"I worked with a sniper rifle like a machine gun," - Sniper-Stormtrooper Brake

Author: Анна Мірошниченко, "Хто з Мірошниченко?"

What is the difference between soldiers and the military, is mobilization needed and what could it be, how to try yourself in the role of a stormtrooper and what is the complexity of the war with the Russian army - this and not only told the sniper of the 3rd Assault Brigade Roman Trokhymets, without hiding his face.

A soldier with the call sign Brake told Anna Miroshnychenko what he is fighting for and why, what he doesn't like in today's Kyiv, and what fashion and war have in common. Find out about this and more in the program "Who is with Miroshnychenko?"

-Is five contusions a lot for a military man?

-Creative trauma, I would name it.

-Creative?

-Maybe one, she is so creative, she is so very individual and even one can show you so interestingly that, for example, you will just stutter all the time.

-Does your head hurt all the time?

-Sometimes it doesn't hurt, for example, now it isn't...

-Does it not hurt now?

- No, it's okay now, it's cool now. Are we already recording?

-Yes, you talk cheerfully, as if something flew by, we can already write. Snipers usually hide their faces, don't you do that?

-No, I have long understood, from the very beginning, that if Russians look, they should see the faces of those who are destroying them.

My name is Roman, I am 31 years old, I am from Kyiv, I fought for almost a year in 2015 in Azov, for this I had to leave the university and volunteer fighter. At the beginning of the full-scale war, like all former soldiers, he joined the forces - then it was called the Azov Territorial Defense Forces, the Azov Special Operations Forces, and now the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. I fought last year, I had a sniper rifle and anti-tank NLAW or Javelin. This year, in Bakhmut operations, I am a sniper attack aircraft.

- I am interested in the moment of Kramatorsk, the episode when there was a hit in a café in June this year, and I saw this footage, you were in this café...

-It was such a case when an event was happening, it was out there but at that moment I had such a seriously traumatic experience, it was one of the most terrible moments during the war for me, and then I was away from it for the first week, 10 days, and didn't talk to anyone, didn't give interviews, and then, like any event, it first appears like fireworks and then just fades away. It was after the fourth concussion, I underwent a short hospitalization in the Kharkiv region and then returned to Kramatorsk, I was still given a few days to rest after the hospital, as rehabilitation. A friend from Australia, who knew me from Instagram, helped our unit, came to see me, and my sister also came to Kramatorsk, where she helped the wounded soldiers.

-Your sister?

-Yes, yes.

-And you're sitting in a café...

-Immediately there was a strike. Kramatorsk is a city where first there are strikes, and then air raids are announced. We were just lucky, in fact, just luck, because we sat on the terrace on the street, and the strike was right in the café, in the establishment. It was 20 meters from our table, then we looked - there was a huge crater several floors from the hit. I was lucky because there was a very large amount of debris flying there, we immediately fell to the floor, and some people didn't know what to do, I think, or they were just unlucky. There were a lot of civilians, they were of little use, they spread more panic, they shouted, so it was necessary to take all into my own hands, to take the initiative. I immediately shouted it's just my habit of shouting after the shelling - are there any wounded? For me, it was just the most terrifying moment, because I changed my clothes, my friend brought me a couple of suits, and we dressed like this...

-You came as if you were in a restaurant...

-Yes, we came just to meet and relax, to spend my last days of vacation. Then we began to clear the rubble, there were already comrades, the military, everyone mobilized very quickly, but there was a big problem that there were no various jacks at hand, it was impossible to lift the rubble, that is, most people died precisely because they were crushed by the slabs. You know, when you are a soldier, when you leave everything and go to the defense of these people, and then they die in front of you, and you survive, it's like... This is a very painful blow, because you, as a warrior, could not fulfill your only mission - to protect the people who write you words of gratitude, who pin their hopes on you. I slept for 10 days, I had dreams, the faces of the dead girls, two twin sisters died, they passed by our table right before that, giggled something else, me and my friend a little. And then we went inside and literally a minute later there was a hit.

-The horror...

-It evokes different emotions, because the comrades there can tap you on the shoulder and say, yes, Break, even the Iskanders don't take you anymore, it's cool to fight with you. And inside myself, I then walked around Kramatorsk, because I got another concussion there, but despite it, we ran there for another three hours, helped to rescue people, I remember, there was a funny moment when... I was in a suit, and then the police came running, they cordoned off the area and pushed all the civilians behind it. They tried to grab me many times, push me out, I don't remember it anymore, but my sister tells me that I threw myself at them, saying, "I am an assault rifleman, I am a sniper, get your paws off me." I run to help, I run around in a bloody suit. It's such a surreal shot because these two worlds have mixed - one world that I defended with all my energy, and the other world where I am a military man and ready for any course of events. That's why you hate Russians so much that they looked at the sacred things that you protect with all your might, but couldn't do it.

