He said he joined the [Azov Regiment] because of the soldiers’ professional and intellectual prowess. “Because I am motivated, dedicated, self-proven, and I matched the people just like me, people who constantly training, who have big ideas in their heads. A lot of intellectual people. A lot of people who willingly came to military service.”

[...] Samoilenko said that he has overcome the mental damage from solitary confinement. He remembers a moment when he was able to laugh at an internet meme, and felt like he had returned to himself.

He sees Israel and Ukraine on the same side, the civilized battling the uncivilized in a struggle for the future of humanity.

“We have prosperity, beautiful, prosperous, beautiful civilization, and they have medieval cavemen,” he said, mixing historical metaphors.