Coke’s slogan is “Taste the Feeling”, but maybe in the Ukraine it should be “the Army’s Rust Remover!” instead. “We use Coca-Cola when the gun is rusty. Coca-Cola takes rust away” says Ukrainian Ground Forces machine gunner Oleg Yuzkovich about his trusty PKM machine gun, in an interview with 5 Kanal (Channel 5 Ukraine, embedded below.

In addition to being a tasty beverage, Coca-Cola is indeed a good choice for cleaning rust if there are no purpose made cleaners available, thanks to its mild acidity and carbonation. “Every three days I and my gun – I call it “grinder” – every three days, I clean it. If I shot it, if I did not shoot it – does not matter. Gun is sacred,” Yuzkovich said in the video. “What is a gun? It’s not a wife, it’s a lover. The wife will bear with it, the lover – whew, and she is gone. The same is with the guns. We use everything: toothpicks, ear picks, toothbrushes. Reaching everywhere we can. Dirt, everything is cleaned off. Some people said we used sand or something, it’s nonsense.”

Regarding the war and joining the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Yuzkovich said:

I have been in Luhanks area since 2014. How I got here? I lied to my mum. I told her I was going to be removed from the military [draft] registry at 45 years of age. Instead, I told them: send me to the war. The very next day I was sent to the 80th [brigade]. September 30 I was at the front line, I got into the sleeping bag for the first time. Then there was the order “Air! Air!” and I first heard and experienced Russian Grads, I do not even remember how I got from my sleeping bag and ended in the trench which was 30 meters away.

Thanks to barenton from Imgur for translating the text of the video, wherever you are.