Karen Briere travelled to Ukraine recently and filed this report. Upcoming issues will feature more articles from Ukraine.
LEBEDYN, Ukraine – Vladimir Pyankov’s arrival is unexpected.
But as soon as he appears in the doorway in full uniform, medical college students attending a Canadian presentation on functional food jump to their feet in respect.
Pyankov is a 91-year-old veteran of the Second World War.
North Americans remember the war mainly on Nov. 11. In Ukraine, it is recalled every day, the landscape filled with war memorials and monuments.
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Ukraine’s farmland was decimated during the fighting, its cities destroyed and its people marked forever.
An estimated 20 million Soviets died during the war and approximately 7.5 million Ukrainians, then part of the Soviet Union, were either killed or taken to Germany as slave labourers.
Historians say that number is greater than the combined losses of the United States, France, Germany, Italy and the British Commonwealth, which includes Canada.
The Canadian food presentation was held in Lebedyn Oct. 28, which also marks the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Sumy Oblast from Germany.
“The weather was nasty,” Pyankov told the students, his voice strong and clear. “It was freezing and snowing and we had to cross the mountains with ammunition on horses. We forced the Germans out of Ukraine.”
He spoke of fighting in the Balkans and throughout the south, and of the famous battle of Kursk, which began not far from here, where the Soviets defeated the Germans and halted their eastern advance. Pyankov, who flew mainly at night for surveillance, told the students how important their chosen careers are.
“There were doctors and nurses in our squadron. They were students like yourselves. Remember them. They were just 18 to 21 years old.”
Of 200 people in Pyankov’s squadron, only five are left. The youngest veterans are now 80 years old.
Pyankov, who was born in Russia, came to Lebedyn in 1948 to help with reconstruction and economic development. He stayed for 35 years and for part of that time worked for the community’s newspaper.
He is writing his 10th book and read some of his poetry to the students.
But most remarkable about Pyankov is his physical condition. He said exercise and proper nutrition are key, and he agreed with Terry Buss, the Manitoba agronomist who gave the presentation, that functional food such as flax offer great benefits.
Pyankov skates and skis in winter, and bicycles, swims and roller skates in summer. When the students giggle and seem surprised, he said. “Just come to the park in Sumy and I’ll show you how I do it.”
