‘Many People Are Preparing for Guerrilla War in Ukraine’

Journalist Recounts Being Embedded with Military Units, Says Fierce Battles Will Be Waged to Hold the Country 

(A World Exclusive)

My special guest for this edition is Askold Krushelnycky, a British citizen and freelance journalist whose parents were refugees from Ukraine.

Mr. Krushlenycky attended university in London, gaining BSc in Industrial Chemistry, and worked as a research scientist for a year. After realizing he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in a lab, he decided to pursue a career in journalism and went on to obtain a postgraduate diploma.

His first stint as a journalist began in 1978, when he acquired a position at a local London newspaper. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, he accompanied Mujahedin groups – then friendly to the West – fighting against Soviet forces. He also worked as a freelance reporter and staff journalist, covering foreign affairs for national newspapers in the United Kingdom.

He worked as a (UK) Sunday Times South Asia correspondent in New Delhi and covered India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka and has frequently covered the Middle East.

Since 1990, he spent the majority of his time in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans - reporting on the fall of communism, political transformations and conflicts in the former USSR and former Yugoslavia. Between 1997 and 2011, he was based in Moscow, Kyiv and Prague. In 2011, he and his wife relocated to Washington, D.C.

Mr. Krushelnycky is the author of “An Orange Revolution – A Personal Journey Through Ukrainian History”, which was published in 2006 by Random House/Harvill Secker. Currently, he’s working on a second book that will focus on the turbulent events in Ukraine since the fall of 2013, when mass demonstrations turned into revolution and, ultimately, the present conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Recently, he was embedded in three military units, including the 37th Independent Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which is based near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where fighting has continued since the ceasefire began on Feb 15. Mariupol is expected to face the brunt of the next major Russian assault, which he predicts will take in June.

The Skype interview was conducted on May 26, 2015, and all photos of the 37th Independent Mechanized Infantry Battalion were courtesy of Askold Krushelnycky.

“An Orange Revolution – A Personal Journey Through Ukrainian History” - http://www.amazon.com/An-Orange-Revolution-Personal-Ukrainian-ebook/dp/B004J4VZIE

Articles by Askold Krushelnycky

Another Sham Ceasefire Erupts in Ukraine:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2954082/Are-dragged-war-Russia-brilliant-frontline-dispatch-ominous-question-ASKOLD-KRUSHELNYCKY.html

About Nemtsov assassination:
http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/askold-krushelnycky-the-silencing-of-ukraines-friend-382233.html

Witnessing the start of Putin's invasion of Ukraine in Crimea in February 2014:
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/02/28/eye-witness-report-from-simferopol-airport/

Deceptions & Putin's mind games:
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/04/points-compass-copenhagen-mariupol/