The Sevan Podcast - #323 - Yevhenii, Live From Ukraine

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

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Now streaming on Disney+. Fanatically. Bam. Yevgeny. Yevgeny. Yeah, exactly. Yevgeny. us. Kiri Lemko. Kiri Lemko? Kiri Lemko. Oh, yeah, Kiri Lemko. It's actually Ukrainian last name. And you are Ukrainian? Yep.

And you're in the Ukraine? Yep, I'm born in Ukraine and live in Ukraine all the time. And you're in the famous city of Odessa. No, no. Actually, I'm from north of Ukraine, and then arrived to Odessa and quite a maybe a year live now here. In Odessa? In Odessa, yes. Is Odessa the famous town where there was the meeting during World War II between? Yeah, there

was some events in the World War II between yeah there there was some some events in the World War II but I think Kiev

mostly famous on this on the World War I think I think I filmed

an arm wrestling tournament in Odessa many many many years ago. Maybe. You know, I'm not an Odessa citizen.

I live in New York here, so I don't know too much about Odessa. Yeah. I can tell you about the Kyiv, yes, about my own town, the Bobroitsa city. It's a little city in the north of Ukraine. But I'm the guest in Odessa. There is some special culture here, special people. It's very interesting. It's like the piece of culture of Ukraine. It's a big deal. And it's a big deal no and and it's a it's a beach town

yep beach town and the rest city many infrastructure for rest

say that one more time it's a beach town and what rest city city for resting. Oh, resting. Resting, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Resting. Resting. Caleb, can you pull... Are you on a phone?

Are you on a phone, Yevgeny, or are you on a computer? On the phone now, yes. Okay. So we're going to have a map just out occasionally so that people who are watching can really start to visualize where this is at in the world. Can you tell me basically what's going on? I'm going to ask you just some really naive questions. But is Ukraine at war? Has Russia declared war on the Ukraine?

Yes. You know, we have a terrible war now. It's not just war. Now it's mostly like terrorism because civilians and children are dying. Infrastructure is being destroyed. is being destroyed. Our life now is produced to meet basic needs. Don't be the kill or blow up, yes.

To find some food, yes, and to take care of loved ones. That's all that we can do now. What's the population of Ukraine? It's near 40 million. And what we're hearing now in the United States, the news is telling us that 1.5 million people have fled the country. Yeah, it's a true story because I heard it every day from my friends and I think about it. I think what I can do and go away from this horror, you know.

Where is your family? Where are your mom and dad? Yeah, it's a very interesting question because my father now sits in Kyiv. He goes to work right before the first bomb was on the Kiev, and he left there for 10 days in a row now. He was alone there, but it's quite a normal situation in that region in Kiev. It's quite a normal situation in that region in Kyiv. And my mother in the north of Ukraine, Chernihiv region, yes, it's the place where Russian army goes to Kyiv. So there is many militaries in the streets, yes,

and they can go to your home, yes, and take what they want, yes, they can just kill you, and it's a terrible situation. So I'm on the phone with my mom, and today, half of the day, I'm on the phone with my mom and today, half of the day, they don't have any mobile phone. So I can't talk with her. And then I can talk with her and she says everything's good now.

But we don't know how it uh be after five minutes you know because there was uh there were no no you're doing great um when i mean this is kind of a hard question i don't know if you know the answer but when the cells when the cell phone service stops is it because they destroyed phone service stops is it because they destroyed the infrastructure or is it because they have control of it and they're turning it off you know they every time try to remove something they try to broke something and now i don't know with some technical technical problems not that destroyed okay because mostly of cell phone is good now and in internet too caleb can you show me the map of the ukraine one more time

and we hang out on this second why why has russia declared war on the ukraine Why has Russia declared war on the Ukraine? I think you can see this in a lot of information, yes. But the main side was because people of Ukraine want to be free, yes, People of Ukraine want to be free, yes, and they want to have a government that goes to the European, some European stuff, yes. And the government of Russia wants to have secularism, yes, and say what to do. Don't want to have free people. And that's why Putin, he hates Ukrainians, I think. So you think it's a personal issue? You think that Putin, it's a personal issue, that he doesn't like Ukraine and he doesn't like the Ukrainian people and so he's attacking?

He's scared that if we go in the right way and can be free, and because of us, his people also want to be free and want to go on the streets and have some revolution, you know. So, gotcha, gotcha. You're a bad influence in the region. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the second reason is NATO. Yes, he thinks about NATO every time. And it was the reason that he liked a shield for him. So he told that NATO is close and I must do something because they want to, I don't know what they want for Putin, but he's scared and thinks that he must do something.

So Ukraine is the buffer country between Russia and NATO. The interesting thing is that there are two other countries that are already bordering Russia that are part of NATO. I'm pretty sure it's like Latvia and Belarus or something. No, not Belarus. Or maybe it's one of these northern border countries. Is Finland part of NATO? No, they're trying to be. No, no, no.

And the Finnish and the Russians don't get along either, huh? You have Jennyy the Finnish people and the Russians they're not friends either correct? yep but are the Ukrainians friends with the Russian people?

I don't mean the governments but the people yeah mostly we are friends all the time we were friends there is many situations where there were some questions about that. But if we start talking about the CrossFit community, all the time, all the history of CrossFit in Ukraine, Russia was a friend for us. So, till that moment that we have now, when all the guys are now quiet and don't tell anything. When we have such a terrible situation, they just quiet and say that they were sad and okay.

Yeah, it's just so you know, it's like that in the United States also. There's people get very scared and I'm guessing it's the same situation there. People get scared and they don't want to speak up. They're afraid to speak up. with a Russian Olympian named Alexey Vovoda, but he was Ukrainian, and he always spoke so fondly of Ukraine. His origins were from Ukraine, and I always assumed that they were nearly identical people. Not identical, but very closely, like all the Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Yes, we're not the same, yes, but closely. How long has there been a threat from Russia? How old are you, Yevgeny? I'm 27 years old.

Has your entire life there been a spirit of threat or a chance of threat from Russia? Have you always felt that your whole life? You know, we teach history in school and all the history of Ukraine is the history when Russia attacked us, yes, and then some good times when we tried to build the country and be without big brother, like it's called. Because all the time in history, Russia wanted to kill our nationality. Putin goes to us now with some reasons. He wants to demilitarize us, denationalize us, and wants to neutralize Ukraine with the wars. the wars. And that's the situation that we have all that history of Ukraine. So I live in the 90s, and there was a friendly situation when nothing happened. We listened to Russian TV, but all the time that was like propaganda, yes, for these events that we have now, because Putin comes to us and wants to protect Russian people, so people who talk Russian. All the Ukrainians know Russian, but in Russia, when you talk with Ukrainian languages,

But in Russia, when you talk with Ukrainian languages, it's very little percent of people understand what you're talking. So we all know Russians. We can understand Russian. But mostly, most situations, they don't know Ukrainian. So it's a situation when years and years and years we held this big brother that want to tell what we want. But we

don't want this, yes. We want to go to civilization and have some good stuff, not all these terrible things. There's obviously the story of what's happening, what we're being told in the United States, and there's a lot of different stories we're hearing,

is a big degree of separation away from people who actually are having their lives threatened, right? There's people in your country whose lives, like you said, even in your mom's town, whose lives are being threatened. There's soldiers walking around the town who can just walk into your house, eat your food, kill you, kill your dog, just do whatever, rape your daughter. Do you guys know what the endgame is, what Putin's desire is? Is his desire to actually just remove Ukraine as a country from the map and it's just now going to be a part of Russia? Is that his endgame? He wants to have Ukraine as a part of Russia, but a bad part.

