Call sign “Trump”: Surrender Donbas? But how then will you look into the eyes of children of the soldiers who fought and died there?

A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer with an experience of fighting in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions is deliberating why giving up Donbas to Russia would amount to a betrayal of the fallen defenders’ memory

Viktor Trompak received his call sign "Trump" at the beginning of the all-out war. This story has no relation to his American namesake – president Donald Trump. However, the officer says, he would not talk to the latter should he meet him face to face. Viktor’s comrades often jokingly ask Viktor questions about lend-lease and missiles, and he jokes back.

But everything else in his military life is no joke at all. Over the past four years of Armed Forces service, Viktor has passed a path from private to officer, from the trenches to the staff headquarters. An officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who has been fighting on the front lines in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions, explains in a frank conversation with Ukrinform why surrendering all of Donbas to Russia would amount to a betrayal of the fallen defenders’ memory, what it is like to fight for the children you don’t have yet, and why those who are shy of military service want peace the most.

WHAT IS IT WITH LENDLEASE?

First of all, I ask the hero how his call sign came about and how he lives with it serving in the military. After all, the Ukrainian people are, to put it mildly, not too favorable towards the real person carrying this surname.

- My call sign appeared back on March 10, 2022. We were guarding a checkpoint in Nyzhni Vorota (“Lower Gate”). My older comrades were constantly humming a song with the chorus “tram-pam-pam”. Once they wanted to play a joke on me; they printed a sleeve patch reading “Tram-pam-pam”. I shortened it by cutting off “pam-pam” down to “Trump”. Well, add to this a consonance of my real surname Trompak.

However, Viktor says, he and his comrades often tell a lot of jokes related to this nickname. For example, they inquire, “Well, what is it with the Lend-Lease?” or “When are you intending to give us missiles?” And he replies, “It makes no sense, fight without this”.

But he ever reproaches the guys for “not being thankful enough”:

- They thank me a lot, and especially so after I bring them something I obtained through volunteer-run organizations. Then I give them this, saying that this is Lend-Lease from Trump.

A ONE-TIME CALL-UP EVADER, HE VOLUNTEERED INTO MILITARY SERVICE IN 2022

Trompak joined the army from civilian life. He has been in the Ukrainian army ranks since February 26, 2022.

- On that day, I got up early in the morning already knowing that I would go to the Mukachevo military registration and enlistment office (Viktor comes from a village in the Mukachevo District, - ed.). It all started on the 24th, but on the 25th I was still hesitating, deciding, and on the third day I was already determined.

He says that he had never served in the military before, even more so – he once found ways to evade compulsory service.

- At that time, I had other prospects and intentions, and that's what the vast majority of young men did then. So, when the full-scale war began, I had no idea about what an automatic rifle is or how to handle it. At the time I was supposed to serve, I studied at two universities both at once and simultaneously worked at construction projects in Kyiv and Bucha. My mother even scolded me, like, son, you are an excellent student, I supposed, but you are an ordinary construction worker! I really was an excellent student at school. I competed in every district and regional Olympiad, won prizes in geography, history of Ukraine, Ukrainian language, English language, labor training, physics... The only thing I didn’t win was a gold medal. I studied to be an engineer at the university, specializing in building bridges and overpasses. I entered a university in Lviv, but then transferred to the correspondence department and worked in parallel. Then I also entered the Kyiv Institute of Infrastructure, also the correspondence department.

Employment in the construction industry did not prevent Viktor from studying. He reassured his mother that he would not have to work that hard for ever. He picked up his diploma on December 31, 2021, in Kyiv, and proposed to his future wife on January 8.

- I was planning to go to state service, decided that I had had enough of the construction industry, and it was time to arrange my life… But just at that same time, Vova from Moscow (Vladimir Putin – ed.) seemed to have had a few pints to the head and attacked Ukraine…

“PUTIN IS NO IMPEDIMENT FOR ME TO GET WHAT I WANT”

- Did Putin ruin your plans? – I ask the military man.

- No, Putin will not interfere with me, I will ultimately get what I want. But when the war began, I did not hesitate for a second to give back what I owe to my country: for my free education, for my treatment, for everything it has given me throughout my life.

- You have a really good upbringing! It is very rare to hear such words from people your age. They would more often say the opposite: “And what has this country given me?”

- When I hear this, I immediately ask in response: “And what have you given Ukraine?” You go to work on construction sites – you work unofficially. Do you pay some kind of tax to the government so that the government can pay a pension to your parents? No? Then shut up! Did you study at school? You did. Did you attend a kindergarten in the childhood? You did. Does your mother receive a pension?  She does. Everyone knows how to talk about benefits here in Ukraine, but no one wants to work for those benefits. By the way, I hasn’t applied for the benefits I am entitled to as a combatant. And so, my mother, aunt or sister will pay them to me.

