Protecting nature and fighting on the front lines: my interview with Wikimedia

In 2022, I gave an interview to the NGO Wikimedia, whose activists covered the stories of Wikimedians during the Russo-Ukrainian War. I spoke about myself as a photographer, musician, activist of environmental organizations, and an active participant in the photo contest Wiki Loves Earth. 

Before the full-scale war, Oleg was actively involved in lobbying for the creation of nature reserves in Kyiv, preserving Zhukiv Island, Lysa Hora, and other already protected areas. At the same time, he was fond of photography. His first shots were taken with film cameras. Since 2000, he has accumulated a large archive of photos, which he periodically uploads to Wikimedia Commons. 

In 2021, Oleg took part in the Ukrainian part of the largest international photo contest on natural topics Wiki Loves Earth. According to the results of this competition, Oleg's photos took all five prizes in the special nomination "Protecting Protected Areas." 

One of his photos also won third place in the Human Rights and Environment category of the international part of Wiki Loves Earth. It depicts an action of protest on November 22, 2013, to protest the threat of deforestation in Polissia to burn forests at thermal power plants. The action included Polissya folk songs and a dramatic duel between a beaver and a logger.

On the eve of the open russian invasion, on February 21, Oleh opened his fourth solo photo exhibition, "The Otherworld to Touch," at the Mala Opera House in Kyiv. At the same time, he started a new job – now he is an editor at the Kyiv Youth Library. 

On February 24, 2022, Oleg woke up at six in the morning. His mother told him that the russians were bombing the Vasylkiv airport. He grabbed some essentials and drove through the traffic jams to Bila Tserkva in Kyiv region. There, at the gates of the military unit, reservists were already being recruited for military service.

In 2015, Oleg Andros served in the ATO zone in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and as a first-line operational reserve, he immediately went to the military unit. On the first day of the russian invasion in 2022, he was assigned to a unit that was sent to the front line. Oleg served in different regions: from the Brovary district, where the first stage of the war was hot because of Russian shelling, to Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions. 

"What I didn't see in the ATO because I served in the brigade headquarters, I "made up for" during the invasion. Now I know what an self-propelled artillery shell sounds like and how it differs from a Grad attack; I know what it's like to ride on the armor of an infantry fighting vehicle for several hundred kilometers," says Oleg Andros.

During the war, Oleg continued to participate in the activities of environmental organizations. In particular, in March, he helped evacuate 62 cats from the "Kotomistechko" (Cat Town) shelter in the Kyiv Zoo, which was then a frontline zone. There are still 45 cats in this shelter, and they are being helped by the NGO "Nature First", which Oleg co-founded.

Oleg does not edit Wikiprojects yet, but during the war he found time to take some good photos. One of them is being exhibited in Kyiv until June 1, 2022, at a photo exhibition in the Art Space of the Gogol Library in Kyiv.

At the same time, Oleg Andros is preparing to release his new music, written on the eve of the invasion. Since 2011, he has been playing rock music as a member of the band AndrosLand, and in 2021, he launched the electronic project RePost.

Source.