-How many assaults have you had, can you count if there are none?

-No, it's simple, I watched an interview with someone from the military who could count the exact number of assaults, I don't know how they do it.

-Which direction was the most difficult for you during the full-scale invasion? We don't take Kyiv, but when you have moved on.

-In Zaporizhzhia, it was very difficult due to the fact that there were very few people there, sometimes 9 people held one and a half kilometers of the front. Just to extend the positions like that, 700 meters to the right and left of you, your brothers with javelins, even without machine guns, were sitting there, hunting for tanks, and it was very hard, it was very scary. As a thinking person, I understood that they could crawl up to us, there were ravines, fields, you could crawl up there and just come in from the rear, from the side, wherever you wanted. And these trips for 5-7 days were a kind of complete nightmare, because then we already knew that the Russians were using these javelin hunters, they had very cool special forces in these invisibility cloaks, very sophisticated weapons, and we were not very well equipped then, well, maybe there was one thermal imager for five, it happened that there was not, but you are sitting together, your comrade is sleeping, you are in the landing, it is raining, you are sitting with this Kalash and you just understand - you do not hear anything, because everything is noisy, you do not see anything - all sorts of shell-shocked foxes, birds, animals are running, they rustle, you react to all this and 5 days last like a year, the only thing you think about is to at least have time to start the queue, before you are killed, so that your comrades have time to wake up. It just happened, for example, that we were told that it was okay, don't worry, we mined your approaches, and we could crawl up and see that everything was already demined, that is, they were crawling up a little bit, demining, every night for several dozen meters, they do that - demining, demining. And then there is an assault, you think that something will explode there, and nothing explodes there and they are already in your trench. It was very morally like watching a psychological thriller that presses on you throughout the film and you can't relax. In the Bakhmut direction, in a different way, from the point of view, we entered when we were still holding the line against the Wagners and it was... When I had to work with a sniper rifle almost like a machine gunner, I took 130 rounds and could shoot them all in 3 hours - this is a lot for a sniper. Because they crawl and crawl and crawl, and after some kind of fucking shooting range, you seem to come out and just be in shock - what was that all about. I have never seen people who do not value their lives so much, who do not have any goals, dreams, or desire to create or build something, but just go to the field on a balloon. And this can be said to be the second such type, after the Zaporizhzhia direction - there were some emotions, under the Wagners others and during the assaults, this is also a completely different type.

-What emotions do you have during the assaults?

-Sometimes, although I am fighting, I wonder if I will survive - what plans I would make, how I would change the country, what useful things I would do, maybe I would do something useful for myself, go on some trip and relax, or walk with girls, or eat delicious food, promote the Ukrainian language, fight corruption. There are some interesting ideas, and helping wounded soldiers is a special issue. And sometimes you sit and dream - how much can be done, how many resources and opportunities there are, there would be more time. And then there was such a thing - once, we are going to storm. And you're so sometimes wow, I've just built myself so many interesting things in life that could have happened, and then the assault, you roughly understand the statistics - if a group of 10 people goes on an assault, you start counting...

-You can't refuse, can you?

-No, of course not, I never refused to take part in assaults or any operations, it's not like I was asking for it, it happened, of course, there were interesting operations that could have been asked for, but there were always a balance, I could withstand it, but I never refused, that's for sure. Sometimes you even get scared, you really get scared physically, you realize that you can be physically destroyed, and you are like... You don't want to, especially when you think about such things, but by the time you get together with the guys, you've all filled your magazines, you've got grenades, you have a rough plan, you're all together... It's often a very exciting thing when you're driving the armor to the landing point, you put music on your airpod, you drive, you laugh, you shoot videos...

-Just like in the movies...

-You're really living life to the fullest. I remember once we were leaving Kramatorsk on our M 113, we also had a very polite driver, a red light - we stopped, we stood, waiting for the green light and people were walking around, a couple was walking by the hand, someone else. On the one hand, you look at them and think - they still have a whole life ahead of them, they are so cool. And here we are in this armored vehicle, and you look at the civilians and think: how cool it is, how... if only you could learn to appreciate what you have now. Because we have an almost one-way road.