It's called like they in Russia want to call it new Russia, new bad Russia, something like that. about the history. So when the key was created, yes, I think you saw this meme. Yes. When he was created, Russia was like the wood, like the dark forest with a lot of water, a lot of trees and nothing was there. But now Putin tells that no, Russia was every time, and Kiev is like something not very interesting.

I think the story they're trying to tell us in the United States is that there was a portion of Ukraine that wanted to come back to Russia. It's not. You know, all people who want to come back to Russia do it, already do it. Right. Like, go move there. If you want to be there, go move there if you want to be there go move there you're saying yeah there is a no restrictive moment yes you if you want you can go there uh one of the stats i saw is that 150 000 ukrainians to escape ukraine have escaped to Russia. Yes, I know about these numbers. But, you know, now in Russia, 80% of people say that Putin is right, because the propaganda works very good.

Right, right, right. Of course, some of people in Russia, in Ukraine, have the relatives of friends in Ukraine or in Russia. So every time if you talk about the war here, there is a thousand of people who lost their friends, yes, and I know many situations when uncle or some sister or brother, yes, they sit there and listen to his point, and they think we kill Russian children, yes, we Nazis and so on. Because it's work. Some people go to Russia, okay, why not? It's a free decision. I want to go to Russia, I go to Russia.

I want to Europe, why I can't go to Europe and be the good person. Right, right. But there's one man who said, no, the war will kill you, we grab your cities, we destroy your cities and

no good life for you guys. Why is that? Yeah. Do you have any thoughts on... We have a propaganda problem in this country also. Do you see an ending to this? Do you have any thoughts on how this is going to play out?

Yeah, it was quite good. If some people in Russia have a good brain and go on the streets. I don't know some of the Putin guys killed him. It's only that I know because that I know because he is the government, yeah? And all the people are scared by him. Yes. That's why we can't talk about the civilization. The good point, we can't go on the, I don't know, some documents or something like that

because he sit and just like I want this I want that it's not about the point of question that can talk good people you know good and smart people

it's just some kind of king yes who who can have some good decisions. I'm following. You can't talk to him. There's no logic. He's doing whatever he wants to do. Yeah. He's doing whatever he wants to do. Yeah. Can you pull up the map again, Caleb? Where did they come in from?

When we look at this map, where did the ground forces come in from? Are they flying them in or are they all coming in by vehicles? How are they getting into the Ukraine? How are they coming? Where are they crossing to get to Kiev? You show another map, yes, with the tactical points, I think, yes. And it's like that. They come from the north.

There is Belarus, a good country, but also have some bad president. And they work with Putin together. So you can see this from the north and from our actual territories such as the Donetsk region and the Bugansk region, you know. There is a terrorist and separatist who have the government, and you know this situation, yes, I think. And so it looks like they're coming in from everywhere. From everywhere, yes, and from Crimea, of course.

Man, what a scary... Are you scared personally? Of course. You know, I talk with you now, but you must know that you must be prepared that at some point I will run to the shelter,

because the alarm is a couple times of the day, the air alarm on our city. Is the president still there? Is Zelensky still there? Of course, yeah. And do people like him? And do people like him? Yeah, now it's the statistic that 90% of people are with him. And there is everyday fakes that he removed the country as he goes away.

But he filmed the video from his phone. I'm in Kiev, guys, everything's fine. And we still battle with this. Does anyone feel like they can get honest news? Is everyone skeptical? You know, there is many news about Russian army that not too many people left. So on these days, there was killed more than 10,000 people of Russian army. So there is a hope that we don't need to kill all the Russian people, you know, to

stop this war. Wait a second. You're saying 10,000 Russian troops have died? Yes, it's official statistics from our government. And where is that happening? Is there footage of that? Are these guys fighting, this is like artillery fighting on the ground artillery?

Yes, artillery and of course strike force and from the, I don't know, from some battles in the city. But mostly I think artillery because a lot of machines, tanks yes and other machines was destroyed too so something like 300 of tanks was destroyed in this time this guy here is saying that 10,000 dead and

35,000 injured how many soldiers how many Russian soldiers are coming into the country when 735,000 injured. How many Russian soldiers are coming into the country? Before this war, yes, there was information that 100,000 of people were staying on the border of Ukraine at this time. Wow. Yeah, a lot of people. Caleb, what do you think about that number? I've never heard that number. Is that something that we're hearing in our media, that 10,000 Russian soldiers have died?

Yeah, I just looked it up. It looks like they're saying, I saw some BBC or something that said 11,000 maybe. But I mean, these are kind of rough numbers. I saw some, I know the Kiev Independent was posting a lot of stuff saying they're kind of giving a running total. I mean, it might be a little biased just because it's coming from a ukrainian news outlet um but i think it's

a pretty good estimate like you're not seeing a whole lot of good stuff coming from the russian side i guess yeah you must know that russian side tell that uh no more than 500 people died. So, no more. We haven't seen any footage like that. Have you seen footage of that? Yeah, we have something like that. Yeah. There's a lot of,

like he was saying, a lot of armors getting destroyed and those tanks or personnel carriers can, I mean, this is just an estimate, probably carry like 8 to ten people depending on what it is. Like I just saw, I think it was like, they keep changing the number, but there's like a 40-mile line of tanks and armor and personnel carriers just trying to get into Kiev or like staging. It's in North Ukraine and there was my mom, as you know.

And who knows how many people are in there? If there's as much armor as they're saying, I mean, it's a lot of people to man all that stuff. Is Ukraine known for having a good military? Yeah, it's good military after the help of our partners, yes, from Europe and other countries, from America, of course. But, you know, the war don't start 10 days ago. It started when Putin came to the Crimea, yes, and to the Dnepr region. Eight years of war now. But in active phase, it's

only 10 days. So all this time, Ukraine working for its army, yes, and the big part of money in our budget was for army, of course. Because you can't think about something else when in your country, it's every time you have some part of country where fire and not stability. No, go ahead. So the government was ready for this.

What religion are the people in the Ukraine? What's the dominant religion there? Mostly Christians. Can you see that, Caleb? And what else is there? Are there Muslims there? What? Are there Muslims there? Are there a lot of Muslims there in Ukraine? Muslims. Muslims. Like what?

Say that again, Caleb. Like Middle Eastern religion. Yeah. Like Arabs. Like Arabs. Islam. Like Iran. No, no, no.

No, no. Not too much. Islam. Like Iran. No, no, no. Not too much. No. We have many students from Arabian, Iran, yes. But mostly it's Christians. I ask because Ukraine has a close relationship with Azerbaijan and Turkey. And those are Muslim countries that have caused a lot of problem for Armenia, which is a Christian country.

I don't know how big of a role religion even has in the Ukraine. Does it even have a big role? Like in my country, I wouldn't even know how to answer that if religion has a big role in the United States. Are you a church-going population? Do you go to church?

Actually not. Yeah, me neither. I'm not active Christian. Yeah. Are you an active Buddhist? No, I'm active cross-seater. That's a religion in itself. Have you, so, it is, I i mean has all business ceased in in ukraine like what like is there is every is nothing normal there like you can't just go to the store and buy food

like you can't get a paycheck like how how what how is how do things operate in a country where there's a war uh it depends from region. So in Odessa now, it's a normal situation, basically, yes. Because you can go to a store, you can buy some food, mostly, yes. It's some problems with meats and eggs now,

but come on, it's war in our country. But if you talk about Kyiv, if you talk about Khark. But if you talk about Kiev, if you talk about the Kharkiv, if you talk about Mariupol, there is big problems. There is not only problems, but the city is bombed up, yes,

and you see the how it called one second a food disaster yes food disaster problem with electricity problem with the heating so

people want to have the corridor for go away yeah so the supply lines's all fucked up people can't get food, there's not enough gas for the cars we can talk about some business

in the country where war all people who can do something, they do something for military for the citizens, yes, and for themselves first you think you think about the safety do something for military, for the citizens, yes, and for themselves. First, you think about the safety.

