Driver, paramedic, and philosopher Avakyan: “A Ukrainian is something universal, something much more than an ethnicity”

The statements of Suren Avakyan, known by the pseudo “Armani,” are as refined as the clothing of the famous Italian designer. The video in which he “philosophizes” about the “Ukrainian spirit of freedom” can easily be broken down into quotes. While chopping meat to prepare dinner for the medics of the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital in the recently liberated village of Husarivka, “Armani” remarks how pleasant it is that “our guys are simply annihilating the enemy.”

Suren has been a driver/paramedic of PFVMH since the organization was established in 2014. He actively participated in evacuations both before and after the full-scale invasion of the Moscow hordes. For example, on March 6, 2022, the PFVMH ambulance driven by “Armani” evacuated around 100 people from Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel to the nearest Kyiv checkpoint.

Once, an ingeniously simple solution proposed by him helped save the lives of many wounded Ukrainian soldiers from a raid of ruscist fighter jets.

So, Suren is not only a driver/paramedic but also a philosopher, a Ukrainian with Armenian charm. “A Ukrainian has already transformed into something universal, something much more than an ethnicity,” says Avakyan, adding that “a Ukrainian means love, a Ukrainian means choice, a Ukrainian means universal values.”