---
title: "\"Pathos Kills the Film\": Volodymyr Rashchuk on Ukrainian Cinema's Mistake in Portraying the Military, Losing 40 kg, and Playing a Chef"
description: "In an interview with Styler, Volodymyr Rashchuk explained why he turns down projects due to a director's stance, what proved to be the hardest part of losing 40 kg, and the main mistake Ukrainian cinema still makes in portraying the military."
date: 2026-10-30T07:05:56.505Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/volodymyr-rashchuk-actor-war-chef-interview
tags: [volodimir-rashchuk, kotlyarevskiy, ukrainian-cinema, actor, veteran, weight-loss, production]
author: "Inna Kinsheva, Marina Slivenko"
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# "Pathos Kills the Film": Volodymyr Rashchuk on Ukrainian Cinema's Mistake in Portraying the Military, Losing 40 kg, and Playing a Chef

![Male actor in chef uniform inside a professional restaurant kitchen](https://xab.info/media/2026/10/30/volodimir-rashchuk-akter-voin-shef-povar-kotlyarevskiy-intervyu/volodimir-rashchuk-akter-voin-shef-povar-kotlyarevskiy-intervyu-1.webp)

## Key Points

- Rashchuk plays Chef Borshchevsky in the series "Kotliarevskyi" and launched his own production company
- The main mistake of Ukrainian cinema in depicting the military is pathos and ignoring everyday details
- Losing 40 kg took a year and a half; according to the actor, 80% of success is nutrition, not the gym
- The actor turns down projects if the stance of the director or team on the war is unacceptable to him
- Rashchuk wants to make a film about how war returns a person's identity and about the first year after returning

Ukrainian actor and combat veteran Volodymyr Rashchuk, known for the series "Kotliarevskyi", spoke in a blitz interview with Styler (RBC Ukraine) about how his combat experience changes his approach to working in cinema, why he turns down projects due to a director's stance, and what proved to be the hardest part of losing 40 kilograms. In the series, Rashchuk plays Chef Borshchevsky, who recreates forgotten dishes from Kotliarevsky's "Eneida", while the actor himself, according to him, collects family recipes and dreams of opening a restaurant dedicated to the Greeks of the Azov region. The interview was published against the backdrop of discussions on how Ukrainian cinema handles the theme of war and the return of veterans.

### "An Actor Answers for Himself, a Producer Answers for Everyone"

Rashchuk launched his own production company and explained in the interview how his mindset changed after moving to the producer's side. As an actor, he reads a script and asks himself one question: "Is there anything to play?". As a producer, he evaluates the same text through the prism of the budget: how much a scene costs, who to bring on the team, whether the project will survive until the last shooting day. "An actor answers for himself, a producer answers for everyone," he formulates the difference. This shift in mindset, he says, makes him more demanding when choosing projects even before he sits in the actor's chair.

### "Pathos Kills the Film": What's Wrong with the Military on Screen

One of the central themes of the interview was criticism of how Ukrainian cinema portrays the military. Rashchuk singles out two main mistakes. The first is pathos: "We still show the military like monuments: correct phrases, clean uniform, stern gaze into the distance." From his observations on the front lines, people joke there, often in a way that a civilian viewer wouldn't understand. "Humor saves you there. A military person is a living man or woman who gets tired, argues, misses home. A viewer doesn't believe a hero without flaws, and if they don't believe, they don't empathize," he says. The second mistake is small details: how weapons are held, how they speak on the radio. "A military person sees this in a second, and for them, the movie ends right there," Rashchuk emphasizes. He also notes that veterans should be trusted not only in front of the camera, but behind the scenes as well—as consultants, stunt coordinators, screenwriters—because that is where people who haven't seen war most often make mistakes.

### 40 Kilograms and a Year and a Half of the Same Plate

Rashchuk previously spoke about losing 40 kilograms, and in the Styler interview, he clarified that the hardest part wasn't going to the gym, but dieting. "A workout requires willpower for an hour; nutrition requires it around the clock," he explains. The actor, who loves to cook, experiment, and try cuisines from different countries, was forced to switch to simple, almost identical food and stick to this routine not for a week, but for a year and a half. In a comment to "Novyi Kanal", he confirmed that the basis of his diet consists of rice, pasta, potatoes, chicken, eggs, and vegetables, and that 80% of weight loss success is due to a balanced diet rather than physical exercise. "The irony is that after this, I played a chef," he adds in the Styler interview.

### Principles That Are Not for Sale

Rashchuk speaks directly about a professional principle he is not willing to break even for a major role: he does not work with people whose stance on the war is unacceptable to him. "I have already turned down a role because of a director and I don't regret it," the actor admits. Now, before agreeing to a project, he checks the team composition: director, cinematographer, co-stars. The second principle, which he calls no less important, is that once a project is accepted, he does not suffer from personal emotions. "Even if things don't work out with someone on set, I will perform one hundred percent. The viewer is not to blame that my partner and I are from different worlds," he formulates.

### "Essentially, This Is My Story"

Rashchuk concludes the interview with reflections on what story about Ukrainian veterans he would like to tell on screen, but which is still missing. It is the story of a person who went to war as a Maloross, but became a Ukrainian in the trench. "Before the big war, I didn't ask myself who I was. The answer was given by combat actions and my battalion commander, who explained to us where we came from and why we are not people without kith or kin," he says. The second missing story, according to him, is about returning: not the first day at home, but the first year after demobilization. When asked how the birth of his son changed his outlook on the future, Rashchuk answers briefly: "Before, I thought about the future abstractly. Now I know for sure what all this was for: so that he wouldn't have to fight in the same war. The rest is between him and me, and I have no desire to air that in public."

## Fact-Check & Sources

- [Владимир Ращук о сериале "Котляревський", похудении и своих принципах: "От роли из-за режиссера я уже отказывался"](https://styler.rbc.ua/ukr/people/volodimir-rashchuk-serial-kotlyarevskiy-shudnennya-1793289616.html) - Primary source: full text of the blitz interview. All quotes and facts in the article are taken from this source.
- [Украинский актер-воин развеял миф о своем похудении на 40 килограммов](https://www.unian.net/lite/stars/vladimir-rashchuk-akter-voin-razveyal-mif-o-svoem-pohudenii-na-40-kilogrammov-13493673.html) - Confirms the fact of losing 40 kg, the diet (rice, pasta, potatoes, chicken, eggs, vegetables), the duration of the regime (a year and a half), and the thesis that 80% of success is nutrition. The data aligns with the Styler interview.

## FAQ

### What role does Volodymyr Rashchuk play in the series "Kotliarevskyi"?

He plays Chef Borshchevsky, who recreates forgotten dishes from Kotliarevsky's "Eneida". The series is a comedy (sitcom).

### How many kilograms did Rashchuk lose and how long did the process last?

Rashchuk lost 40 kilograms. According to him, the diet regime he follows has lasted a year and a half. The basis of the diet consists of simple dishes: rice, pasta, potatoes, chicken, eggs, vegetables.

### Why does Rashchuk turn down certain projects?

He does not work with people whose stance on the war is unacceptable to him. The actor confirms that he has already turned down roles because of a director and does not regret it.

### What main mistake in portraying the military does Rashchuk mention?

He highlights two mistakes: pathos (the military shown as "monuments" with correct phrases and a stern gaze) and incorrect everyday details—how weapons are held, how they speak on the radio.