The Ukrainian Stanislav Lynok speaks fluent German through many years of professional connections and lives with his family again in Irpin after the withdrawal of the Russian troops. He sees the fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz was visiting his home country as an important sign.
Despite the long journey back from Germany to Irpin, Stanislav Lynok sounds in a good mood on the phone on Thursday evening. The 43-year-old sees the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his counterparts from France and Italy in his hometown as an important signal: “The three most important people in Europe are visiting a city like Irpin at a dangerous time.” Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Too late, only with largely vague promises in the luggage – that’s the way the media echoed the Chancellor’s visit. For Lynok, however, this only plays a minor role. He prefers to refer to Germany’s fourth place in the comparison of total aid. “We feel that support,” he emphasizes.
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At least in his environment, the hesitant action of the federal government, for example in the delivery of heavy weapons, is not very present. That happens more on a political level and in German society. “We expect help from all over Europe,” Lynok clarifies. In Irpin, Germany is therefore not considered in isolation. Only the results are decisive. “It was perhaps less help than expected, but it was a great help,” he says, looking back on the German part.
Therefore, people would simply be happy about any good news. Be it new lines in their home town, renovated roads or new financial aid and arms deliveries. “I always say thank you,” emphasizes Lynok, including the three heads of government as well as the inhabitants of the respective countries; He also refers to the 800 million euros that the Germans are said to have donated privately.
Lynok himself has close ties to Germany in particular, studied in Hanover in the 2000s and is now bringing German technology to Ukraine. He uses it to build silos and seed systems or other objects in the agricultural sector.
It is also this sector that worries the Ukrainian a lot, along with all the chaos at the front. Because there are still millions of tons of grain in the warehouses. Due to the Russian blockade of the Black Sea, the urgently needed export capacities are missing.
The storage sites should actually be refilled with the harvested wheat and corn in the coming weeks and months. “If we can’t deliver, the farmers will only sow half the seed for the next season,” warns Lynok. It is therefore important to act quickly here – but Scholz and his colleagues did not come up with a solution for grain exports.
Meanwhile, Lynok goes on to say that his greatest fear is something else: that the allies are getting tired of the war and want to think about their “own problems”. “It’s the most dangerous thing that can happen,” he says. Scholz’s visit shows that this is not the case. He, Macron and Draghi would have found the right words during their visit. In doing so, the Chancellor also refutes Russian propaganda that Germany is not loyal to Ukraine. “That’s why the visit is so important,” Lynok sees another reason.
Through the long cooperation with Germans, he also understood that Germany is not a military country and that the government therefore has difficulty finding the right course. Meanwhile, his stance is clear: “We must destroy the evil to the root.”
Among other things, the IRIS-T SLM air defense system promised by Scholz as an important component ensures a better starting position for Ukraine, my Lynok. “If the skies are clear it will be a fair fight and we win,” he comments. Especially since the Russian rocket attacks followed no logic and hit different places across the country every day. Protective shields are therefore necessary, especially for large cities. Likewise, his friends at the front reported the need for more equipment, ammunition and modern equipment.
In the case of Ukraine joining the EU, which Scholz also did not want to guarantee, Lynok is also reluctant. “Zelenskyj has done a lot in three years, but more has to happen,” the 43-year-old suspects, referring to the high level of corruption in the country to date.
Here, the consequences of the war could perhaps even have a positive effect in the long term, he hopes: “Many have moved to the EU and see life there.” After returning, they could take this as a model to prepare their own country according to EU standards to design. After his studies in Hanover, some of his convictions had fundamentally changed.
