At the end of last week, the 30-year anniversary was celebrated by one of the most media-famous persons of the current Great War - Valery Marcus. It is difficult to combine all his guises into one, but we will still try - he is the chief sergeant of the 47th separate mechanized brigade "Magura", a participant in the war with the Russian Federation since 2014, a writer, a traveler, one of the most popular bloggers (the leader among the military in terms of the total number of followers on social networks), a mountaineer and just a nice and sincere guy.
In 2022, he entered the National Forbes "30 under 30" list - young Ukrainians who protect us today and who will rebuild the country tomorrow, after the victory.
However, he had to celebrate his birthday not at the best moment of his life. Two days before the anniversary, Chief Sergeant Valeriy Marcus wrote a report about his demotion. In the document, he stated the systematic humiliation of the sergeant corps, the inability to influence the incompetence of officers, and also criticized the deputy commander of his military unit.
"I categorically disagree with the decisions regarding the use and development of the 47th brigade. We were not allowed to build a military unit in accordance with the values that we declared at the beginning of its creation. I no longer have the opportunity to influence or correct the situation. I no longer consider my position as brigade sergeant major appropriate," Marcus wrote, adding that he could not leave his men at the same time, so he asked to be transferred to a lower position.
Read about who Valeriy Marcus is and how the 47th Brigade was formed after the full-scale invasion of Russia in the ElitExpert article.
Who is Marcus?
He was born on July 14, 1993. As a child, he was fond of boxing and football, but from the age of 15 he knew that he wanted to be among the "coolest guys on the planet" - in the airborne troops. The very next day after his 18th birthday, he arrived at the Military Commissariat to enlist in the airborne troops. In September 2011, he began serving in the 25th brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, and in 2014, when Valeriy had half a year left on his contract, the war in Donbas began. In March 2014, the boy received his first combat order, took part in the battles for Slovyansk. Debaltseve, Kramatorsk, Shakhterske, Vugleghirsk. At the same time, he started running his own video blog and talking about the realities of the war in the ATO zone, the results of shelling, army life and the liberation of populated areas of Ukraine. According to Valery, already in the summer of 2014, Russian militants offered a reward for his murder, after which he changed his last name on social networks to a fictitious one - "Valery Ananiev". However, since 2020, Valery has given up the pseudonym forever.
In 2015, the first book of Markus's stories "Footprints on the Road" was published, dedicated to the war, which became a bestseller in Ukraine in 2018.
By the beginning of 2023, more than 80 printed copies had been sold in Ukraine alone, and 19 reprints had already gone through. The book has now been translated into five languages and is expected to be translated into four more. There is also an audiobook read by the author exclusively for the Ukrainian book application ABUK.
In 2016, after a serious injury, Valery was hospitalized. Long-term treatment and dismissal from the ranks of the Armed Forces lay ahead. After returning to civilian life, he traveled extensively. First, he set off on a 2000 km long journey of St. James from Paris to Cape Finisterre. With a military knapsack on his back, without knowing the language and with the minimum amount of money necessary, Valery left Paris and went south. After crossing the mountains, he placed on Cape Finisterre the state flag signed by Ukrainians on the Independence Square in Kyiv. In 2019, Valeriy Markus went on his next walking journey - already 3500 km long through the mountains of Scandinavia, beyond the Arctic Circle to the Arctic Ocean. At the same time, he became the hero of Serhii Dmytrenko's full-length documentary film "A Free Man. Pilgrimage".
Then he climbed two of the seven “Tops of the World”: in 2019, the highest peak in Africa, Kilimanjaro, and in January 2022, Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. Also in 2019, he climbed to the top of Island Peak (Himalayas). In May 2022, an expedition to the top of Everest was supposed to take place, but a full-scale Russian invasion began, from the very first days of which Marcus rejoined the ranks of the Armed Forces.
On February 24, 2022, Valery Marcus posted a short message on his Facebook page: "Don't worry, it's just war." And then he added: "I used my status to negotiate with the military unit directly, bypassing the Military Commissariat and all inspections and going to the front as early as possible. I don't know if I will survive tomorrow, or next week, or if I will wait for the end of the war, but Russia is still over, and that is comforting."
At the same time, Markus founded the "Markus Foundation" in order to be able to buy the necessary things for his brothers, since it was problematic for the state to do this in the first weeks of the war. The history of the Foundation began unexpectedly - one day Markus published a post on his social networks where he talked about the needs of his unit. And in two days he collected about 45 million hryvnias.
In April 2022, Valery Markus was offered to take part in the formation of the 47th separate rifle battalion. Marcus assumed the position of chief sergeant of the military unit. In September 2022, the battalion expanded into a regiment, and already in November 2022, the 47th separate mechanized brigade was created on its base, which received the name brinad "Magura". In Slavic mythology, the daughter of the god of thunder and lightning Perun bears this name.
On July 11, Magura Valeriy Marcus reported that he wrote a report where he asked to be transferred to a lower position at his own request. Vitaly Averin, who volunteered for the war in 2014 and participated in the battles for Ilovaisk, Shyrokyne, and Popasna, was appointed instead.
According to Valery Markus, today's war is "sacred for the Ukrainian people. Today, Ukrainians are laying the foundation for building the future every minute."
He is sure that after the victory, Ukraine will have a unique historical chance: "Every Ukrainian has been given the opportunity to create a new, better self than he was yesterday. This opportunity was not obtained for free, it was bought at the price of the lives of the country's best people. Ignoring this opportunity is a crime. But everyone has to come to their own victory. It should become a well-considered own decision."
Oleksandr Shorokhov
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