In Ukraine, an eccentric machine gunner known as ‘Warstache’ is murdering Russians

Despite having no military experience, a quirky moustachioed martial artist soldier from Belarus commands a volunteer battalion in Ukraine, and he’s becoming a star online for his dancing movements and daring combat.
Yankee, a machine gunner whose true name is Igor, relocated to Kyiv in 2020 when police in his own nation got concerned about his involvement in rioting in Minsk following Vladimir Putin’s crony President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election.

Yankee claimed Ukraine rapidly became “my second home,” and he felt confident in his ability to defend his “brothers” when invasion chatter began.

He told Nashaniva, “The enemy came to my second home, and I said to myself, ‘I need to help my brothers.'”

“This nation offered me its shoulder in terrible times,” he told Ukrainian media earlier this week. “Now I think I should provide my shoulder to the country.”

The young man, who worked in an Apple shop in his home country before moving to Kyiv to work in private security, also revealed that he had no military background and originally planned to pursue a career in sports.

“I became a machine gunner in the early days of the war. I began my career as a player, then moved on to several martial arts, falling in love with jiu-jitsu in Kyiv “he stated

Yankee is in charge of a battalion of 60 Belarussians who have all fled their homeland since Lukashenko’s re-election. In late February, he and his troops freed many villages and took part in the defence of Boryspil Airport, Ukraine’s main airport.

In late March, he and his ‘Kalinovsky’ battalion joined the fight to push occupying Russian soldiers out of Lukyanovka, a district north of Kyiv.

Following that, troops from the unit displayed Russian equipment that they had either destroyed or taken.

Igor also states in one clip: “Today we f***** up some orcs. Putin, you must understand that you are a d******* and that your entire ‘Russian world’ will perish with you.”

According to him, the operation resulted in the destruction of 28 pieces of Russian equipment and the capture of one prisoner.

Igor, also known as ‘Warstache,’ admitted that the operation in the village was his “toughest moment” thus far in the battle.

“In Lukyanovka, we were under enemy fire, with tanks firing at us. It was just how it seemed in the movies. It’s late at night, everything is on fire, and there’s shooting and burning everywhere.”

If not for his daring fighting, then for his cheery demeanour, he has won the hearts of many online.

He was caught on film dancing to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son with a fellow soldier on the frontlines as they delivered pizzas to their regiment a few weeks ago.

More footage of him and his unit dancing together in a field to a Ukrainian club song glorifying President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has surfaced this week.

“Moustache man is the epitome of love. The man with the moustache is life. He’ll go down in history “one of the fans wrote.