And we can't talk about the safety in any people in Ukraine. Maybe in Karpaty, that region, yes? On the west, on Ukraine. So no no one is safe there is what you're saying yep so you you see it you watch on the telephone you wait for the air alarm and you go to the shelter it's everything that we do now and if you have some training or go on the walk, it's great. Life is beautiful. So no one's working now, especially. Maybe some people in the stores, yes, or volunteers, yes. Nobody can work normally.

It's bad. It's like that. Do you have a car? No. It's a big problem. it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's

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and you go staying, you go with disaster, you know. So I can escape only in my shelter in the basement. Yeah. By the way, I live in 21st floor. Yeah. So when I go to the shelter, it's a long cardio. And this is interesting.

Do the elevators in your building work? Yeah, we have elevators, but if you go in by elevator and the bomb drop on your building, and you can die in that elevator. So you can choose your destiny. Yeah, so when you hear the alarm, you run down the stairs. Yep.

I take my backpack with documents and some stuff for the first time I need, and I go to the basement and wait until this ends, and only then I can walk in my certain to See do I have the flat yet, you know Has the rut is the Russian government communicating with the Ukrainian people like hey, don't worry. Stay still. We're not gonna We're just gonna kill your president. You'll be fine. Or they like hey motherfuckers. We're better run we're gonna burn your shit down no they tell about the everything gonna be fine the ukrainians uh military destroyed you because they don't like you uh you you must stay safe and wait till we go to you and put you to the safe.

This is the rhetoric of Russian government. They think that we have the Nazi government here, yes, that we have some crazy government that want to kill us, yes, and only they, the good angels who come and save us. Understand? So this is the problem in the head of some people. And this position is for Russian people also because I read about 80%, no, 60%, I think, yes, that like Putin's company. So that's interesting.

That's interesting because we're seeing, just so you know, they don't call it Nazis here, but we're seeing signs of that in this country also. But we're seeing signs of that in this country also. We're seeing signs of – it's very interesting how they present your president to us. We have a – do you have any thoughts? Are you following what's going on in Canada? No. You can tell me.

So they have a leader up there named Justin Trudeau. And he has basically said that if you don't get the vaccine, you're a misogynist. That means you hate women. You're a racist. That means you think that your race is superior to other races and that you're all sorts of crazy shit. I mean, their president, Canada's president, is batshit crazy. I mean, he, their president, Canada's president is batshit crazy. Now they're, now they're showing, they are showing more and more photos and they're showing more and more propaganda where they show your president as friends with this guy. And don't get me wrong, but don't get me wrong. Our president, the United States has said similar shit. They basically think that, um, that the people who don't get the vaccine, they're, they're just making up these crazy stories about them it's all around the vaccine it's it's quite bizarre

um and so with that the lines are getting blurred right they're basically on one hand there's there's a faction obviously i want to speak for most people in the united states no matter what you think you don't want to see ukraine get attacked like i think that like no matter what you think you're like shit i really don't want those people to get hurt i wish that they could just talk this shit out like no one wants to see that especially women and children who are minding their own business but but but more and more the picture is getting painted i'm seeing um that there is a that there is a uh that there is that there is a weird relationship between your president and the president of Canada. And I don't know.

We can't tell what's true. We have no credible news source in the United States. Guys, in these days, in 10 days, I don't remember any news from Canada. So our president, I don't know, maybe he has some phone calls from the president of Canada. Our president, I don't know, maybe he has some phone calls from the president of Canada, but all stuff that he's doing, now we see in the socials. We can read about

it. So maybe it's some secret relationship, but we don't know anything about it. Where do the accusations that Zelensky is a Nazi come from? Why even say that? Is it just completely preposterous? Or is it grounded in anything?

No, there is no point to logic about that. It's not only Zelensky is Nazi, yes? There is a point from the previous president also that he is Nazi. This comes from the our history we have some leader his last name is Bandera yes and he was not too much yet but he was on World War II, yes, he has soldiers who was like a little bit with Germany first month, I think, or something like that. Then they think that it's a bad idea, yes, they see a bad

decision from these relationships, yes, and that's all. But from that, that was a little point that the Russia government take and think that all the people of Ukraine after that must be the Nazis. All the government of Ukraine must be the Nazis. Is Zelensky Jewish? This is what this um this yeah classic thank you yeah it's it's neo-nazi you know what's amazing too i read this book um called ravenous and um hitler's goal was to kill at least from this book i read was to kill all all the people in the Ukraine and turn it into a giant organic food farm.

He thought that the Ukraine would be the perfect place to grow food, and he was terrified of the country's health and how it was in decay, even in the 30s, and he believed that organic food was the way. So it's kind of... Man, everything's so fucked up and nothing makes any sense yep liked it but yeah we have a good ground without our bodies on the undying bodies yeah for for food there is a lot of good uh ground in ukraine for uh good food like that um i i do i do want to answer this, Ido.

You said Nazi can't be Jewish. You think that because of the conventional wisdom. How could a Nazi be Jewish? But in this country, we have a massive campaign of people who claim to be anti-racist, but in actuality, they're bolstering the mindset of racism. They enforce racism. They demand racism exists in order to substantiate their fight against it. Even where it's not, they find it. And it's a really big problem in this country. There's the,

the, we live in a bizarro world now. I hear you. I want it. I want to agree with you and say a Nazi can't be Jewish, but anything's possible. Now the most racist in this country, the people who claim to love black people,

the most in this country are the ones who are actually doing the worst things to black people. It's fucking, it's where it's maddening. It's all that. The big problem that America has now is the echo of the past yes the what of the past the echoes of the past yes and it's really without logic but this is the world we live in now. Yes, there is no logic. You're right. When you see these letters, are these Russian letters?

Are these people from Russia writing this? This lady here? These are people from Ukraine. Okay, sorry. So they dropped a bomb to Babinyar, its Holocaust Memorial Place, who are fascists. Wow. The place where millions of people died in the World War II times. The Russians bombed that place, the memorial? In the past, yes, there was a Holocaust. Yes. and now, nowadays, in that place, Russia dropped their bombs. That was a couple days ago. So they killed dead people twice, you know.

So, yeah, it's good. And this is horrible. It is horrible. Yeah. And this is horrible It is horrible Yevgeny You're saying that 60% of the people In Russia

It sounds like the Russian society is split 60% of the people are buying the propaganda Yeah you can say that they're split But the problem is That they don't want To know anything They they live just this life i don't know how it's safe but you go to the work yes you come back home you have some fun with the drinks yes and you go to the work back home yeah this this, like this, like this, like this. You'll be

fun about the money you have for the food, yes, and a little bit for the clothes you have, and maybe, maybe one time in the year you can go to the vacation, some vacation, and that's all. And you watch TV, yes,

where the voice says that everything's fine, that Ukraine is Nazi, that the USA is the main warrior, yes, and the USA supports Ukraine, that we must kill Ukrainians because the USA come to us and kill us. Yeah, and you live in this life, and of course you be support. live in this life and of course you be support so uh i i don't know the truly percent yes but many people in russia don't have internet any internet so you can watch only the tv only that news that gave you the government understand so you can't see the uh another point right You can't see another point.

Right. How can you think different? I agree with you. My thought... Go ahead. Yes, go ahead. Main. Today or yesterday, we have the news that Facebook is banned in Russia. Twitter is banned in Russia.

Facebook is banned in Russia. Twitter is banned in Russia. There is a problem with TikTok because the new laws in Russia is not good with the TikTok policy, you know. So all people who have internet now don't have any news and they have the law about the fake about war. So if you tell any information about war and government think that it's fake,

so you can have 15 years of colony in Russia. Oh, shit. Yep. Yevgeny, give me one second. I have to pee. Do you have to pee? No, I'm fine. We're taking a pee break.

