Brothers Mustafa and Masi Nayyem, 42 and 38 years old, were born in Kabul. They are children of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and have lived in Kiev since 1990. Mustafa Nayyem, originally a journalist specializing in corruption cases, rose to prominence through a message posted on Facebook on November 21, 2013, in which he called on Ukrainians to gather in Independence Square in Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to to abandon the signing of an association agreement with the European Union (EU). This demonstration sparked the Euromaidan movement, the “Revolution of Dignity,” which urged the head of state to flee Ukraine. Mustafa Nayyem, deputy on President Petro Poroshenko’s list (2014-2019), then deputy director of Ukroboronprom (2019-2021), a conglomerate of defense companies, and deputy minister of infrastructure (2021-2023), is currently director of the Agency for Reconstruction Of Ukraine.
His brother Masi Nayyem is a lawyer. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he joined the armed forces and then military intelligence. In June 2022, he suffered a serious head injury and lost an eye. After his recovery, he was promoted to lieutenant. In addition to military life, he founded the Pryncyp association, which advises wounded fighters and veterans faced with the twists and turns of Ukrainian bureaucracy.
Ten years after your famous message and the Maidan Revolution, Mustafa, what inspires you about the fact that Ukraine is fighting Russia in a war of this magnitude?
Mustafa Nayyem: War was inevitable, although we did not know it at the time of the Maidan. It is an inevitable consequence of our revolt. Without the Maidan, the next step would have been to transform Ukraine into another Belarus, i.e. a country completely annexed to Russia. Of course, we did not expect what has happened since February 24, 2022. It was impossible to predict, impossible to imagine, but inevitable.
This is not a rational war, [le président russe, Vladimir] Putin is not rational. He falls in love with an idea and doesn’t count people, resources, time, anything. We must not look for rational reasons such as population or territorial issues in our actions; that is useless. Russia has enough territories. The idea of a NATO threat emerged [sur la Russie]or now [depuis le 4 avril 2023] Russia has NATO member Finland on its border.
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