A GIFT I ASKED FOR MY 25TH BIRTHDAY

I wonder what a person who has never served in the military can think about but repaying the debt to the state. And what made him to decide to go to war. And how his family took this decision.

- I got up early in the morning to catch up the first bus to Mukachevo from my village at 7:10 a.m. Mom asks: "Where are you going?". "I'm going to the toilet," I reply. I left the house, headed for the bus station. The bus wasn't there, so I took a taxi to get to the military registration and enlistment office. I still remember that I paid 150 UAH to get to the military enlistment office. When my mom called me around nine, I was already there.

At that time, the enlistment office offered a choice between two options: the 128th Brigade or Territorial Defense Forces. Viktor chose the latter, because he had no basic military training, neither as part of compulsory service nor a military training program at civilian universities. He knew that the battalion would inevitably go to war, but expected that he would have time to learn and train while serving in the Territorial Defense Forces, to get at least some knowledge and skills.

- I remember that there were a lot of volunteers at the military registration and enlistment office at that time, including lots of young people. We were mostly handed off on the grounds that we had no experience of serving in the military, no experience of serving in the [Anti-Terrorist Operation] ATO*, were too young. I was 24, and the minimum enlistment age was 27 at that time... So, go, walk, walk, young man, farewell. Meet you at a later time, they said. But I persisted, said that no, I want to serve now. Finally, I found the commander of a rifle company. I went up to him on March 3 and said: "Give me a birthday present".  "What kind of present?" - "Take me into the army." And that's how I ended up in the 1st rifle squad, the 1st rifle platoon of the 1st rifle company.

INITIAL EXPERIENCE – UNDER FORE FROM CLUSTER BOMBS AND PHOSPHORUS SHELLS

I remember that, at that time, most people thought that the territorial defense forces from Transcarpathia would serve guarding checkpoints at home. There were cases, though not in Mukachevo, where a position in the Territorial Defense unit had to be obtained through connections. After all, military servicemembers were eligible for high salaries at that time. When these units were later sent to the war zone, wives used to come to rally outside registration and enlistment offices… The first Territorial Defense recruits from Transcarpathia were deployed to the war zone around late March. Viktor Trompak and his comrades departed on April 26. They ended up in Komyshuvakha, near Popasna, Luhansk Oblast.

- I personally was OK with it, - says the soldier. - I was determined to fight. We were all going to war to beat up the Russians and continue living our lives. Everyone said: give us weapons and we’ll give them a beating. I saw then the guys (and a lot of them) who just needed to be given a pitchfork and shown which way to go, so charged they were. Indeed, there were those who joined the Territorial Defense Forces just to evade service in the military. But they were weeded out very quickly. They were the first to refuse to go to the warzone. But let them judge themselves, let God judge them, I won’t judge them.

My next question is about Viktor’s first experience on the battlefield.

- The first experience was “fascinating” as we immediately came under fire from cluster munitions. A Sukhoi fighter was flying and dropping shells on us. A few days later we got hit by phosphorus shells. Then we got hit by mortars. To put it shortly, we were baptized by fire nicely. It was then when our battalion suffered first fatalities – Vitaliy Havrysh and Oleksandr Usleber, who had been buried on the Alley of Remembrance in the city… They were from our company. Afterwards, I was fighting for the country and for the guys who are no longer there…

CAREER LADDER: FROM TRENCHES TO STAFF HEADQUARTERS

Trompak says that he adapted quickly to new war realities.

- After the deployment in the Luhansk sector, we were withdrawn for recovery, and I was granted my first leave in the summer. I expected I would come and get married right away, but it wasn’t until 2024 that we got married. No sooner had I arrived, I began to be drawn to war again just the next day. Then followed the Donetsk sector, and later we were redeployed to the Sumy direction. The brigade is still deployed there, the battalions are being transferred from one area to another.

Viktor received a promotion to the rank of junior sergeant in September 2022 and immediately after was appointed as squad leader. In October, he was certified as an officer, and, in January 2023, was awarded the primary officer rank – junior lieutenant – and became a platoon commander. In May 2023, he was deployed to the Kharkiv region. He was serving in the infantry at the time, fought in the Kupyansk sector for five and a half months. He sustained several wounds and concussions, and he has been almost deaf in one ear ever since. In October, his unit was taken out to the Sumy region to restore combat readiness, and there Trompak had been promoted to leader of the battalion's counter-sabotage reserve unit.

Later on, in 2024, Viktor “Trump” was fighting in Orikhiv and Robotyne, Zaporizhizha sector, holding the defense of the positions that the 82nd Air Assault Brigade had fought back from the enemy in 2023. Then followed Klishchiivka, the Donetsk region, where "Trump" became second in command, then commander of a fire support company.

