Arming Ukrainian Soldiers with Poetry and Humor

When Ukrainian poet, musician, and television star Mykolai Sierga burst into the recruiting station in Odessa on February 25, 2022, the soldiers there didn’t know what to make of him. His flamboyant attire was part of the reason. None of the men and women there could have guessed that in just a few months, this oddly dressed man would be making a difference in the war big enough to catch the attention of, were he alive, the great General Napoleon Bonaparte himself.

Napoleon once said, "Morale is to the physical as three is to one.” That’s an especially poignant quote considering innovations pushed along by Sierga have had an impact on the morale of Ukraine’s military men and women.

Sierga didn’t look like a typical recruit when he walked into the recruiting station. He had been driving in from a nearby town and only had with him the outfit he planned to wear for that night’s concert in Odessa. His attire included bright red boots, an expensive suit, a long theatrical coat, and a scarf decorated with skulls. "When the commander walked into the room," Sierga recalls, "he looked at me and exclaimed, 'What is that?’ and then the commander harrumphed, adding, ‘I don't need someone from Fashion Week in this war!'"

Sierga had decided to enlist even though, as an internationally known entertainer, he could easily have fled the country. However, joining the Army was an unquestioned decision for him, as he explained, "I didn’t want us to live as Russian slaves."

Enlisting didn’t go entirely smoothly for him. Though he had enough military training to qualify as an officer, his papers were back in Kyiv. The recruiting officer was skeptical of his story. "Show me your military papers," the man demanded. Having been on the road for the past week, Sierga couldn't produce them.

"If you want to serve, it'll be as a regular soldier at the front," the officer declared. "You'll take orders like any other soldier."

Sierga decided serving was his most important priority and that he wouldn’t wait for the paperwork mix-up to get straightened out. In just a few short minutes after stepping into the recruiting station, he swapped his elaborate costume for camouflage fatigues and a rifle, headed for the front lines as an ordinary soldier.

The experience was grueling. "At the beginning, we lacked professional soldiers and officers; no one had frontline experience, and none of us were prepared for a real war," he remembers. "We didn't have a psychologist or chaplain. Everyone was stressed, constantly checking the news or calling relatives.”

The soldiers were allotted seven hours for sleep, but as he says, “You couldn't sleep because you were glued to the news or too worried to sleep. Without sleep, you aren’t thinking straight, and you’re not making good decisions. You become aggressive toward those around you. It’s bad, it’s a vicious circle.”

Sierga was in an unusual position to observe what was going on psychologically with his brothers in arms. Good entertainers need to be able to “read the room,” to understand the people they’re dealing. Further, Sierga was an amateur psychologist, with a passion for reading and studying everything he could about the subject. This mindset gave him unusual insights into his comrades' stress, including what could be done to mitigate it.

He surprised his commander with this request. “Let me try to help the soldiers using what I know about psychology.” His plan involved offering the soldiers a respite from relentless stress through humor and poetry.

His commander was close to incredulous. "You really think they need to hear poetry right now? With a war going on?"

Mykolai Sierga

"Yes," Sierga affirmed,.

The commander was dubious, but Sierga was persuasive.

Sierga got half an hour with a group of 20 front line soldiers. During this brief time, Sierga entertained the men with a combination of poetry that he had written and also humor. To the commander’s astonishment, the effect on his men seemed close to magical. As Sierga reports, "The men laughed and cried with me, and afterward, with this respite from stress, they were able to sleep for the first time in months.”

When the soldiers managed to get a night's rest, morale improved across the board. Sierga's ability to uplift spirits through humor and culture didn’t go unnoticed; other officers quickly recognized the positive effect of his approach and started requesting the same kind of morale-boosting support for their own troops.

Sierga began recruiting other artists and entertainers, and today he leads a unit of 120 soldiers who are also musicians, performers, and creatives. Called Cultural Forces, the members are all soldiers who were previously employed in the arts. They visit the front lines to lift spirits, provide soldiers with a much-needed break from the otherwise overwhelming stress, and remind them that their culture is worth fighting for.

The Cultural Forces' level of excellence is so impressive that the Ukrainian government has sent them on tour in the United States. If you're in New York City on October 21st, you can catch Sierga performing at the Ukrainian Institute of America, located at 2 East 79th Street, starting at 6:00 p.m. The event will also feature an update on Russia's war in Ukraine by General David Petraeus, along with the chance to enjoy sparkling wine smuggled out of Bakhmut before the city's fall. For tickets and to support mental health efforts in Ukraine, click here.

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Ukrainian soldiers already draw strength from defending their homeland against Russian aggression, but now they also benefit from the power of art and shared human connection. Sierga may lead 120 artist-soldiers, but in terms of boosting morale, he is metaphorically doing the work of entire battalions.