Hold on one second. Okay. This is my third podcast today. Bear with me to pee? No, I'm fine. We're taking a pee break. Hold on one second. This is my third podcast today. Bear with me. Yeah, I saw something. So have you been able to work out at all? How are you staying busy? You know, the first two days I just was

in hell. So I lying on the floor and do anything because I was shocked that news that we must go and take some food we don't know do we have food after that and then on the phone with my relatives all the time yes and i do anything then i try to create some workouts try to build some motivation my classes because i have a lot of people who train with me and that people live not only in Ukraine, and I give myself a good point and start to do something. And now, yes, I try to train every day and sometimes two times a day. But this is a short workout, and it's a workout before an alarm.

So there were several times, so I just finished my warm-up and must go to the shelter so how far is that for you uh it's in my house but in basement so 24 floor you go go down yes and you're there wait you sleep there at night? In shelter, no. How often do you do it? How many times have you been down there? I sleep in my bed, but with the telephone in my hand and wait for the signal. From the street, maybe, but I can't every time hear the signal from the street. But on the application, on the telephone, yes, I see the signal and i go away but this is guys this is a good life

because uh people in kiev uh one million people in kiev more than million people in kiev they uh have night in the uh underground yes in the metro oh that's where they go to sleep not only sleep they live there now because the situation is terrible every time the bomb drops on the city you can read this

comment yes and my father in Kiev also every time he hear, but in Odessa I have two air alarms today. In Kiev there's

10-20 alarms, yes. The alarm every half of the hour, yes, and every time you must finish all your business and go down. Come back, you can have another air alarm so you you can't build a normal life in this situation uh this uh rima uh savchuk is saying there's no news other than local propaganda all international channels are banned now that's in Russia? Yep.

It's a true story. Our informational guys tried to build some videos for Russian people, some commercials, yes, in the social media. But now it's all banned. So you can know nothing about the war in Ukraine. Stop. In Russia, they don't say war in Ukraine. They say the special operation. You can't say war in Ukraine because you have the guys

that knock, knock on your doors and you have problems. So this is fucked up you know you know I'll tell you a story that I had this morning a fresh voice can speak to you and open your ears and your mind to new views and new perspectives.

The call of the wild, a crescendo of culture. Listen as a chorus of fresh voices moves you, taking you to greater heights. Add your voice to the mix and let fresh answer back with perfect harmony in pure michigan keep it fresh at michigan.org at air miles we help you collect more moments so instead of scrolling through photos of friends on social media you can spend more timeodeling with them. Ooh, must be mating season. And hiking with them. Is that a squirrel? Bear! Run!

Collect more moments with more ways to earn. Air Mile. This morning I sent a video to a friend of mine who is a math teacher. You're not going to like this story, Yevgeny. Sorry. He's a math teacher. He's a numbers guy. 2 plus 2 is 4. 10 minus 5 is 5. CEO that's the chief executive officer of Pfizer saying that the two shots barely work if at all. He made 38 billion dollars off of these two shots, spreading them all over the world. And now he's saying they hardly work if at all. Then I sent him another video of the head of the united states of america cdc that is our center for disease control that makes all of our policies around covid more or less and then passes them on to our leaders and our leaders then make decisions for us

she admits today on tv that she got her information from CNN regarding the 95% efficacy, the quality of the vaccine, and that they were really hoping that it was true because they just wanted this to be over. Yeah. So our disease control is admitting they got the news, the information from our news channel and our and the guy who owns the company is saying that that it doesn't work, if at all. And and yet. But I show that to my friend who's a math teacher and he says, oh, do you believe in global warming? Like he wants to try to trick me. He wants to, like, try to come up with these other things that I might think are crazy instead of just look at the numbers or look what these people said so part of me is is like when you say that you're to your group and i sent it to my parents too and there's no response and it's like i i'm i'm i i can't think of two higher authorities right so when you say the russians don't have facebook anymore i'm wondering like i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing i don't even know if you can a good thing or a bad thing.

I don't even know if you can. I can hold a picture of a rabbit in front of these people and tell them it's a shark and they think it's a shark, even though their eyes see it's a rabbit. I don't know what the solution is. It's just it's and especially no one's life is being threatened like your life. Your life is being threatened. We're just over here just like, meh. You know, it doesn't matter if you have Facebook or not, but you must

have a choice. If I want, I go on Facebook and read all the shit that's posted there. And if I don't want, I don't go. But if the government says ban, it's bad. Are there

people coming from other countries to fight? Yeah, we have totally more than 15,000 people from other countries. It's from America also, from Georgia,

from European countries, yes. And by the way, we talked about one half a million that go away from Ukraine, but 120,000, if I'm not mistaken, come back to Ukraine. It's the men who want to take the weapon and protect the country. Yeah, they're showing us pictures of famous Ukrainians in the United States, like Lomachenko

and the two heavyweight boxing brothers, and then this other boxing. They're showing us people who are going, leaving their safe places in Europe and coming to Ukraine to fight. These are very rich men too. Yeah. By the way, I read maybe an hour ago

about Trump wanting to go to Ukraine. I don't know if it's fake or not, but we read something like that today. It is interesting that this guy, Trump, had such bad publicity in the United States, and yet the United States was never safer. One of the first things our current president did is Trump was building a pipeline. Yeah. And the first thing the current president did is he stopped the production of that pipeline.

And it's now – it's like in hindsight, it's like, holy shit, that was a major mistake. And it's now it's like in hindsight, it's like, holy shit, that was a major mistake. And I don't know if you saw even Elon Musk is now demanding. He sent a message basically to the president and to all the leaders. You know, he doesn't like oil and gas. He say we must we must dig up more oil and gas. Yeah, it's a good point. I'm looking I looked up Trump.

Trump wants to put China's flag on jets to bomb the shit out of Russia. I'm just reading headlines. I don't know. Wow, what a mess. So earlier I asked you if there is an end in sight. There is no end in sight. There is like no one knows basically. Yes. It's total uncertainty.

It's total uncertainty. Unfortunately, if nobody closes the sky on Ukraine, yes, I think our cities will continue to blow up and create a mess. is continue to build up and create a mess. Because I told early about the problems with the food, with the electricity and heating in the big cities in Ukraine, such as Mariupol, such as Sumy, Chernihiv, and Irpin, the city near Kyiv yes and a lot of people

need shelter to not die from cold you know and need some food and the terrorists there I can't tell that this is the military because military is not doing like that

they talk about the corridor that they give for evacuation yes the corridor you mean the supply chain corridor the the green zone when you can go away from the city yes and uh evacuating yourself. And they give green light, yes. The Ukrainian side go there with the buses and then these guys start to shooting this, yes. Again start killing people. So two times was the situation when they give green corridor and then start their business again.

So you can talk about the finish of this. The terrorist is walking around the streets in Ukraine. The terrorist is walking around the streets in Ukraine. Yeah, the bomb every time crush our buildings. You know, Zelensky is screaming for help, and we're all screaming for help, because I don't think that little Ukraine, not very little, yes, but if you see the big map where Russia and Ukraine situated near, yes, you can see how big is Russia and how little is Ukraine. And now Ukrainian warriors, yes, protect all Europe from this crazy guy.

Yeah. And we want to support. And all world is waiting for this because it's reasonable. Yes. We don't need a third world war with the nuclear bombs and finish all this stuff, yes, we want to leave, but we must do something with that crazy guy in the Kremlin, but he doesn't sit in the Kremlin now.

He's in the basement and they think he's scared, very scared. But we must finish this because we can't live normally without this. You know, today he bombed up Ukraine, and the next day it must be some European country. There is Poland who say that they can give us airplanes, yes, but he wants airplanes from NATO to protect themselves from Putin.