-Assault is such, I'm talking only about myself, about my feelings, how for me this is such an adventurous sudden adventure, you broke through, stormed, treated the wounded, maybe you took someone prisoner, gained a foothold and then you may have been changed, something else. You don't sit under fire for a long time. It's very dangerous because everything flies at you. As the group advances, our artillery may not adjust properly, enemy artillery may be present, everything is mined, and there are a lot of unknown groups, because not only their usual chmobiki ( Russian citizens who were mobilized as a result of partial mobilization in Russia in September 2022-ed.note) were there, but there are often professional paratroopers, special forces who know how to fight and who can be so impudent as to attack our assault group, try to surround us or take us prisoner, they have different plans. I was still scared when we fought with the Wagners, there was yes, we had losses, wave after wave.

-Is Wagner fought in a special way?

-From a person's point of view, these are meat assaults, but from the point of view of strategy in general, this is very cool. For example, some of them had a task without armor, without anything, they had a backpack with ammunition, his task was to run as far as possible and die, die, and then another ran without anything, picked up this backpack and continued to run. Some of them ran up and quickly started digging in, while the other group was holding fire with us, we could come back later, and they had already dug trenches, they were digging very quickly and they were already fighting from the trenches, they started here and here, then you look - they dug somewhere else. When they succeed, my comrades told me, I did not see it with my own eyes, sometimes they even have time to use chainsaws to cut down trees and make decked on top of them, which means they can't be thrown at with grenades or grenade launcher fragmentation rounds or under-barrels.

-Is it difficult to fight at all after a concussion?

-So much so.

-I know that a lot of guys have a huge problem now, doctors even forbid it, but they are still ready to return.

-Yes, it is. This is a very strong acoustic blow to the brain, comparable to a civilian injury such as a concussion, but it is much more serious because it is not a point blow to the skull, but a percussive wave and the wave shifts all the fluid in the brain and shakes it from all sides, a very, very strong blow with unforeseen consequences, it can affect memory, speech, hearing, vision, coordination, anything. In Ukraine, so far, from what I know, they do not know how to treat it very well and, in principle, perhaps they are just beginning to think and understand that a concussion is a wound, rather than, "Well, the explosion was close by, so who cares?

- You looked at the stories on your Instagram, said that you are now in Kyiv, observing civilian life, but after what you saw, you wanted to go to the front. What didn`t you like in Kyiv?

-Me.I don't feel good about myself. I don't like that something annoys me in other people, how to say it correctly, the highest point of human development is to learn to control your inner state, your emotions, to be able to cope with yourself, to be able to calm yourself down when you need to. Or show emotions when you need to. That is, to be such a developed, conscious person, and after the hostilities, after everything I saw, this condition is unstable, and I really don't like it in myself, because I come to Kyiv and I may not like some things, I may be more aggressive with the police who stopped my car, I may be more aggressive with some military who don't let me go somewhere, I want to go somewhere, and they are a restricted area, where outsiders are not allowed to enter. I said, "Well, I'm not an outsider, like, I'm a military man. I really began to dislike the fact that I divided the military into those who are fighting and those who are not. I don't say anything bad about the military, who, for example, stayed in Kyiv all the time, their task is to come to the office, push paper, I really don't like the idea that we have the same uniform with them. Well, a person in a fractal camouflage in Kyiv can`t walk down Khreshchatyk and a person in a fractal camouflage sitting in a trench dying or being wounded, it's a very wrong idea, completely wrong. There are warriors, and there are soldiers - this is my division and it is very acute. I don't like this internal tension, because it's kind of wrong, and at the same time unfair, as a person who has never fought has no right to wear the same uniform, and this applies to deputies as well.

- Well, listen, our officials also wear uniforms.

-Yes.

- "Well, agree.

- Yes, at the front, I still understand what to do and how to do it, and after more than a year and a half, I don't feel very good, the model of behavior is a little erased - what to do in Kyiv. I came here, too, and I should have enjoyed Kyiv during this time, I was here for rehabilitation, and I am now undergoing Military Medical Commission (MMC), I would really like to enjoy and be happy with everything, go on a date, go in for sports, relax somewhere, just enjoy, but I cannot do this because of the consequences of the concussion. I don't want to transfer my anger and my wound to other people. And I want some kind of healing, which is impossible in a short time and the Military Medical Commission (MMC) still recognizes me as suitable, or it is better to bring some benefit, but this is a very difficult issue, very difficult. For example, I don't like walking down the street and seeing people drinking outside bars, but I didn't like it in peaceful times either, and I didn't like it before the full-scale war, I don't like drunk people, I just don't like them as a phenomenon.

