Vitaliy Kim on SMS from the occupiers

During the filming of his travelogue “LeMarrutka” (New Channel), the head of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim told Lesya Nikitiuk how the occupiers tried to negotiate with him about the surrender of Mykolaiv. 

“Good evening, we are from Ukraine” is a phrase that everyone knows! It has become one of the symbols of our people’s struggle against the Russian occupiers, and also a chip of the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim. And he, by the way, became the hero of Lesya Nikitiuk’s travel project LeMarrutka, which is shown on the New Channel. On Tuesday, April 4, the channel premiered an episode from Mykolaiv.

LeMarrutka Mykolaiv Lesya and Kim

“Mykolaiv is a city on the banks of the Southern Bug River. Before the war, almost half a million people lived here in peace. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Mykolaiv has shown that it has an iron character,” says Lesya Nikitiuk. “The city not only prevented the occupiers from moving further south, but also learned to live under constant shelling.

Vitaliy Kim told Lesya Nikitiuk how he and his colleagues acted on the day of the full-scale invasion.

“When martial law was introduced, we had envelopes with action plans for this or that case. At a signal, we had to unpack them and then act. At 10:45 a.m., a meeting was held with all the structural units that were informed of this action plan for the future,” recalls Mr. Vitaliy. “People didn’t know what to do then. They were waiting for the government’s position to make a decision. The President said: “We are here. No one has left. We are working and will not give anything away.” This was a signal to all regions and people. In the early days, we had queues at military registration and enlistment offices, regional guard. We took a lot of weapons from the Ministry of Defense and distributed them to people. We were lucky that before that we hadn’t read military books that say that if the enemy has a tenfold advantage, you have to surrender, and there are no other options. The 18-year-old border guards or the guys from the TRO, who just saw the enemy and shot, hadn’t read this. They were not afraid, they were defending the state. This is what saved us, because the Russians did not expect this.”

LeMarrutka Mykolaiv Lesya and Kim

Every day, and sometimes even several times a day, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration recorded video messages to Ukrainians. Vitaly Kim has become a kind of calming influence for many people.

“It was a necessity,” he says in the LeMarrutka project. “I realized that I had more information, and people simply had nowhere to get it. In fact, through such direct information, we managed to break Russia’s plans for IPSO. They lost this information war in Ukraine completely.”

Kim admitted to Lesya Nikitiuk that the enemy tried to negotiate with him and agree to surrender the city.

Lesya Nikitiuk

“They were calling, texting, offering different things through other people,” says Kim. “There was an offer: for a large sum of money, I don’t remember exactly, a million or two, not to get in touch for three days, just disappear, and that was supposedly enough for them. But I said: “Well, the offer is great, but how are you going to give it to me? When you come to Mykolaiv, we’ll repeat the negotiations” (smiles). And that was the end of it.”

Vitaliy Kim assures us with a smile and calmness that Mykolaiv will stand to the end. Life goes on, the city’s residents work, walk and look for the good in everything.

“After difficulties, people begin to appreciate those things that need to be appreciated,” says the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, “I think that’s the case in Mykolaiv region. Now you just enjoy a quiet day, good weather and walk around smiling.”

Watch Lesya Nikitiuk’s travel project “LeMarrutka” every Tuesday at 20:00 on New Channel! Watch the episode from Mykolaiv on the New Channel’s YouTube channel.

Photo: press service