They tell like this, you know? He's basically – someone is saying this, and this is the effect we get too, that he's threatening the world with World War III and nuclear bombs. That's the implication, if anyone comes in and intervenes. If anyone helps Ukraine, it's going to be World War III. Yeah. I don't know if this is true, but I feel like I've noticed that the people who are supporting Putin are almost, or like the ones who have historically been supporting Putin

are having a hard time supporting him right now like I I've seen it where like the like the Chinese especially they they're kind of not they're kind of staying neutral in regards to whether or not they agree with what he's doing and so I don't think he's kind of just going off on a limb trying to start something and then but the problem is that uh all the country is waiting waiting and uh see what's next yes right but we must do something and china's of course they quiet now i don't know why it was it was concerning at first because i saw they were flying over taiwan and i know they've been – I mean for decades they've been trying to get a land grab back with Taiwan. But ever since then, it's been pretty much radio silence.

And China are working together and that basically that the goal is distract Putin. You take Ukraine and China will take Taiwan and everyone will freak out and they won't be able to do anything. But like you said, everyone's just frozen watching to see what happens. There is another point. is another point when we start to kill Russian army, the guys tell that Moldova can take away Dnistrovya,

that other guys can take their territory from Russia. This is a talk in the process, you know, when something happens and you can do something

in this position. Can you pull up that map again? You're saying that other portions of Russia that want to break away now could be their chance to try to break away while Russia's having to deal with it? Yeah, you know about

the other conflicts and wars from Russia. In Georgia, yes, it's Ossetia and Abkhazia. In Georgia, it's like a republic, but with the Russian government. Transnistria is near Ukraine, in Moldova. And a bunch of other territories that historically it was in the other country, but now Russia talk only about Crimea, that it was Russian. But many territories in other countries. When I was a kid, Armenia was part of Russia. It was called the USSR.

But it's not a reason to start a terrible war with the terrorism in the 21st century, with the terrorism in the 21st century. Where all the war made finished with only one push, you know, on the button, red button. Man, there are some interesting comments down here. I have a feeling that everyone is getting their own benefits out of this war and Ukraine is just a field for that. It's quite possibly true. Yeah. Every war is money for somebody. Always. During all of this time, is there anything that you're, is there any fun in your life?

Is there anything you're doing for fun? Like, do you have a girlfriend? Do you get to go for walks? Are you smoking a ton of weed? Like, what do you do? What do you do? Look, I have a girlfriend, but all I want now to save her from this this events in my country so i try to find some some point where i can save here yes we have the walking around the desert but we walk into the groceries uh because we need food and we need food for next week.

Yes, maybe next month. I don't know how long I can sit in the shelter. So we will think about it all the time. We can watch some stuff on YouTube. Yes. And maybe have some fun. But every time you think about the air signals, you think about your relatives about parents who in the other city and they they have their own air alarm yes and i don't know they live but don't leave that yes and

it's it's terrible i can train i can work by the way it's workout maybe something that i can do and uh close my mind yes and focus on the that stuff and i do but then i uh remember that i i can't be on the uh my sport club yes and do a 21.2 yes with all the world but i can't do this now and you think about it too so uh there is no stuff i i have another bunch of marijuana yes it's bad maybe if i had yes to relax myself but there is no stuff that relaxes me totally now if you go sleep, you sleep with the telephone in your hand. Why aren't you posting on your Instagram? I noticed you've stopped. Why aren't you posting

what's going on there on your Instagram, posting, okay, this happened today. Today we heard this air siren or record the air sirens. Why aren't you using your platform to show the world what's going on in odessa i try to do this but uh if you uh look today i start day from the sirena yes when when we cook in our uh food we go to the shelter, then come back, have some eat, go to the groceries, yes, come back, I prepared for this meeting with you,

yes, and every time you have something to do, you must call your friends, call your parents, yes, and I try to post something, yes, but I have my own war with CrossFit, yes, for the ban Russian athletes

because I think it's terrible when all companies ban Russia and CrossFit tell, okay, guys, be in competition, but without flags. I think it's funny, yes, for us. It's like a joke or what. And when you don't see the results of what I'm doing, yes, my hands are going down. Your what is going down? My hands go down.

When I do something and I can't see the result, hands go down. So tell me about this war with crossfit tell me about this so so i i saw i saw that crossfit banned the athletes from carrying their flags is that something that they just learned from the olympics did the olympics i recall that the olympics let the russian athletes at some point they got in trouble for drugs or something they were still allowed to compete but they weren't allowed to use their flag and and is crossfit doing something similar Yeah, it's something like that. You can compete, but in the profile of CrossFit games, you don't have a flag, just a white line there. white line there. But this is not only why we're talking only

from Olympians. We have the Football Association. Yes, FIFA banned Russian. We have the volleyball, skiing, basketball, dancing and

them. There is a lot of organizations who ban Russian athletes. And this is maybe it's not good in the 100 percent, but they must do something. They must go on the streets and tell their government that they do wrong to start the war. And I think it's the reason why all the countries start to do like this. They not only banned Russia to don't have money to go with the war. Yes, they do it for the people too. Because if something like that happened, you must think what my government do to prevent this situation maybe maybe something wrong maybe i must go and take away these guys from their chairs yes

here's here i i i i shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion on it because i'm sitting in my home here in california and i live this fucking crazy dream life. Maybe you don't have the bomb under your window. For sure. And this is fine. You know, if you don't have a position, I don't have a position before that.

I train people. I have fun. I learn something new. I want to travel and have fun with that. Yes. I don't interest in politics till the politics interest in me. Right, right, right, right. Yeah, I'm seeing that. Well, it's funny you say that because like I don't give a fuck about vaccines until the fact that I have kids. And now you're trying to inject my kids with shit and I see other kids dying or getting hurt and now all of a sudden I give a shit. But let me ask you this.

Bear with me. I want to try to see... By the way, about the COVID. About the what? About the COVID, about the vaccine. You don't need to think about the COVID when you have war. So we don't have COVID now.

Lucky you. Lucky you. Right. And it's happening everywhere. This problem is not for Ukrainians. And I think Russia don't think about it, too. Hey, just so you know, they don't give a fuck about it in the U.S. either. We've had our borders open with Mexico and hundreds of thousands of people coming in who aren't getting COVID tested.

with mexico and hundreds of thousands of people coming in who aren't getting covid tested anyone who's ever been to india or to africa knows that they're not able to deal with it either or because india has a fucking 1.7 billion people and they got they got way bigger fish to fry than covid americans are so fucking clueless i have a friend who was raised in the ukraine he met an american girl and married her and they went and opened a gym in Afghanistan. It was the only gym. He's a hardcore Christian. It's the only gym in Afghanistan that was a non-military gym in Afghanistan, the only CrossFit non-military – and he said – and I'm paraphrasing. I'm sorry if I'm saying it wrong. But basically, he's a very loving, beautiful man. These are my words, not his. But how pathetic it is in the United States because where he comes from, Ukraine, you would be so thankful for being able to just go out and get a job anytime, anywhere you wanted, any of this shit. And you come here to fucking America, and people are complaining that they can't get the job they want.

And you have to – you don't have to. But unfortunately, if you don't live in the United States, you cannot imagine how soft the vast majority of us are. You cannot imagine how soft we are. We are. It is so we are so soft and we're so clueless of how the the levels of what's important in other parts of the world. That being said, I want to get to this thing. I want to get to why. Let's say let's just say for the sake of argument. That the Ukrainians – like you're asking a company like CrossFit if they're to say we're going to ban all Russian athletes to make an assessment on Russia that what they're doing is wrong. Correct? Yep.

