Yuri Tyra is 1 of the protagonists of the book by American writer Simon Shuster "Showman. Volodymyr Zelenski and the invasion that made him leader”, which was translated into Russian by Medusa publishing house.
Medusa: How did you meet Volodymyr Zelenski?
Yuri Tyra: We've known each another for 20 years — since 1 April 2005, erstwhile we rented the "Quarter 95" for a corporate event. This was the 10th anniversary of a company that we and a friend erstwhile created — now, among another things, he supplies clothing to Ukrainian defence forces. At first we became friends with Stepan Kazanin, the artist of the Quartet. I was just thrilled with what they were doing.
Zelenski proved to be a wonderful man: decent, social, well-mannered and sensitive. Always with a book. This guy from the thin Horn watched "Monty Python" in the first language version! He was never a fraud or a villain. And that hasn't changed since.
“Soldiers would come up and say: Volodya take on president”
In 2014, you organized a tour for “Quarter” and Zelenski in the war zone. How come you went from the textile manufacture to managing the tour?
I was not only active in a textile company, I besides had my own transport company. But all this ended in 2014: I went to the front to see what it looked like up close and I met brave soldiers there, whom I had the honor of helping. I got active and started surviving the problems of the front.
The first individual I took to the front was Alexander Pikalov, who played Yanukovych all his life in the “Quarter”. I remember erstwhile members of the Aidar Battalion asked me at a checkpoint in Starobielsk: “You know, but who sleeps in a sleeping bag in your car?” Who do you mean? Yanukovych! “You lie!”. They step in, they see Sasha and they laugh.
A fewer months later, the 4th arrived on the front line in full line. It was August 24, 2014, on Ukraine independency Day. During this time, Petro Poroshenko organized a parade in Kiev — our boys were killed in Ilovajsk — and we gave a performance at the airport in Kramatorsk, which was defended by Sergei Kriwonos, commander of the eighth regiment of peculiar forces and friend of the “Quarter”. The next day, on August 25, we performed in Mariupol.
Stanislav Makhalov / East NewsVolodymyr Zelenski during the performance of the group “Kwartal 95” on the Day of independency of Ukraine in Siewierodoniecek, 25 August 2018.
Volodymyr and I utilized to drive around units until 2019. We started the concerts with a minute of silence. And after specified creative meetings, the military would always come up and say: “Volodya, run for president. We will support you." due to the fact that the corruption that was emanating from Petra Poroshenko had already exhausted everyone — at the front, at home, and at the back. Volodya was respected by all. He always found a subject to talk to soldiers. With his sincerity, he had 1 man. He had nothing to hide.
In 2017, after a performance in Żytomierz, we were approached by the wife of a fallen soldier who was 8 months pregnant. In front of my eyes, she put her dead husband's beret on Volodymyr's head and said, “We believe in you!” I saw it. And I photographed it. I cried and took pictures.
Wherever we went then, it was always intense. It was at the same time that "Quarter 95" transferred 36 cars to the front. Even the bus that was bought to shoot the second period “Servants of the Nation“, it was yet converted into a mobile cinema: we rode along the front line and showed the boys movies. Incidentally, the movie “Only old men go to battle” with Leonid Bykov was the most popular.
"We believed we could turn Ukraine into Singapore"
Is that erstwhile you decided to get Zelenski to run?
In 2014, the Council adopted Decision (CFSP) 2015/849. Poroshenko was elected president — not due to the fact that he was good, but only due to the fact that Julia Tymoshenko did not come to power. I had any questions for Petra Poroshenko: why did we leave empty Lugansk in 2014? Why did they release Girkin and his Slavic gang, even though we had artillery and aviation? These puzzles didn't match in my head. I didn't want to vote for people I didn't trust. So erstwhile individual came along I believed in... I had large religion in Volodymyr — and I did everything in my power to make this man president of our country.
When I was at the front with him, I was delighted. I myself am reckless — and he was even more reckless. He entered the industrial region in Awdijiwka under dense fire. He performed in all conditions: erstwhile he even fainted on phase due to the fact that he had salmonella. Many times I saw him crying after contacting wounded, children, and military wives. And it was all honest, not fake.
In 2017, the premiere of the series "The Servant of the Nation" was held. That was the first time people believed that something could be changed in this country. The public was convinced that Zelenski could be elected. But he didn't believe it yet. He realized how much effort and energy this would require.
The minute I saw him holding a book about life and career Lee Kuan Yewa He was a breakthrough for me. I came up, took the book, looked at the cover. I asked, “Aha, is it possible?” And I heard, "Maybe."
We believed we could turn Ukraine into Singapore. I asked him: “Are you ready to part with 1 of those 2 who whisper in your ear? Put them in jail for corruption?’ He replied, “Can I do it with both?” I realized he was ready.
But Lee Kuan Yew turned Singapore into the centre of the planet economy, among others, at the expense of repression.
Zelenski besides read Churchill, not only Lee Kuan Yewa., who led his own economical war — we now have a war in the fullest sense of the word.
In April 2018, at a performance in Cologne, he said to me, “Yes, I am ready.” We were sitting in the van I was driving from Holland. Next to the bike way we were passed by people on scooters. In the car, he could yet smoke, due to the fact that on a large tour bus he was not allowed to do that.
In December 2018 we took the pre-election tour. Prior to Zelenski's speech in his family's thin Horn, the police found a car with gas and explosives in the parking lot at the performance hall. At the time, we were advised to halt everything, but Volodymyr said, "We will not interrupt the performance in my hometown."
