“Perhaps, the turning point in life was the “Ecoraiders" movement. It was probably a turning point when, after a year of environmental activity, when we started to give up a little bit. In 2020, Artem Zhuk, a local activist who was not an environmental activist, wrote to me. He was just an activist in Chernivtsi. He wrote that there was a park on Dostoevskyi Street and asked if I wanted to come and clean it up. We didn't know each other at that time. I said, - “Sure, when?” He said, - “Saturday” – “Let's do it". So two people just wrote to each other. He still has a very powerful Facebook account, and I have a powerful Instagram account. He made an announcement on Facebook, I made an announcement on Instagram, and we were shocked when about 15 people responded to our call to come and clean up. It shocked us a little because we thought it would only be the two of us. And 15 people cleaned up a small area. We had no idea that such a small gathering could grow into a whole movement. We did very little content back then. We decided that we hadn't finished cleaning up, so we decided to do it again with people next Saturday, because we hadn’t finished everything. After that, we went to a local cafe to sit down after the second Saturday and thought, - “Why don't we meet every Saturday?” We made a Telegram chat for coordination, people just joined, and we decided to meet every Saturday. Then we thought we needed a name. It just happened spontaneously, why not call it Ecoraiders, although “ecoraiders” is a completely negative word in Ukraine: it has its political undertones, but that didn't stop us at all. We decided that we would have such a movement: we created accounts on social media, then created a card for donations, and people talked about us throughout Ukraine, that there is a movement in Chernivtsi that exists without politics, only based on enthusiasm and small donations for materials, and for almost a year and a half, it has been cleaning up littered areas every Saturday. Perhaps, this was the biggest motivation when you saw new people joining precisely because of you, because “I saw your story”, “I have long wanted to meet you”, “you have such a cool place here”. And new people kept coming - that was probably the biggest motivation.
“On February 23, I don't remember what exactly we were celebrating, but my wife and I had a little wine in the evening. We understood that at the moment, the situation in Ukraine was semi-critical, and there was a tense atmosphere in the country, but we tried to relax somehow. On February 24, around 8 AM, one of my colleagues called me when I hadn't even checked social media yet. My colleagues asked if we were going to work now. I asked: “What happened, why?” They said: “Don't you see what's happening?” That's when I checked social media and saw everything. It so happened that my wife Svitlana was in a cast at that time. A couple of weeks before the war, she broke her toe, and the three of us were at home: me, my wife, and our child. Seeing those terrible lines, traffic jams, and chaos, I made the decision to just stay home - that's it. However, I never had any thoughts of leaving the country or escaping anywhere - we just decided to stay at home because of the terrible things happening on the streets of Chernivtsi. On February 24, all I did was monitor the situation on social media.
On the morning of February 25th, I evacuated my wife and son to my parents' house for my peace of mind. This was because my wife had limited mobility, and I needed to know that if anything happened, I would have someone to help me evacuate or go down to the basement. After I evacuated my family, I immediately got involved. I didn't know where to go, so I went to the blood center first because I'm an active donor. I arrived and saw a huge line, and I thought about going home, but something made me stay, and I met people who formed the skeleton of the “Volunteer Headquarters for the Defense of Ukraine”.
“Personally, I have a stain in my biography due to my pro-Russian views. My parents were passive, and I was active as an ideological supporter of the “blue-and-white” camp [pro-Russian “Party of Regions” and Viktor Yanukovych], because I thought that we should move towards the East, that we should build our future with Russia, because we had the same language at the time, culture, and past, and should have the same future. I was such an ideological supporter that in 2005 I decided to join the “Union of Youth of Regions of Ukraine” - the youth wing of the “Party of Regions”. While my peers went there to earn money, as we were paid for each rally and for standing in tents, I was an ideological representative of the movement because I thought that I was contributing to Ukraine moving in the right direction, as Yanukovych had higher ratings than the “orange” camp [Viktor Yushchenko's bloc] at that time due to their disagreements. And I thought that I was contributing to Ukraine moving in the right direction. I was a member of the “Union of Youth of Regions of Ukraine” until it ceased to exist, but I actively participated until 2006, as far as I remember. My last activity was distributing leaflets on the street when the Anti-Crisis Coalition was formed in parliament, and the “Party of Regions” formed a majority by buying the Communist Party and the Socialist Party. As far as I remember, this was my activity related to the “Union of Youth of Regions of Ukraine”.
Oleksandr Naumenko was born on October 28, 1989, in the village of De-Kastri, Ulchskyi district, Khabarovsk Krai, Russian RSFSR, into a family of a border guard. In 1993, the family returned to Chernivtsi, where Oleksandr started the first grade in 1995. He was an active member of the “Union of Youth of the Regions of Ukraine” in 2005-2006. From 2006 to 2010, he studied at Bukovynian University, majoring in “Computer Systems and Technologies”. From 2010 to 2022, he worked in a mobile communications salon. In 2014, he married Svitlana Kuzina from Mariupol. Since 2018, he has been an active blood donor. He has been involved in volunteering since 2019. In 2020, he became one of the founders of the ecological movement “Ecoraiders”. Since 2022, he has been working as a coordinator of the humanitarian direction in the NGO “Chernivtsi Association “Zakhyst” (Defense). He has been an active volunteer of the charitable foundation “Volunteer Headquarters of Ukraine” since February 26, 2022.
The Head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Ruslan Zaparaniuk personally presented a letter of appreciation to Oleksandr Naumenko, coordinator of the humanitarian sector at the Chernivtsi Association "Zakhyst", for many years of conscientious work, significant achievements in professional activity, significant personal contribution to the development of youth policy in Bukovyna and on the occasion of the Youth Day.
The Head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Ruslan Zaparaniuk personally presented a letter of appreciation to Oleksandr Naumenko, coordinator of the humanitarian sector at the Chernivtsi Association "Zakhyst", for many years of conscientious work, significant achievements in professional activity, significant personal contribution to the development of youth policy in Bukovyna and on the occasion of the Youth Day.
