the pain of being far from aging parents, and the small, sacred comforts that keep hope alive — even if that hope now takes the shape of a “cat god” watching over his furry friend.
Recorded on Veterans Day, this episode is both a birthday reflection and a meditation on endurance, love, and the cost of survival in wartime Ukraine.
Here is his substack about his cat Pumpkin: https://open.substack.com/pub/yuriymatsarsky/p/pumpkin?r=dzvo1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com 
Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy  
Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat 
Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/