Don’t mess with the citizens of Kryvyi Rih.
The largest industrial city in Ukraine and the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is known for producing iron ore, steel and fearless leaders.
“Kryvyi Rih is the iron heart of our country and the people who live here have an iron character. It is impossible to break us,” Colonel Oleksandr Pyskun said as he oversaw the military training of some 100 local civilians.
“We have a proverb: ‘Be afraid of two things: God and the boys of Kryvyi Rih.'”
Colonel Pyskun is made of severe material.
He was on the battlefield when Russian forces annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and started the war with Russian-backed separatists in Donbas.
He was seriously wounded near Lysychansk while trying to save his commander’s life under fire, and was taken prisoner by the pro-Russian rebels.
Colonel Oleksandr Pyskun was wounded fighting the pro-Russian rebels in 2014 and received the Order of Courage from Ukraine. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
After his release, he received the Order of Courage of Ukraine.
He is now the Deputy Commander of Kryvyi Rih Military Unit No. 3011.
“I am proud of our president,” he said.
“He is a native of our city of Kryvyi Rih. He gathered all the people of Ukraine around him.
“The whole country and the whole city beats like a single heart, like a single organism.”
Kryvyi Rih resisted the Russian invaders
When the Russians tried to take President Zelensky’s hometown with tanks and paratroopers in the early days of the war, they got a classic steel city response.
The airport runway was blocked by large trucks and construction vehicles.
The road from the nearby town of Mykolaiv was blocked by giant mining trucks about 40 minutes before a Russian convoy arrived.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused to leave the country when Russia invaded. (Instagram: Volodymyr Zelenskyy)
Almost at the same time as his hometown was under attack, President Zelenskyy was in the nation’s capital, refusing to leave, despite the risks to his own life.
Reports at the time suggest that he survived at least three assassination attempts in those early weeks by Chechen special forces and mercenaries.
After the United States offered to help him be evacuated from Kyiv, he said, “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a trip.”
In his hometown, this was seen as a response from Kryvyi Rih.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was born to Jewish parents in Kryvyi Rih, then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. (Instagram: Volodymyr Zelenskyy)
“I’m sure Zelenskyy had a chance to leave the country,” Colonel Piskun said.
“He didn’t do that, and for that, I thank him very much.”
Even former political rivals here have praised the president’s courage.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih Regional Military Administration, was once Deputy Prime Minister under the pro-Russian leadership of President Yanukovych.
He said Mr Zelenskyy had been under intense pressure.
Kryvyi Rih’s military unit number 3011 continues training in case Russia attempts another invasion. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
“We are proud that our president is our compatriot, he is one of the symbols of the Ukrainian war and he is behaving with great courage,” he told ABC.
“I think the president united the whole country to fight the aggressor and built effective communications with the whole Western world.”
There was something special about young Volodymyr
Andrii Shaikan first met Volodymyr Zelenskyy on stage during a talent show.
It was 1995 and they were studying at Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology.
Despite studying law, Volodymyr Zelenskky devoted himself to comedy and entertainment before running for public office. (Provided by: Wikimedia Commons)
“We were on opposing teams, competing for the best teaching position of the year,” he told ABC.
Shaikan is now the rector of the university. He remembers a creative and strong-willed young man who inspired his peers.
“He was definitely the leader who was at the center of the company,” he said.
“He was the soul of the group. He was modest, but wherever he appeared, he drew attention to himself.”
Natalia Volosheniuk is an associate professor of finance and banking at the university.
Former Volodymyr Zelenskyy university professor Natalia Volosheniuk says she was always destined for great things. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
He taught President Zelenskyy in the 1990s and said that the qualities he showed then remain today.
“He was a pretty curious person who was fighting for knowledge,” he said.
“He was different from other students because of his very subtle sense of humor.
“He was distinguished even in those years by his decency, honesty and desire to achieve his goals.”
“You had to fight to be yourself”
There is a lot of talk about President Zelensky’s background in comedy and acting.
Before becoming a world-famous wartime leader, Volomdymr Zelenskyy was a comedian and animator. (Instagram: Volodymyr Zelenskyy)
Before entering politics, he produced and starred in a television program called Servant of the People in which he played a history teacher who became president after a diatribe in the classroom against corruption went viral.
Shaikan said the president was not just a talented comedian to act. He also built a great and successful entertainment business from scratch.
Mr. Zelenskyy named his production company “Kvartal 95” after the Kryvyi Rih district where he grew up.
“He didn’t just start as an actor,” Shaikan said.
Andrii Shaikan first met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 1995 when they were classmates. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
“He was a university graduate who came to the capital from the provinces, convinced his team to come after him, and they started from scratch, they had no connection or patronage.”
Shaikan agrees that Kryvyi Rih had a great influence on Zelenskyy’s character.
He described it as a tough city that was a difficult and competitive place to grow.
“In our childhood and adolescence, it was a time when youth gangs and criminal movements were actively present in the city,” he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s steely determination was forged in Kryvyi Rih, the largest industrial city in Ukraine. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
“You had to fight to be yourself in these conditions, especially if you were involved in creative arts.”
Although things have improved, Shaikan said, for much of the 20th century Kryvyi Rih was a city facing extreme adversity.
“This is the city that was destroyed during World War II, which suffered during the Holodomor famine between 1932 and 33,” he said.
“This city experienced the ethnic cleansing of Nazi Germany. This city also went through Stalin’s repression.”
Will Russia try to reconquer Kryvyi Rih?
It is feared that these difficult times will return to Kryvyi Rih and that Russia will try to take back this city and the resources it produces.
With Russian missiles hitting Kryvyi Rih, there are fears that they will try to retake the city. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)
After Russia’s disorderly offensive to capture several Ukrainian cities at once failed, invading forces have largely focused on the east of the country.
Kryvyi Rih is not so far from the hotly contested Donbas region.
It would be a symbolic and strategic reward for Russian President Vladimir Putin to capture the birthplace of his Ukrainian enemy.
Earlier this week, three Russian missiles struck Kryvyi Rih, damaging a manufacturing plant.
There are concerns that this may be the beginning of something bigger.
But Colonel Pyskun scoffs at any suggestion that the Russians would be crazy enough to take that city.
“First of all, the Russians will not come here,” he said.
“They would have no chance.
“However, if that happens, they will face death and fire.”
Residents of Kryvyi Rih have vowed to fight any attempt by Russian forces to take their city. (ABC News: Adrian Wilson)