“Friendly relations”: Antytila frontman, who was mobilized, said Zaluzhnyi personally transferred him to the rear

Taras Topolia, the lead singer of the well-known Ukrainian band Antytila, who joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that he is not fighting on the front line thanks to Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

He said this in an interview with blogger Marychka Dovbenko.

“By his own order, Valerii Fedorovych Zaluzhnyi pulled us out from ground zero to Kyiv. And from that moment on, we had tasks of a different nature, connected with our public profile. Later we were seconded to the Main Intelligence Directorate and are engaged in the activities determined by our direct superior,” Topolia said, without specifying what tasks he performed.

Dovbenko noted that Topolia is in unequal conditions compared with other servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who cannot simply leave the front line. In response, the singer said that he did not ask Zaluzhnyi to issue an order transferring him to the rear. But he acknowledged that he has “good friendly relations” with the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army and considers him a friend.

Incidentally, the interview itself sparked a scandal. According to Topolia’s lawyer, Yaroslav Kuts, the blogger is the girlfriend of one of his friends, who asked for help in inviting Topolia to her studio. Topolia allegedly refused for a long time, but eventually agreed on the condition that his divorce from his wife Olena Topolia would not be discussed and that the interview recording would be coordinated with the press service of Antytila.

In the end, the press service demanded that Dovbenko remove the fragment about Zaluzhnyi. But the blogger wrote about it on Facebook and published the excerpt mentioning the former commander-in-chief. According to her, because of this, Topolia’s team is trying to block the interview on YouTube.

Topolia has said that he joined the army back in 2022 and served in Kharkiv region. He accused residents of Kharkiv of the fact that “there are very many among them who are waiting for the so-called Russian world.”

The band Antytila previously found itself in an awkward situation after announcing a concert in Crimea in 2023. Later, Topolia justified this by saying that the announcement had been a kind of information special operation by Ukraine’s military intelligence.