Or is it enough to just say, hey, CrossFit Inc. will not support any country that kills other people like like how do you how how do they how do they assess that russia is doing something wrong and and because that's the whole problem we have in the u.s right now there's people making the decisions to try to help people and they're just hurting people yeah there is no uh point, you know, because is it right when Russian athletes can perform, yes, can have fun from open? their soldiers, yes, killing our people, our athletes, our coaches must take a weapon, yes, and go protect their land, yes. And this is some point when we must ask what right to do, yes. I think it's not good because many of CrossFit athletes are militaries. It's normally when our coaches too, our affiliates help to organize the military competitions. Many athletes are militarists. They work with militarists and they have attitude to this. They have what? Say that word again.

Attitude. Did you just look that up really quick? Did you look that up? Yeah, I tried to be... You're damn good. You're good. Evgeny, you're good. That was fast. Okay. They must take the responsibility for this, of course, because it's not a good situation when I know the biggest affiliate in Ukraine, CrossFit Banda Arena, it's 1,500 meters of CrossFit, yes, and the manager of this affiliate must go with the volunteers, yes, must take food and go to the old people. And all coaches must be in the territorial soldiers or something like that, yes. Many athletes go on the shelters and sit there. And the season for Ukrainian athletes is over, you know. And maybe not only season.

I don't know. Can I go on the work after that? How I dream after that? Yes, maybe bomb, next bomb is blow up my gym. It's the situation where we have no future before that. And the people on the other side just go to the regular basis and have fun. And they quiet, you know, they quiet in this situation. Because all this time, all our history of the CrossFit in Ukraine, the Russian community has helped us.

So every time we have the coaches who come from Russia and teach our coaches yes we have some seminars on that we have the competitions in Ukraine yes or in Russia we go on this competition and now they just quiet it's not normal situation you can't just be with your girl, not your girl, but be with your friends every time, yes? And in one time, you just ban him, yes? And sit quiet and don't realize that maybe he's dying, yes? Maybe he wants the help. Maybe he asks for the help.

We already asked for the help. We spoke to these people and asked him, what are они делают, может, мы должны об этом поговорить. И там только тихий голос, понимаете? Я слышу вас. So, of course, there is no one point, but what I must do, I must protect and have my own war now, because when it's finished, I don't know, can I be the CrossFit coach or not? Or CrossFit is done more in Ukraine because, because how we do we need the bike courses, yes, become the CrossFit level one, level two coach, yes,

for the company who just fucked up on our interest, yes, or like that, understand, yes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally hear you. that understand yes yeah yeah yeah i totally hear you um so so if i i guess that i guess the thought and tell me if i'm right i guess the thought is this if let's use apple computers for example i i don't know if this is true but i heard apple is not supporting russia anymore yeah there is is a lot of memes now about that. And the couple of iPhones that they have now, they just like gold on this price in Russia. So because they're not selling them anymore there.

Yep, of course. Oh, that's interesting. I'm going to go to the store and buy 20 and sell them on the Russian black market. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you for the idea. Good business. Yeah. But don't forget that nobody can buy it for that price, of course.

Right. Because Russia can't use Visa, MasterCard, can can use swift now it's all shut down all of those things are shut down yep it's all happened now so we have the globally community yes who support this who who uh don't like this and we have crossfit who say, okay, be without flags. And that's normally. But you know what? Even if athletes go on the games, they can't go from Russia because no airplanes. They can go on the horse, of course.

Yeah, on the horse. But they can't go to the USA. Caleb, will you look that up real quick and see if there's any flights out of Moscow today? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's an interesting situation. So, the implication is that these businesses apply pressure to the Russian people.

The Russian people get upset and then they, in turn, put pressure on the Russian government and the war stops. Is that the logic? This is a very little part of the logic. Because all the business in Russia, it's sponsored war. Sponsored war that happened now and killing people.

So if you don't sponsor this business, you don't help this business. You can't sponsor the war. Russia have no money, Russia can do more war. So basically, it's the same way… It's another part of logic. So they're bombing… Not only… Yes, tell. They're bombing your infrastructure, they're scaring your people, and it's crippling Ukraine. bombing your infrastructure they're scaring your people and it's crippling ukraine so since we're not going to bomb russia we're going to cripple ukraine by scaring its people by um by uh uh

slowing down their business element basically it's basically it's an attack on their business so that they so that they in turn have to worry about their own issues and we'll get the fuck off of ukraine's back yep i'm just trying to paint the most simple – okay. Yeah, it's – I don't know why I'm having so much trouble seeing it. The reason why I guess, if I'm going to be completely honest with you, the reason why I'm having so much trouble seeing it is that I don't trust that I know – holy shit. Those are the tickets. Let me see that again. Those are the tickets out of Ukraine.

It's six grand to fly out of there. No, you can't find the tickets from Ukraine. There is no... Or out of Russia, sorry. Yes, Russia. What is this bullshit, this emissions thing? CO2 emissions, go fuck yourself. Oh my God.

What has happened to this planet? These people. Global warming, Savan. It's important. This is fast. So, look, what do you think? These are flights out of Russia now? Yeah.

So no one can even afford to leave there. That's probably why they're so expensive. You can look at the situation now. They can't leave Russia. They have no internet. They have no international businesses here. And there is one man who is happy about that because he can close all this stuff

and do whatever he wants. And that's Putin. His name is Putin, of course. So I think he is happy now, mostly. It makes perfect sense that we should do whatever we can to stop murder. Yes. It makes perfect sense that's the point because it's not only our problem now the Ukrainian problem

because all the Europe was on the oil from Russia yes and now they try to go away this because this situation. Because Putin just can

shantash all the countries that he has economical inflammation of that. They just want to finish all the business with Russia. And this is a logical point, I think.

It's also different for me now that I'm seeing you Go ahead Just now my girlfriend showed me something new about that Canada can give the airplanes to Ukraine They can? Not give the airplanes so Ukraine. They can? Not give the airplanes.

So you can think about Zelensky and the Canada president's relationship. Relationships, yes. So it's not true. Some guy from I don't know what country that is. He says this is the best YouTube channel ever. I threw an ever. Thank you.

Yeah. And the money is Q-A-R. Qatari Rial. Oh, I bet you that's like – I'm rich now. Money from Qatar, that's like oil money. I bet you that's like $12 billion. Or $13. money from Qatar that's like oil money I bet you that's like 12 billion dollars or 13 it's interesting also right now to be staring at you on a screen Yevgeny cause now this shit's real for me you know what I mean it's like the implications that I'm staring at

a guy who's sitting in a kitchen in Ukraine is bizarre to me it's a go ahead you can watch me without lights is bizarre to me. I mean, it's a, go ahead. You can watch me without lights, yes. This is Christmas,

Girland, because we shut down the windows and there is no lights in the city

because of airplanes bomb attack like this. Wait, so, that's like British, it's like great britain and world war ii that's insane like you have completely blacked out your shades and

mostly anybody from seeing that anybody's home yeah like this we have the command, how it's called, second. You have Jenny. Is there anyone, like, if you went down to the beach, oh, it's winter there, I guess, right? It's too cold to go to the beach right now. Yeah, of course. Is there anyone, like... I like to swim in cold water, but it's not now. Is there anyone living their life normal there?

Like, is there anyone, like, do you guys have, like, if there was a war here, I think the homeless people would just live their life normal. Like, the drug addicts. Do you have drug addicts in your country? I think yes. Is it a problem? Like, in the United States, it's a huge problem. They're everywhere. They're like ants.

Yeah, I think it's a problem. But when you have a war, no problem is such a big like a war. You know, even people who go away, this one in five million, they sit there and they feel pain about their country. They post information. Yes, they talk with us, with their friends who left there. And this is tragedy, you know. This is a black part of the history of Ukraine, and I think not only in Ukraine. I wasn't, just so you know, I wasn't making any implication that the people who left were bad.

