A 100-year-old veteran donates part of his pension to the Ukrainian Armed Forces every month (video)
Ivan Klymenko, a 100-year-old World War II veteran from the town of Novoukrainka in the Kirovohrad region, regularly supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since 2014, he has been donating a portion of his monthly pension to the army, with his contributions ranging from 500 to 1,000 hryvnias.
This is reported in a story by “Suspilne.”
The veteran himself says that he also fought in the war at the age of 18 and now dreams of living to see Ukraine’s victory, drawing parallels with events from 81 years ago.
As the man explained, he will turn 100 on July 26. That’s according to his passport. In reality, he will be 101. During the war, he reduced his age by one year so he wouldn’t be sent to work in Germany. In 1942, the young man was caught twice; he fled and went into hiding.
“And when we stopped in the morning—the train stopped in the morning—they opened the car. My friend Kovalenko and I climbed out—as if into a yard. We walked toward the station, and there was rye there, so we went into that rye. And we crawled our way toward the forest,” the veteran recalls.
Eighteen-year-old Ivan Klymenko was drafted into the war after Novo-Ukrainka was liberated from the Nazi occupiers in March 1944.
“When they drafted us, they didn’t even give everyone a weapon. They said, ‘You’ll take one there; someone will be killed, and you’ll take his.’ Well, it’s impossible not to be scared when they’re shooting at you. It was scary at first, but not afterward,” recalls Ivan Klymenko of his daily life on the front lines.
At first, Ivan Klymenko served in a rifle regiment. Then he trained at a sniper school. He began his combat career in Hungary as a machine gunner. He learned of the victory in Austria, near Vienna.
He returned home in 1950. He got married and worked as a driver until retirement. When the Russian-Ukrainian war began in 2014, he has been donating between 500 and 1,000 hryvnias every month to support the military. He gives the money to Natalia Nikolaienko, the head of the Novoukrainsk community’s public veterans’ organization.
“The money goes to the army and to our local volunteer organization. There, the women cook stuffed cabbage rolls, fried dishes, borscht, and porridge. Well, a lot of things,” said Natalia Nikolaienko.
“So that the war ends sooner, so that Putin doesn’t lay his hands on Ukraine anymore. So that people aren’t killed, especially children. The little ones—what have they done wrong? So that I can find out the war is over, and then I can finally…,” says the veteran.
There are other long-lived people in Ivan Klymenko’s family, his daughter-in-law explained.
“He also has a sister who is a centenarian. She turned 103 on April 26. He comes from a family of long-lived people. One of his sisters passed away in her late 80s, and his mother died at 93,” the woman explained.
According to the veteran, there is no secret to longevity. Perhaps it was influenced by the fact that he never smoked, never drank alcohol, and loved sports. He sticks to a daily routine. He wakes up at seven and goes to bed at nine in the evening. He has breakfast at 8:30, lunch at noon, and dinner at 6:00 p.m. When his health allows, he does exercises. He also enjoys walking around the yard, watching soccer, and keeping up with the news.
As a reminder, the government is launching a large-scale housing support program for veterans.