-How do you feel about mobilization? Some of your colleagues are very radical in this direction, saying that we are running out of resources, that we need to replenish our forces and supplies, and as we talked about, there are not so many people who are willing now, so what kind of mobilization should we do?

-Oh, what an acute question was raised.

-It is acute only for the military, it is not acute for civilians, because...

- I think that for civilians it is also so unpleasant. For example, I can't imagine myself being a man, a civilian, who walks down the street and is afraid that he will be caught by the representatives of the Military Recruitment Centre (MRC). Well, to live in such fear, it's probably the worst thing, so I think this issue also affects civilians very strongly. We, the military, yes, need reinforcements and we need rest. At such an intensity of fighting, the military really runs out for so long, and this could have been avoided if, after all, we had more frequent rotations, a longer recovery time, we had the opportunity to have some rest, see loved ones, stay in civilization, and then return to the war again. Such a turnover should exist and I hardly believe that there are not enough people, because in my opinion, a very small part of the entire population is fighting now, specifically fighting on the front lines, everything else is assistance to the army, all the logistics, rear headquarters, something else, so... Am I radical? Well, first of all, I would say that our brigade arranged it cool, I would like to see other units of the Armed Forces pick up this marathon and do it according to the principles of the 3rd separate assault brigade, that they really invite volunteers, train them very cool, immediately give a specialty and specialization, even such a thing as a zero day, in general, a trial day, we have a trial week of an attack aircraft, you come and live like a real stormtrooper with such a schedule, intensity, everything, and you can check for yourself whether it suits you or not, and you are already for example if you can't pull it out due to your health, then you understand - I'd rather go to artillery, maybe to tankers, to UAVs, you will know approximately what world you are in, this is the first thing. Secondly, you immediately get acquainted with your comrades in the course of a young fighter, you already have a blood brother with whom you will fight in a real war, and the way they do it in the army, well, in general, I really don't like the way ... Also, what we talked about the fractal camouflage, these pot-bellied guys from the Military Recruitment Centre (MRC) will wear fractal camouflage and start torturing people, beating them, this is also such a question - how much of this does not get on camera. This is what we see, and how much we do not see.

-There is also such a thing, the army as a punishment... Well, sort of...

-It's pathetic in general

-You don't go to the army to protect, but you go to the army for something, some fault...

-This is pathetic, it has a very bad impact on the image of the military in general, it shows that either you were just caught and you are such a loser, you were on the front line, or you really did something wrong and decided to go to war, somehow to make it more status, to make it prestigious, to show that you fought for six months, then went to Bukovel for a month in the best hotel, why can't you do that? For example, I say, and you rested there, relaxed, you realized that the state thanked you.

-"Listen, our military cannot collect documents for their injuries, you must admit, and we are talking about Bukovel.

-Yes, well, I'm raising the bar a little bit, so that at least something in between would happen, now you join the army too, I joined as a volunteer fighter on February 24 last year and I don't know how long I have to fight, I just don't know when it ends, or when I'll just die or be seriously injured by the war, but I just... You join the army, into infinity, and it's a very frightening thing, people are generally frightened by uncertainty in the future, so they go to boring jobs from salary to salary, so they have some clarity and predictability of the future, so they enter into relationships that they may not like, but at least they are there and you will somehow live together and this is absolutely contradictory, it's just the way most people live, so it's normal, so we need to make it work for most people, not for those who came to war as volunteer fighter, gave up everything and left, a small number of them, but for a large number of people, to make it clear to them what step by step will happen, what you're fighting for, for example, a year. You know for sure that if you fight for a year, you also survive, that's it, you are allowed to go home and you do not fight at all for three years, as an option. And then you know for sure that you have some limits, you have some understanding. Because now, I can't blame people who don't want to join the army, because you don't know how long you get here.

-Do you admit that the war can still last for years? Or are you more tended to what is now being discussed and very actively - Will there be a certain freeze and can we stop at certain territories and not reach the borders of 1991?