- Then followed a career as a combat training officer. I rose from trench soldier to staff headquarters officer. Now I and my colleagues who, like me, have war experience, are working together with the instructors from our unit’s group of instructors, planning and conducting classes for personnel, organizing training sessions, sending people to training centers, then picking them up from there, adapting them, developing training plans for instructors…

- Do you like what you do now – as a person who came to serve from civilian life and made a career in the army?

- I’ll tell you even more – I’m proud of myself because of this! After all, from a civilian who never held an automatic rifle in his hands before, I became a soldier, served at all levels of service and saw the situation at all levels. Now I sometimes argue with officers, because I know that what they suggest doesn’t always work. And they heed that message. So yes, I like what I do. Because if you can make changes, impact on something, it’s good.

THE MILITARY NEEDS A WILLINGNESS TO ADVANCE

I am interested to know Viktor's opinion about our military. It is told about in different ways -- that it is unreformed, that it is sluggish, that coordination is poorly organized, and, in general, that it is a "small Soviet army"... He replies that the Ukrainian military is adaptive, like the Ukrainian people itself:

- We adapt to various difficulties. After all, the Ukrainian people and the Russian P*deration have been fighting against each other since the Cossacks times, because this is the empire where people do not want freedom and do not give it to anyone. We invent a lot of things, but Russia steals them and bring them into production. This is what we lack: mass production of weapons and reorganizing the economy around the need to prioritize the war effort. My thoughts are that everyone should work for the army at this time. If you can’t or don’t want in the army with an automatic rifle in your hands, then take a soldering iron and solder circuit boards for FPV drones, and hand them over to people who know how to fly them. Engineer new software for drones. Devise an innovative electronic warfare technology. Come up with a new air plane.

He agrees that there is a lot of Soviet stuff left in our army. But it has changed a lot over these years. Lots of young people have taken on commander positions, they are changing the system. The army allows the willing to grow.

- A comrade of mine, for example, the one who drove me when I was a platoon commander, is currently in command of the battalion’s unmanned systems group. Another colleague of mine, with whom we served together in the infantry, is now the deputy commander for psychological support of personnel, another one is the battalion’s chief sergeant, and yet another one is the company’s chief sergeant. When in the army, you need to strive for moving forward so you find a suitable position where you will be useful, where you will influence processes. This requires character, will and strength of spirit.

IF I REFLECT ABOUT MOTIVATION – I’M SCREWED

Where to get this willpower, fortitude, and motivation at the end of the fourth year of full-scale war? Viktor advises against even thinking about it.

- If I begin thinking about losing motivation – that’s it, I’m screwed. When in the army, you can’t think about it. You’re looking for the positive side in the situation that exists. As Andriy Biletsky** once said, this is not about the control over the Donetsk region, geopolitical alignments, the ambitions of some politicians, and so on, but about the survival of the entire country. And no matter what we think, if we lose the country, we will be guests anywhere. This is our home, our land, we simply have no other. You can leave it, emigrate from it and so on, but you will always be someone who lives in someone else’s home. And I cannot but agree. If you don’t want to fight the enemy for a neighbor who has been fighting at home sitting on the sofa for the fourth year now, then fight for your children, for your nephews. I don’t have any children yet, but I have two beautiful goddaughters, Zlatoslava and Elmira, and a niece, Polina. I’m fighting here for them to have a peaceful life, without war. For them to live in a free state, speak Ukrainian, and learn Ukrainian history. I don’t want the war, which is now eating up everything in the east and northeast, to climb over the Dnieper and reach us here. I’m fighting for my wife, so that she can sleep peacefully at home, without worries. I’m fighting for my mother. For my fallen comrades…

Trompak says, “What angers me most is when people devalue the losses, calling soldiers’ deaths making no sense. When they just say right to your face: what are you fighting for?! What a senseless war it is!”

- This is how they put an end to people who sacrificed their lives in the war. And most of those who say this are none but cowards who are shy of fighting for their country. They camouflage their weakness with this, - Viktor “Trump” says.

- When you come home and encounter someone like that, how do you react?

- It depends on what they tell me. If they ask, for example, when the war will end, I answer: "It will end when you come here, to us, and bring with you your brother, uncle or father, then the end of this will come sooner." I get angry when, for example, civilians claim that commanders take money from soldiers - they read about it on Facebook. And this can be written by both people from the "Russian World" or a military servicemember who is on drugs, has spent all his money and does not know what to say to his family – so he says that the commander took it. Yes, the government cannot provide everything for all, be it a car or a drone. There are too many of us and the government is alone, and we are incommensurate with the adversary in regards to forces and capabilities. But the government pays the salaries. If my army boots don’t fit me well, I’ll go and buy myself some that are comfortable for me, because I need my feet to walk normally. Well, there are different units, different directions. Pokrovsk, Zaporizhzhia – we have to give them everything we have so that the enemy doesn’t advance further. People watch too many TikToks, read too much nonsense – and “expertly” tell you about it to your face, taking a neutral position like “it’s not my circus, not my monkeys, but I’ll discuss it”.