Of course, of course. Not at all. If I have opportunity, I think I go away also. Because it's normal. You want to be safe and keep safe your family. It's not scary. It's a normal situation. If I can take the weapon and go kill somebody, I go, but I never hold the weapon in my hand. What can I help my army? army. I just can sit in the Facebook or Instagram and post something and ban the fake accounts from

Russia and give some information to people who don't see this. Maybe somebody from my Instagram, yes, see some information that he don't see before. Yeah, it's all this. I can talk with my IT friends, yes, who do some DDoS attack for Russian sites. Yes, maybe you hear about the anonymous who broke the sites in Russia. Yeah, yeah. We don't, we're not anonymous, but we do something like that. So every people who can do something, do it. Yes. This is volunteers, militarists, I don't know, maybe some money,

but we all help each other. And that's why Putin don't block us. Because when he come, he think he take care in two days. Yes. Today is 11th, 12th day. I just don't know what the day today, because it's all like one day, the circuit. because it's all like one day the circuit and we can't talk about uh normal life now no of course just before war is over it's all about this i was just wondering what happens to the drug addicts when they can't get their supply let me ask you this what other what other companies are not um you know you have companies like apple that are participating full steam ahead and and leveraging whatever power they have to um to i guess reduce the deaths of ukrainians

what other companies are not participating like crossfit what are the companies not participating like like basically crossFit is not participating. No, no, no. I heard something about the Coca-Cola, I think. Yes, there is a couple other companies, but this is so little part, you know. I can't remember. IKEA go away, yes.

All the clothes stuff goes away. Something like Zara, Balenciaga, and all the stuff goes away from Russia. And there are only a couple of companies, I don't know. Don't look at that, no. This lady is saying that Coca-Cola is out now. What is CrossFit's response to you when you write to them? Do you have a country manager? I think all the countries have country managers. Does Ukraine have a country manager?

There is an interesting situation. Is Daniel Chafee your country manager? No, no, no. There is not too much affiliates in Ukraine. We have only eight affiliates now. Okay. We had more, but now this is the situation. And other countries in Europe, little countries, don't have too much affiliates.

And that's why our regional manager is from Russia. It's Dmitry Andryukhin. Yes. So all I know in the first day, he write to our official translator in Ukraine. He asked, Netflix left today. He asked just about some help, but what help can he get? And that's all. So that was the talk with the regional manager.

So no one has addressed your demand, the demands of the Ukrainian affiliates to be like, yo, you got to put more, we want CrossFit to leverage all of its power, financial power it has over like these other companies. No, I don't think about that. I don't want all the financial power of CrossFit to help my country. Sorry, I didn't word that right. I don't mean CrossFit's financial power. I mean CrossFit's – the same way Coca-Cola is doing it. You would like – the Ukrainian affiliates would like CrossFit to leverage whatever power they have over Russia to do it. And one of those aspects would be to not let the athletes from Russia participate in the CrossFit Games. Right.

That's what you're asking. That's what I meant. That's what we think. And if we don't think like that, yes, we don't communicate with you because of that, because a lot of stories about that, about because of the open when the Ukrainian athletes post the fake videos with the scenes of battles. Yeah, I like that, by the way.

That was really cool. That was cool. I like that. That was our voice. And that's why we talk with you now, you know, because we have power together with power. When we do something together, we can do something and we can quiet.

We must do something. And that's why this happens. This, this person has a question. Before we move on from there, but you're not getting a response from CrossFit yet? No. Okay. Not only, there is more people who write the letter to CrossFit in different mails, and nobody has a response to that. Peter Benoit says, how can CrossFitters help CrossFitters in Ukraine? It's a good question.

You can help as you can. You can help our army. You can help our affiliates after this all is over. Yes, I don't know. Do we have affiliate after that? But I hope so. Yes. And you can talk about that. You can talk about terrible things, about all the stuff that do our athletes and coaches now, yes? They don't do their work. They do what they must do in the wartime. I want to answer a question here don't want to avoid run away from answering this question

we would like to hear what you think and what your people think about it if you do so. I know many Americans don't know where Ukraine is. And many Americans think that Ukraine and Russia is the same. And what they are, they don't

understand. You have to understand that the United States is in a very very bad shape psychologically right now. We have a very, very bizarre, bizarre situation here. I cannot emphasize to you how bizarre it is. We basically just had our – and you don't also understand if you don't live here or if you do live here and you haven't traveled a lot how soft and weak our society is. or if you do live here and you haven't traveled a lot how soft and weak our society is we are i'm so spoiled that we have the opportunity to um we have crazy opportunities here that have

made us lose touch with reality is basically what it comes down to to sum it up and you're and you're right i would guess that most americans don't even know where ukraine is or they think it's a city inside of russia etc etc, et cetera. They have no fucking clue, nor do they care. I think most people like are still like, they would be more upset if like McDonald's, like we would have more of an uprise in this country if McDonald's were to change its menu,

if they were to get rid of the big mac. By the way, by the way, McDonald's go away from Ukraine after the war starts. Not too many countries go away, but McDonald's close to its restaurants. You know, it's funny you say that. Someone said, I saw a meme this morning. I think I reposted it.

It says Facebook left Ukraine. McDonald's left Ukraine. CNN left. Sorry. No, it said Facebook left Russia. McDonald's left Russia. CNN left, or no, sorry Facebook left Russia McDonald's left Russia CNN left Russia And now the time you Mistake this, yes

And now the time you Say that Ukraine is Russia Right, right, right, right, right Sorry, sorry, sorry, speaking of dumb Americans And And it said soon Russia will be the only normal country on the planet, meaning that these people it's ironic that these the last two or three years longer for a long time, there is a country, um, that's, uh, uh, that's adjacent to Armenia called Azerbaijan and they are a very oil rich country and they have been causing a lot of problems for Armenians and

they've been killing a lot of Armenians and Azerbaijan gets a shit ton of its fucking military resources from the Ukraine. And I am Armenian. And my people have been slaughtered and mass genocide in that region. And the whole reason why I'm alive today is because my family escaped those regions during the wars when the Turkish people were fucking assassinating the Armenians. And they fled to the United States. And that's the only reason why I'm alive. I'm so fucking lucky to be alive. and both my mom and my dad are armenian and so when i hear it but but also on some other level i know i'm not armenian i know i'm not sevan i know i'm just a fucking

ray of light that comes down from the heavens that has an opportunity to walk on this planet so where do i want to draw the line and and of course under under under no circumstance and and every single to be completely honest, every single Ukrainian person I've ever met in my whole entire life, I have a kinship. I think that there's a same with like the Serbians, just there's so many people over there. We're just a different breed. If you come from that kind of what we call the old country, I recognize their culture, their camaraderie, their love for one another. They're not pussy Americans, especially the men. The men are great. And I love America. I don't mean that in a derogatory way. I just want to see change. But so it's interesting to me. And then Azerbaijan recently took back a huge chunk of land that Armenia had. And the Ukrainian government, Zelensky, called the Azerbaijani president and congratulated him. Good job on getting the land back.

And so I'm thinking that as I think this, you know, my mom sends me a letter right away saying to me, hey, you need to send money to, my mom sends me an email and says, you need to send money. This is like three days ago. You need to send money to Ukraine for the people there. days ago you need to send money to ukraine for the people there and i just think i i don't i don't know where i stand on the issue as i stare at you right now you have getting through the camera fucking like i want i want there to be complete peace right i don't want you to be hurt i want you to be able to get your life back i want those fucking russians to get the fuck out of there. But I can't tell. I guess each situation has to be looked at individually.

