Professional clown Serhii Shershun has swapped the big top for a checkpoint in Kyiv, and says Russia’s invasion is no laughing matter.
More used to juggling and miming, the 50-year-old now totes a machine-gun as part of Ukraine’s huge mobilisation of civil defence volunteers.
“I am against the enemy coming to my land and killing my people, my friends, my children, and the women — it’s not right,” he tells AFP.
Going by the professional name of ShiSh, Shershun says his wife is also a clown while his sons are taking up the trade as well, one as a juggler and the other at circus school.
“We were on tour, we lived a peaceful life, we made people happy, and suddenly… it stopped,” says Shershun, wearing camouflage trousers instead of baggy clown pants, a blue jacket and a rakishly askew baseball cap.
At a sandbag-and-concrete checkpoint in the capital, Shershun jokingly complains that his shoulders hurt from carrying one of the heavier weapons in the group.
His crew of armed civil defence volunteers stop each passing car to check people’s identification and look inside the trunk.
What they are looking for: Russian spies and “saboteurs” that Ukraine fears will carry out attacks or mark targets for strikes by Moscow.
“Why did I come? Because I had to. I can’t explain in words – it is a satanic hatred” towards the invading Russian forces, he says.
– ‘So much blood’ –
Kyiv’s checkpoints boast a motley crew of civil defence volunteers wearing army fatigues mixed with sweatshirts, caps and beanies, sunglasses and rifles.
Some of the barricades have dummy guards, with mannequins carrying rocket launchers and even a knight in armour. Others are made out of old Lada cars.
But life on the checkpoints is a serious business. Volunteers spend long nights and days in the cold, trying to stay watchful.
They are also putting their lives at risk.
Recently volunteers at Shershun’s checkpoint fired into a car painted with a red Russian military ‘Z’ symbol that tried to ram into them.
The driver was shot and badly wounded.
One of those who gave medical assistance to the assailant was Svitlana Kalanova, 21, a biochemistry graduate working on autoimmune diseases who specialises in first aid.
“He didn’t listen to our guys at the checkpoint, he tried to injure our guys, so this was the reason they fired,” she said, sitting in the sunshine during a brief break.
“I have never seen so much blood, but I was ready. I think I have been ready my whole life.”
– ‘We hug’ –
Ukrainians have volunteered in their hundreds of thousands. Some are sent to the frontline to serve alongside regular troops, while others man checkpoints.
Others help ensure that those trying to fend off the Russian invasion have enough food and supplies — and hugs.
“Always when the soldiers come here I say the first we do is to hug,” says Svitlana Boretska, a school headmistress who now heads a volunteer supply centre packed with shoes, clothes and other equipment.
“It is challenging for the boys, and we try to help them — emotionally and in whatever way we can. We dress them and feed them.”
“We are like the rear line of defence. That’s why I need to be as reliable as the fighters on the frontline.”
Ukraine’s mass militarisation has sparked fears that it will be hard to return to normal should it prevail against Russia, but ShiSh the clown is not worried.
“Once the war is over I have big plans. I run a children’s clown and pantomime studio and we have a planned show soon.”