Sergei Chuzavkov / AFP / AFPPetro Poroshenko talks to Volodymyr Zelenski during the presidential election debate at the Kiev Olympic Stadium, April 19, 2019.
And in 2019, after he announced he was moving for president, all political officers were given orders not to let the 4th to enter the front. Petro Poroshenko feared we were campaigning there. In Berdian, a counterintelligence officer came to our show — in varnished shoes and pure Mercedes. He later told me: “Why did they send me after you? You have no politics, no propaganda."
How did power and war change Zelenski?
He became more focused. erstwhile I see a Western weapon on the front that our boys are fighting — erstwhile bare and barefoot in the days of Poroshenko — I know that I have a wonderful president who not only settles disputes between governors but solves problems on a global scale. What I believed came true.
From a purely human standpoint, I feel very sorry for him due to the fact that he is physically exhausted. However, it remains a leader. erstwhile Poroshenko arrived at the same Mariupola, the militants were taken ammunition from the magazines. There was no specified thing in Zelenski's time.
Now we're in little contact. But I haven't let him down yet. Last year I received an order from his hands — and I saw his eyes. Tired, but so human. And that smile! He hasn't changed in that respect.
“There can be no 2 captains on the same team”
You've been a volunteer at the front for 11 years. How did you become the advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Walerija Załużny?
First, I became an advisor to Ruslan Chomczak. I was at 1 of the meetings with Zelenski in the 73rd center of Okakow. And erstwhile the president asked the military what their wishes were, they were all silent – and they were there, in addition to Chomczak – besides the Minister of defence Andrij Taran and then commander of peculiar forces Grigorij Gałagan. Then I went ahead and said: “Guys, why are we silent? You do not have a boat — how will you take the president to the base on the island?” And I asked for an American boat.
Because I was silent and I spoke Chomczak asked me to be his advisor. I traveled the front a lot, I was in contact with all the combat units, and I knew a lot about what was happening and where. And erstwhile Walerij Deserve became chief executive, immediately — like that prostitute on the highway, from car to car — I became his advisor.
What do you think of the conflict between Zelenski and Załuże?
I respect them both very much. But I think there should be 1 leader in the country. There cannot be 2 captains on 1 squad — neither hockey players nor footballers nor anyone else. Nothing good can come of it.
What's going on at the front now?
Young promising officers are rising, displacing the full russian school that was before them. They get advanced grades due to the fact that they proved everything in combat. For example, Mikhail Drapaty, who became commander of the ground forces, managed to stabilize the defence of Pokrovsk.
And how did the suspension of American military aid affect the situation on the front?
It was a weekly break, during which planes in Rzeszów stopped landing. But now they're inactive flying. Everything's in abundance. We have something to fight.
But we're tired. There are less of us. Putin's sending us Koreans from the North. But if we surrender, Ukraine will cease to be on the map. And these degenerates will come to our homes — as it was on the outskirts of Kiev, Kherson — and they will kill our families. And we truly want our families to live.
Does not the civilian population begin to question the intent of the war?
I'm not curious in civilian opinion. Ask the wives and mothers of those who fight or are in captivity — would they want our country to disappear? What did their husbands and children die for?
I begged my daughter on my knees to stay in Europe. She told me, "Dad, no." A 19-year-old girl delivered breakfast and lunch to militants at checkpoints; she drove cold trucks to Siewierodoniecka to unload the morgue in Dnepropetrovsk overflowing with bodies of our paratroopers. Dasha's a young mom now, but she's inactive helping out and taking cars. I admire her.
These are my civilians: my daughter and my wife, who have already undergone the 4th chemotherapy, but now she is besides active in logistics related to the transport of cars, drugs and drones. These are my civilians. I'm not curious in everyone's opinion.
Zelenski promised you that without regret he would deal with corrupt officials, even if they turned out to be people from his immediate surroundings. But since then, corruption has only deepened – you have observed it on the front line. What happened?
Power and money is simply a large test. People can get dizzy. You request individual to hit you on the head. That's why I go to the front and react. For example, I'm close to border service now, and corrupt officials can't leave the country, can't get passes.
I can't keep my mouth shut. As the scum began to gain power on Zelenski's wave, I recorded a video. 9 people were later suspended for evidence of corruption.
JIM LO SCALZO / Pool / PAPUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelenski, US president Donald Trump and U.S. Vice president J.D. Vance at the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, USA, 28 February 2025.
Donald Trump believes that Ukraine should hold elections despite the ongoing invasion. ‘The Economist” reports that Zelenski's squad allegedly plans to conduct them this summer.
The United States is now pushing for quite a few things to take over Canada and Greenland. You never know what an idiot wants. The people there are crazy – 1 and the other, Elon Musk. Let him stay out of politics and make his own cars, since he's specified a genius.
What do you think of the current negotiations and possible truce?The Trump environment regularly says Ukraine will gotta make territorial concessions.
I'm just looking at Volodymyr and I know everything's going to be fine. I'm calm. He won't quit and sell. Putin will die sooner or later. And Volodymyr stays.
There will be no winners in this war, I am firmly convinced. triumph will have its price. And it surely will not be for everyone — both on this side and on that side. But Putin failed. We weren't wiped out. Ukraine exists. He's alive.
The most crucial thing is not to spread nonsense and gossip, but to do what you can best all day. I couldn't have lived long without faith. But I believe what I do. We don't want what's not ours, we want what's ours.
All wars are started and completed by politicians. It is no secret that we are tired of war and desire peace. Now the question to politicians is: at what price will we get it.