There's no part of me to answer your question, Rima, that's like, hey, I think what's going on there is good. Not even a little bit. Not even fucking one tiny bit so um i just know that that it's a uh it's a fucking tough world and that i don't think americans um have any idea how tough it is there there's there's there's poor people the poorest people in the united states now are have more access to goods and quality of goods than the richest people did 50 years ago right yep and so and so it's um yeah i don't know i i i i don't have i don't i'm still forming i'm still forming my opinion i don't have a strong i don't i just know that that no one should be

being killed no one should have to live in their um no one should have to be worrying about Russian troops coming in and raping their moms or bombing their buildings or cutting off their supply lines. It just doesn't – it's – there's nowhere that they're saying, oh, the – like if there was something really bad happening, like we all know Nazi Germany had to be stopped. to be stopped like that like that place had to be bombed to fuck if if if what they tell us in the history books is true which i believe that they were rounding up jews and burning them in ovens you have to you have to fucking stop that country right but i don't know anything i don't know one single bad thing that's happening in the ukraine that would require anyone to go in there with the fucking uh the planet's second largest army and fucking attack these people. I haven't heard one bad thing that's happening there. Yep. So,

I hope that helps, Rima. Yevgeny, would you be willing to talk to me next Sunday too at this exact same time? Yeah, I think it's a good idea. But I don't know your position about the crossfit question. What do you think crossfit must do in this situation? I don't know.

And I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I really want to side with you, like for so many reasons. But here's the reason why. When business gets involved in government we have a fucking huge problem we have a we have a that that's what happened that's the fall of the united states right now we let business get involved in government and so that's where i'm having it's like this we have the same talk all the time you have getting about abortion i think killing i think abortion is so fucking wrong i'm against it 100 but i don't think the government should

tell women what to do with their bodies yep because it sets precedent and now all of a sudden people will be telling me what to do with my body so i'm i'm like – I'm torn. I'm torn. This company Apple, I use their phone. I love their products. All my shit is Apple. But they also push an agenda in the United States around gender, and there's no such thing as gender. It would be like if I told you there was Puff the Magic Dragon here, right?

It's kind of part of the downfalls of civilization in the United States that people are pushing these ideas that aren't real. There's sex. There's not gender. Don't push it on me like it's real. You can have it. And so your situation is real. People are dying in the fucking Ukraine, and you want fucking Crossfit to be like yo what the fuck look at all these other people but but i'm i'm i'm just torn i you know i'm open for you

to be like hey you're a fucking idiot too by the way like i'm just but i but did you see that look on his face i think he told you without telling you. Yeah, yeah. But I'm not against it to the point, like, I would love to have you back on the platform and unfuck me. Like, convince me. Like, I'm, like, like, like, Sevan, what's wrong with you? Why can't you just say this? People are dying here. I feel like it's difficult also because Russia puts all of their athletes in business basically.

Like it's – like their athletes are business people and they're also – yeah, it's like a business with their sport, but they're also political proponents essentially. So it's difficult to be like, oh, well, let's separate the two and then we can reconvene or we can come to a decision. But it's not that way. I can't believe that they're not actually doing it to tell you the truth this is like so up their alley i can't believe that they're not on on board i i'm i'm kind of i'm actually quite confused are you not going to talk to me anymore, Yevgeny? You're mad at me? His headphones might have died. Yeah, I'm surprised it happened.

We can hear you. Hello? Hey. Oh, maybe his headphones died. Oh. Something like that, yes. Why? I hear you from the telephone.

Okay. Did you hear anything of what I said? Not to the end. Okay. I mean, basically, I'm open to you unfucking me. I'm surprised CrossFit is... I'm actually very surprised CrossFit is not supporting this. It makes perfect sense for the way I see that they think

and the way they look at the world to support you. Oh, yeah. He's done it. This is his Instagram right here, guys. That's how you can follow him, by the way. That's how you can follow him, by the way. By the way, there was a parent who said that North America never sees the war. I think it's a point.

Because in Europe, we have two wars, yes, two world wars and a couple of conflicts that can be also wars. And now we have this situation. So my grandparents, yes, were close to the war, to the Second World War. My father, when he was uh the army yes uh there was a conflict in uh afghanistan yes i think and the chechnya it's also all about russia yeah and we all the time we know the uh horrible of war, yes? And you say, and you sit there,

and you tell me that this is fucking horrible, but how many of you know about that? I'm with you. I don't know. Eight years, I don't know what is the war. I heard about that, yes, the Crimea is over, the Donetsk is some military

conflict there, yes, but you don't even know what is war before the war is coming to your home, yes, before the war is coming to your friends, you know? You only see it through Instagram or Facebook and news.

You don't understand it until it's at your doorstep. Take a week and educate yourself and answer the question. The thing is, Eric, is it's more than education. It's more than education. It's more than education. There's got to be an emotional component, and there has to be a wisdom component. And I think that's where things get a little – I think that's where things are getting a little bit haywire. You have Jenny. It's 11 o'clock at night there, right?

11, 12? And by the way, two hours and we have no air alarm. So you have it. Is that a record? Oh, sorry. Because when I, uh in the morning was in my class yeah we just finished with the stretching and air alarm was there so i can't finish class already so you're happy today guys hey what happened what would happen if there was an air alarm and we were on the phone with you you You would say I have to go. I just drop the phone and go down.

You don't want to say bye to us? I want to leave, you know. What about, so this week we started at, it was 9.30 your time. Yeah. Are you okay if we start at 9 p.m. next week? Yeah, it's30 your time. Yeah. Are you okay if we start at 9 p.m. next week? Yeah, it's a good time. Not even a half hour earlier, 9 p.m.? If you want.

Yeah, that would be great for me, 9 p.m. 9 p.m., okay. Brother, thank you very much. I really appreciate your patience with me. Thank you. It was interesting and it's a good opportunity to talk about our problem because I heard from you that not too many so little information about that, so they can't formalize the point of view. And they sit there and think that everything is fine, that Putin goes and saves us and like that, you know. that Putin goes and saves us, and like that, you know. So we must talk about it, we must spread our positions, yes,

and we must live with peace in the heart, I think, I don't know, and kill these fucking soldiers from Russia, yeah. Live with peace in the heart and kill the soldiers from Russia. Yeah, because they come to our land and want to kill our peace in our heart. I think it's terrible. And, you know, Ukraine is every time is a very peaceful people. Really. If you don't know how to when you look on the Ukraine and Russian and you know who is who, you can just talk with them. We don't be aggressive.

Yes. And every time and all the time in history, Ukraine was peaceful people. But really, if you read history, every time Russian was on us and want to kill this, kill the idea of Ukraine, kill the most wisdom people from Ukraine. And that's the world that we live now and live before. So now we have the opportunity to finish with that we we're struggling struggling all these years and now there's opportunity and if we if we deal with it I think all world can can know what what people live in Ukraine and how good is it okay uh on the thank you very much so we will

read this is this is kind of I'm kind of excited for next week to hear what kind of changes there have been we'll talk again

next week I think I hope I be Leo to the next next week guys oh

and this is this is true that is true that's true you feel that way it's that intense yeah I repeat please

it is that intense that's how eminent danger is that you're not even yeah all the stuff that I talk about live in our cities is now That's how imminent danger is, that you're not even – you're not – that is your first thought when I say that. The reason that I talk about leaving our cities is now like this. And Odessa, the city where I live now, all this time there was a normal situation, yes? every time we hear about that that Russia want to drop their power

to Odessa too because because no one city must be good in Ukraine now is the point I'll touch base with you every day thank you Yevgeny for your time okay

yeah it's very powerful for us thank you so much for sharing your time. Okay, be on touch. Yeah, it's very powerful for us. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your story. And if there's anything you need, I mean, we're on WhatsApp together. So let's just stay in touch every day. Okay, thank you.

Can you send pictures through WhatsApp? Yes. Okay, will you send me pictures of Odessa? I understand that you see nothing, yes, and I try to be a part of information from Ukraine. Thank you. Thank you, Evgeny. See you, guys.