(essay)

Probably the first question that arises in my mind when I mention this man is “How can you not know him?!” But it turns out that for people who are not interested in books, let alone military literature, his name will not say anything. So let’s get acquainted.

Valeriy Puzik is a Ukrainian writer, artist, filmmaker, and soldier. Since 2015, he has been a member of the 5th Battalion of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps of the Right Sector, and, since 2022, in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. All his life, despite the war, he has been engaged in creative activity and continues to do so.

Some may know him from such books as ‘Stray Dogs,’ ‘Monolith,’ ‘I Saw Him Alive, Dead, and Alive Again,’ ‘Our Cats. The Dugout.’ In 2016, the story ‘Monolith’ even shared the victory in the ‘Short Story in Ukrainian competition.’ Valentyna Murakhovska, the head of the Vinnytsia office of the newspaper, commented later: ‘The problem of soldiers returning from the ATO is presented realistically and without pathos. It seems that the author either experienced this tragedy himself or one of his close people.’

While at war, Valeriy also wrote a book called ‘Love, Dad.’ This is a message from a father who could die at the front at any moment to his adult son. The collection was even published in Slovakia and was included in the list of the best prose books of 2023 according to the Ukrainian PEN Club.

Valeriy Puzik’s directorial work deserves special attention. In 2015, together with his comrades-in-arms, he made a short documentary called Armistice. It is about the day when a truce is supposed to come in eastern Ukraine. It received the Special Jury Award at the 86 Festival in the Palm of the North program in 2016. ‘For a convincing film that immerses the viewer in the war from the first person.’ Also, one of his works, video poetry ‘Farewell Between the Stars,’ was shown at the opening of the Amsterdam Read My World festival. And the screenplay for the feature film 34 Sunny Days and One Cloudy Day became a finalist at the Coronation of Words 2020. Some of them participated in the CYCLOP-2014 and CYCLOP-2015 festivals.

Another area of Valeriy Puzik’s activity is art. His paintings are often included in exhibitions of paintings and graphics in Ukraine and abroad. ‘Incubation Period’ (Art Storage, Kamianets-Podilskyi), ‘Echo’ (More Music Club, Odesa), ‘Phantom Zone’ (Dzyga, Lviv), ‘My Army. Seeing with the Heart’ (Kyiv History Museum). Currently, Valerii paints paintings on ammunition boxes and sells them at auctions for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are in private collections in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Argentina, France, Poland, Spain, Germany, and Ukraine.

Such a versatile personality, who so actively promotes Ukrainian culture, even combining it with his own participation in the war, for some reason still remains unnoticed and known only in narrow circles. I want more people to know about this wonderful man, because he is and will remain in our wartime history.