He is a Ukrainian citizen: Yachar Fazylov, 51, has accompanied Radio France reporters to the heart of the war almost since the start of the Russian invasion.
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Since April 2022, a man has systematically accompanied Radio France reporters and technicians on the ground in Ukraine. Yachar Fazylov, 51, is what we call a “fixer”: a “local” who manages translations as well as logistical questions, always complicated in a country at war.
Before the war, he was a French teacher, cook, and organizer of summer camps abroad. Today, Yachar Fazylov takes journalists to meet the fighters. He organizes meetings with the army, translates interviews, looks for safe places to sleep…
“A feeling of pride”
“You feel a little bit inside history. The current history, the modern history of Ukraine. The history of its fight for independence. In decades it will be in history textbooks. There will be quite a few books on that and, to be honest, you feel a little bit of an active participant. I have a feeling of pride.”
“Fixer, it’s not a job. For me, it’s an introduction to understanding Ukrainians and understanding Ukraine.”
Yachar Fazylovat franceinfo
Since April 2022, Yachar has worked with more than twenty journalists and technicians from Radio France. When their mission is completed and they return to Paris, he remains at the heart of the chaos: “I saw lots of things, atrocities of the war: the wounded on the advanced medical post (…) In the liberated territories people experienced the occupation: women were raped, men tortured. is hard because to tell the truth I don’t understand this war, it’s nonsense, they don’t know why they’re waging war! I dream of it stopping.”
If Yachar is mobilized tomorrow, he will go to fight, fear in his stomach but without hesitation. His testimony can be found in full in the “War in Ukraine” Podcast on the Radio France application.