This is obviously a very different interview and post than I usually make. Please give it a few minutes of your time.
Yuriy Matsarsky is a Ukrainian journalist turned civilian fighter against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the incursion began, he’s been keeping the world updated with events as they happen as the host of the daily podcast Fighting for Ukraine.
We met several years ago, long before Russia invaded his country of Ukraine in 2022 when he asked by email if he could interview me about One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. He is a major ABB fan and he had to be get a copy of One Way Out in Kyiv! We did a Zoom interview at the time and have stayed in touch.
After the invasion, Yuriy became a soldier like so many Ukrainian men. When Brothers and Sisters came out, I sent a copy to his family in Kyiv, who got it to him on the frontlines, where he was very happy to have it as company. Reading the book, he learned about former ABB manager Steve Massarsky and knew they were probably related. Many of us American Jews have Ukrainian roots and it seems that most Matsarskys changed their name to Massarsky here. We discuss this int he interview. he reached out to some Massarskys in the US via social media and one sent him a bulletproof vest, which he still wears.
If you can support Yuriy, you can do so by sending him some money directly to him via Paypal: yuriymatsarsky@gmail.com I absolutely vouch for his legitimacy.
Yuriy also has his own Substack here.
You can support the Ukrainian army here:
https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/#donate-army-card-once
And if you want to know what’s going on in Ukraine and support independent journalism you can support two publications I subscribe to.
-The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak
Tim covered the invasion for NPR and has stayed on as an independent journalist.
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