-I have always motivated myself, going into battle, that we are going forward to liberate our people from the occupied territories or gain an advantage in battle in order to liberate the Azov fighters from Azovstal and other units who have been in captivity for a very long time, that is, I always thought, well, I had such a philosophy, that we are going to liberate not only land and borders, but to liberate people, who live under occupation. Freezing the conflict, it seems to me, is a very scary thing. I am expressing only my opinion and it should not be taken as some kind of assessment, because on the other hand, we have right now... There are no such means for large assaults, from what I see us assaulting.

-It's reasonable.

-"We have no normal weapons, no cover from the sky, we are going to assault, yes, there is an fpv drone flying at us for almost every infantryman, or they see two or three assault aircraft, a lance can already arrive there - it is a kamikaze drone designed for equipment. They throw everything they have at the stormtroopers. I'm not talking about helicopters and airplanes that are flying around like they're at home, shooting and bombing assault groups. And we go on foot, with grenade launchers, sniper rifles, Kalashnikovs... Therefore, if this continues, then just such brave stormtroopers will quickly end and this will be all, in my opinion.

-Now you are returning to the war, obviously in the near future. What is your motivation now? What are you going to fight for again?

-What motivates me to go back is that I am still alive and I can somehow still influence the victory of Ukraine, because in the same way, I will continue either on the battlefield or in the information space, to continue to fight. Sometimes it seems that everything is going to freeze the conflict and this is not a very pleasant thing.

-"We'll see.

-"Sometimes there are so many things I want to say, these cameras... You know.

-You'll say more next time. You came in with a hat on, under what conditions do you wear it?

-Whenever I like, take it, put it on.

-Is it a style, is it an image?

- When I proved to my former commander that I could be both an anti-tank gun and a sniper at the same time, he said that it was unrealistic, you can't run around with an nlaw or javelin and a sniper rifle. But then, in one battle, I destroyed an armored infantry fighting vehicle with nlaw, and then ran into another trench and fired from the rifle of the Russian invaders and it was a significant day for me, I proved my point that it was possible, firstly, and secondly, when I came to Kyiv for a small rotation after that, I saw a hat in a military store, I hate hunting, I hate hunters absolutely, in my opinion, these are pathetic people who kill animals that can't kill you, again - that's my opinion, no offense. But I felt like such a hunter of orcs that like, the only hunting that I respect is the destruction of invaders, and I thought it was nice to have a hat, because in the summer, the Zaporozhzhia direction, it was very hot, I already had the second, the first one was the same, it burned out a few months to the color of your shoes, it became so coyote, very hot, and often I fought right in it.

-Bodacious. How do your comrades react? Normal? Are they already used to it? Is it possible to wear anything in war, as long as you fight and come back alive?

-That's right, the military are still fashionists, and we actually try to do something like this very often...

-Fashionists?

- Of course. Try to go and pick out some pants. He will choose this or that, between different patches, look, everyone has completely different chevrons, everyone has a completely different uniform, these are such interesting people, they are very creative about what you put on, because every time it can be like the last time.

-Finally, if you want, you can turn to Ukrainians. I always say this to the guys, the military, if you want - say something to people, you are definitely being looked at on the other side of the screen and, perhaps, some words are expected from you.

- In fact, I am very grateful to everyone who devotes time to such videos, such interviews, watches and listens to the military, tries to understand us, which is an absolutely difficult task, but thank you for your efforts. I am very grateful to those Ukrainians who really continue to support the army, despite the fact that a large number of people, it is so... It needs to be pushed, they understand that there is a war, but thanks to the individuals who we have in our country, these volunteers who, among their stories, do not let us forget about the fundraising, do not let us forget about the wounded soldiers, about what is happening and where, I would like to thank those caring, key people who live all over the country and abroad and those people who, although they live their lives, have the opportunity to help, to have an impact, to create businesses, to generate money, but they see a fundraiser, they react, they have the opportunity to help the army, they have some influence, they help, they create businesses, they generate money, they do not sit still, that is, those people, oh, one more thing, those who still continue to live their lives, and do not postpone them "for the post-war period". This is extremely important because the health of the nation depends on it very much. We cannot afford to return to Kyiv and our native places after the victory or... but only after the victory and see people here who have everything on pause, it will simply be not a victory but a defeat, so I thank everyone who is in a fighting spirit and remembers the Armed Forces.

-We remember. Thank you very much for the conversation, for what you are doing and for what you will do and I am waiting, friends, for you in the comments, what are your impressions of our "fashionist" Roman or wish strength and inspiration to our fighter in order to bring our victory closer as soon as possible.

Anna Miroshnychenko, "Who is with Miroshnychenko?"