“WHY DID YOU COME BACK, YOU LITTLE FOOL?”

I ask Viktor about his military awards and what he received them for.

- I have several of them, including the Silver Cross. The Armed Forces’ Golden Cross is awarded to soldiers, particularly sergeants and junior commanders, while the Silver Cross is awarded to officers. I received mine for the battle of Kupyansk. A squad reclaimed a position that the enemy had captured, and we went to help them gain ground there. We gained ground and gave the neighboring units the opportunity to retreat. If we had not done this, the Russians would have surrounded those guys and either taken them prisoner or killed them. There were 21 of us on that mission, 18 of whom got wounded. But everyone survived.

Viktor “Trump” recalls that they held that position for a day and a half. The wounded casualties were evacuated one by one.

- My comrades and I took out two, put on tourniquets, loaded them into vehicles for evacuation. I returned to the guys, we kept fighting. Then another soldier got wounded, I also took him out. When I returned to the position, my comrade, an older man, met me and said: "You little fool, why did you come back here!". And then a 120-mm round fell near me, I had "gone" with my rifle in hands, did not understand where I was at. The concussion was severe. I could not see anything, my legs could not hold me... Well, that's the story.

Viktor says that now that he holds a fairly high position, his acquaintances often request that he help someone transfer to a rear-area logistics support position. This really infuriates him.

- I say right away: of course, I will, my friend, but first go to the trenches, try what it's like - three of you sharing a pack of nuts for two days, sitting in the trench. Try to achieve everything yourself, show your character, will and spirit, serve the state. And then we'll talk.

His wife, Viktor notes, doesn't need his heroic deeds, positions or awards:

- It's matters most to her that I’m alive and alongside her. She supports me a lot, writes, calls, loves to sing to me - she has a very beautiful voice. My wife is the best in the world!

I WOULDN'T TALK TO TRUMP

- Victor, how do you perceive all this swinging with "peace deals"? - I ask Trompak.

- Honestly, there's no time to follow this here. You think about the personnel, how to provide it, train it, help it, so that the tasks are executed and the people stay alive. Look for some new approaches. This is not about politics.

- If you met Donald Trump in person, what are some things you'd say to him?

- I wouldn't talk to him. I would spit in his eyes, even though he's a "namesake".

- And if you could influence the diplomatic course of the negotiations?

- I wouldn't agree to these 28 points: surrender Donbas, divide the Zhaporizhzhia nuclear power plant... And then what is the point of all those hundreds of thousands lives lost? The flower of the nation that laid down their lives there. How will you look into the eyes of their children? Wives? Mothers? This would be disrespect for their feat. And how many guys remained lying there, those who were not able to be evacuated because those who went to bring them in also died? Some right decision must be made. What decision? I don’t know...

- In 2022, people in rear areas, when they met a soldier, asked: when will the war end? What would you say to them now after almost four years into the war?

- My opinion is that this war will last long and will touch on everybody. Our country has been divided in half between those who are fighting and their families and those who are not fighting, those who want a soon end. The end of the war is mostly talked about by those who don’t want their son, husband or father to be taken into the army. But there will be no peace. There may be a freeze, a truce, even for 10, 15 years. But then it will begin with renewed vigor, because the Muscovite had not been given a strong enough kick in the butt. And if they had been given a strong enough kick, they would not have come here again. For some reason, everyone was afraid of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Mazepa. The whole world knows about the Cossacks. And now we have forgotten our roots. People need to learn history, see what Russia did to the Ukrainian people: famines, repressions... To finally understand who we are and who Russians are.

Regarding his future plans, Viktor “Trump” says that his task is to learn, share his combat experience with others, gain it from those who are better than he is, grow, and try to influence something.

Tetyana Kohutych, Uzhhorod

Photo via Viktor Trompak’s personal archive

 * "ATO" is a significant acronym in the context of Ukraine's conflict with Russia. It stands for Anti-Terrorist Operation. This was the official term used by the Ukrainian government to refer to its military campaign against Russian-backed separatists and Russian forces in the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) starting in April 2014. The term "anti-terrorist operation" was a legal and political designation. It allowed the Ukrainian government to deploy the armed forces and security services to combat foreign aggression and internal unrest without formally declaring a state of war, which would have had different legal and international implications. The operation was focused specifically on eastern Ukraine along the contact line.

** Andriy Biletsky is a Ukrainian military officer and politician who currently serves as a brigadier general and commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. He is also known as the founder of the original Azov Battalion and the leader of the far-right National Corps political party.