Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine – Ukraine’s deputy governor of the Dneproperovsk region, Boris Filatov, recently praised the acts of an Orthodox Jewish man fighting for a paramilitary force to block Russian advances from the east.

Ukrainian news site evreiskiy.kiev.ua (http://bit.ly/1rl1wZ0) reports Asher Joseph Cherkassky is being lauded by the government official for fighting for Ukraine.

On Filatov’s Facebook page, he gave Cherkassky praise, saying, “Of course, some of you have seen in your stream picture a big guy with a huge beard, like Fidel Castro. His name is Asher Joseph Cherkassky and he is a fighter of our battalion ‘Dnepr.’”

“This is his country, and that of its children. And this country will always consider him as a hero and a symbol of the resistance,” continued Filatov.

Filatov Facebook post received more then 2000 likes.

Since March – the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – fighting has occurred in Ukrainian cities between Ukrainian government groups and pro-Russian groups.