War on a foreign frontline - Inés Verheyleweghen

In 2022, Georgians were believed to be the most prominent ethnic group among foreign fighters in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the first year of the war, men rushed to Ukraine in solidarity for a country whose history echoes theirs : in this South-Caucasian Republic, the population still bears the trauma of the Soviet occupation and the wars that followed Georgia’s independence. The profiles of the foreign fighters have now changed, and many Georgians have returned.

George Shanidze, « Shano », a 34-year-old Georgian, is one of them. He voluntarily left his country to join the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, four days only after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. « In a few days, the whole world realized how Russia was terrorizing Ukraine. I was reading everything on my Telegram channels, watching the news and boiling inside. » Shano felt the urge to see with his « own eyes » what was happening on the frontlines. He stayed eight months in Ukraine. But, despite leaving the battlefield a year and a half ago, war still permeates his daily life.

« War on a foreign frontline » is an attempt to capture George’s complex profile, as time distances him from his experience of the frontline and he has to navigate the feelings and memories attached to it.

George poses in his bedroom in Tbilisi, January 2024.

Before he boarded a bus to Ukraine, on February 28, 2022, George had never fought in a war, nor completed his military service. As an artist, he knew how to fly drones though, a valuable skill for this conflict. He first joined the military base of the Georgian National Legion for two weeks—where all the newcomers were getting trained—and then operated drones in a now disbanded special unit, Zgard, for eight months.

When it comes to war, George invokes it in a very detached way, sometimes comparing it to a video game. He learned not to think about it too much because “that’s when you start to have troubles dealing with it," he says.

George is still in touch with the fighters he met in Ukraine. In a group chat, in November 2023, he receives a folder containing four videos. Through his computer screen, he watches the very moment a flying shrapnel fatally hits his friend Irakli Kurtsikidze. The footage brings George back to the trenches.

* In order to preserve the anonymity of the soldiers, this picture had to be staged for the image displayed on the screen to be carefully selected.

On his tee-shirt, the words “Русский военный корабль, [иди на хуй] (Russian warship, go fuck yourself)” refer to the famous reply an Ukrainian soldier stationed on Snake Island gave to Russian soldiers who attacked this strategic and symbolic position in the Black Sea, on February 24, 2022.

In June 2022, George and his squad were the ones who took back Snake Island. From that morning of re-capture, he created a video combining all of his drone footage - which he is quite proud of.

Three days before Irakli's funeral, George hosts Sergei Zaitsev, the father of a Ukrainian soldier from the Zgard unit. He came to Tbilisi on behalf of his son to pay a tribute to Irakli, the volunteer who died for his Ukrainian motherland.

In George’s kitchen in Saburtalo, they discuss how the absence of a reaction from the international community led to the current situation in Ukraine. Sergei compares Russia to a thief who gets caught red-handed but was never punished enough and therefore continues stealing. He mentions the 2008 war when the Russian-backed separatist forces shelled Georgia, and the annexation of Crimea. He weaves together Georgia’s and Ukraine’s fate.

When speaking about his motivation to leave, George explains that fighting in Ukraine means fighting against Russia and that Russia is a common enemy that must be fought, no matter where.

Irakli’s body was repatriated to Georgia on St. George’s day, November 23, 2023. His funeral was held in Rustavi on November 25, 2023. George Shanidze and Irakli Kurtsikidze fought together in the Zgard unit, where they met.

George, also called "810" on the battlefield because of his tattoo, stands among the crowd of relatives and acquaintances at Irakli's funeral.

“It is so common to lose people in Ukraine, to see a good brother die, that at some point you stop feeling the pain. War becomes your work — and burying people one of your work tasks. You must deal with it. People die, a lot of people die. I buried so many people, more than a [man my age] should have.” George explains. “But this funeral, it killed me, really. Because Irakli was always the first to help. He was such a good guy.”

George and his long-time friend, Davit, play with George's niece. Since he came back, George really wishes to become a father. When he plays with his niece Amelie or when he holds her in his arms, the baby-fever gets even stronger.

George attends the concert of one of the bands, named "Skazz", he is launching a music studio with. On that night, he doesn't mix with the crowd and feels quite exhausted, as he spent the twelve first days of January partying and drinking every day.

“We, the kids of the ‘90s, are a fucked-up generation," says George, due to the criminality, conflicts, power cuts and financial strain that characterize the decade after the Soviet collapse.

George had never been on the frontline before Ukraine, but war was somehow ever-present in his life. During his childhood and teenage years, Shano experienced it vicariously through his relatives : there was always an uncle, a friend, someone’s grandmother who were more or less affected by it.

He believes growing up in such a context, swaddled in stories of the wars that swept Georgia between 1991 and 1993—and later in 2008—eventually led him to take up arms.

At first, George's plan after his time in Ukraine wasn't to return to his homeland. He wanted to flee Georgia's political and economic situation. He was also reluctant to the idea of coming back to Tbilisi and seeing the sheer number of Russian exiles who settled there.

However, his attempt to start a new life from scratch in Germany, with fake Ukrainian papers bought for $300 on the black market, turned out unsuccessful and he eventually came to terms with the idea of living in Georgia's capital, where he has many friends and an important network.

An advanced combat optical gunsight and a lighter with stickers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ logo, placed on his window sill. The items he keeps from war fit a small bag and a plastic sleeve.

In hindsight, George admits that his decision to take up arms was quite selfish, as it may also have been his “adrenaline’s addiction,” as he calls it, that gave him that extra edge to join the bus journey to Ukraine.

Now that he has tried so many drugs, gone through three divorces and sat in as many prison cells, and even fought in war, he wonders what will next satisfy his need for adrenaline.

War sneaks through the constant flow of push-notifications he receives from group chats. His phone keeps him connected 24/7 to the frontline.

Shano worries for the comrades he left behind, those who continue to risk their lives in a conflict that has no end in sight. But because he is not physically there anymore, he has the possibility to filter the content he wants to be exposed to ; and most importantly, to choose the moment when he is exposed to it.

In Georgian society, volunteers who fight in Ukraine are often described as heroes. But George doesn’t talk about war in heroic terms. “I don’t think I do things because they’re good or bad. I do things for myself because of how I feel, and I take complete responsibility for it,” he explains. George says that he will not return to Ukraine. If he is to take up arms again, it will be because his country, Georgia, needs him to.

In April 2024, he was among thousands of protesters who took up the streets, every day for a month, against the "Foreign Agents" law, wanting to resist Moscow's influence. He was arrested in May 2024 and is kept in pre-trial detention.