Battle of Izium: how city was defended and retaken

Author: Violetta Kirtoka

The soldier who defended Izium told us chronologically about the Russian invasion of this town in the Kharkiv region in March 2022. And about the four days that he fought side by side with the legendary Yashka, a Special Forces officer Roman Kosenko, who died on March 9.

Photo: Roman Nikolaiev

Already in the spring of 2022, journalists began collecting evidence of the Russian advance in Ukraine after February 24, 2022. Where and how they entered, where the first clashes took place, how the Russians occupied the cities, and how the Ukrainian army then drove the enemy out. Moshchun, Skybyn, Irpin and Bucha, Makariv, Ivankiv... Battles in Mykolaiv region. The defense of Popasna and Lysychansk... Much has already been written about these events - both the military and civilians testify... The events of March in Izium remain a black spot. The world was horrified by the discovery of a mass grave in the Izium forest. 440 graves! Murdered and tortured. Civilians and soldiers. Children and women... The most publicized was the death of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was captured by the occupation. At the end of March, he was taken from his home in slippers, killed and left by the road...

The fact that an apocalypse took place here is understood by everyone who drives through Izium. Houses blown up by bombs, buildings of schools, kindergartens, military commissariats, police stations, a shopping centre, and bridges were blown up. A city that is damaged, but not ruined. People are coming back, covering windows, making repairs...

But how did the occupation of the city take place? How and when did the Russians come here? What kind of battles took place here? When did the Ukrainian army have to withdraw? There is no evidence of this. Not yet. This is exactly what Roman Sen, the commander of the reconnaissance platoon of the 90th Separate Airmobile Battalion named after the Hero of Ukraine, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov, of the 81st Separate Airmobile Brigade, callsign Bravo, tells us. Those days of March 2022 are incredibly valuable to him because it was then that he met Yashka - Roman Kosenko, the commander of the Special Forces group. He was impressed by this man. Later, after his own injury, the paratrooper learned that Yashka had gone from being a Right Sector volunteer in 2014 to a Special Forces officer in 2022. And this adds even more weight and expressiveness to Roman's memories.

Roman told us everything chronologically. This is how I present our conversation:

The first day. March 6, 2022

- I got to the city on March 6. We left there at six in the morning. On March 5, the battalion commander set the task to move to Izium, taking the most combat-ready guys to perform combat missions directly in the city. So I selected the most experienced fighters, and we moved out.

We knew the situation was tense. Since March 3, the air force had been bombing the city, and an attack was expected any day now.

The photo was taken on 3 March 2022 in a supermarket in Kostiantynivka. In three days, Roman will be in Izyum.

In the morning, we drove into the city, got to the Mars shopping and recreation center, and got off near it. There were still minibuses and locals walking around. People looked at us as if we were aliens - of course, the armed gang unloaded from the armoured personnel carriers and disappeared in an unknown direction... We were escorted by the men of the 1st Airmobile Company to the commander's command and observation post, which was located in the basement of the mall, where there was a gym. We unloaded our equipment and waited for the command. I ordered them to leave the most necessary things on the armor, and to put the rest in the gym, where we were to rest, sleep and live. I checked on my scouts who were already there. About ten minutes after we entered, the commander called me over the radio. He gave me a combat task to move to the northern side of the city, conduct reconnaissance and report on the situation. The commander told me that there would be a contact person there - a civilian, his name was Yasha, he had a very big beard, he was bald, red-haired and short, he would be waiting for us at a gas station. We quickly got ready. I left a few of my scouts at the command and observation post with the commander as a reserve, the rest got on the armor, and we moved to the north of Izium.

- Were the bridges still intact?

- Yes. The main bridge was still intact, but it was already mined - you could see the wires and the charges themselves. We crossed the Siverskyi Donets - from the Mars shopping and recreation centre we passed the bus station and moved across the iron bridge. There, the local territorial defence forces arranged a barrier made of concrete blocks, hedgehogs and barbed wire. It was a kind of checkpoint.

An improvised checkpoint. Izium. March 2022

We drove along the highway as fast as possible. We passed a bunch of gas stations and did not find a single person matching Yasha's description. Once we were in a hurry, decided to walk because there were arrivals not far from us, and then I gave the command to move on. We passed a Brand Oil gas station on the way out of town and took the E-40 highway directly north. We saw an improvised checkpoint made of concrete blocks and people who looked like military personnel. It was the local territorial defense forces and special forces group - in cartoons, with the Volcanoes. The fact that it was a special forces group was evident from their weapons. We started a conversation, which did not go well at first. I introduced myself: "I'm a platoon commander, I was sent by Gypsy - that's the call sign of our commander." And I asked: "Where is Yasha? Have you seen Yasha?" - "Yes, that's me." - "You're not a civilian." - "No."

Roman Kosenko, call sign Yashka. The photo was taken by Volodymyr Myroniuk, call sign John, in the fall of 2014 in Pisky near Donetsk. At the time, Yashka was a member of a volunteer unit. John died in Donbas at the end of September this year.

We got to know each other. We began to conduct surveillance near the village of Hlynske. My guys saw traces of wheeled vehicles - it had just snowed - and Russian dry rations with inscriptions that they were made in Crimea. And then from the armor we left behind for cover, they saw armored vehicles coming, with a big Russian flag on it. It was coming into Hlynske from the fields. The guys opened fire on it, and a battle started. The fire was heavy from our side, the guys were shooting from grenade launchers, firing from heavy machine guns, from armoured personnel carriers, snipers were working. I asked them what was going on. The guys said they saw armoured vehicles and infantry. We inflicted losses on them, because black smoke came from the armored vehicles, and we could hear screams between shots. The enemy fired a green missile first, saying that they had taken the point and everything was fine. And then red rockets started coming one after another, meaning that everything was not going well. The armoured vehicles left the battlefield. We were planning to go there to check it out, but we didn't have time because the second column left along the E-40 highway. Before it left, we walked with Yashka and Frodo (his deputy, as I understood it) along the road. A civilian car drove toward us, and there were monks or whatever you want to call them... priests in it. Yashka ordered us to constantly check the code words: palianytsia (a type of Ukrainian hearth-baked bread, made mostly of wheat flour in a home oven - ed. note), Ukrzaliznytsia... (During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the words were often used to identify Russian soldiers or saboteurs - ed. note) .But then he worked himself very quickly, approached them and asked: "What patriarchy?" They were frightened and said it was Moscow, but then "changed their minds." "No, no, Kyiv!" But this was enough to realize that they were scouting the area. Because we had moved away from the Hlynske stop about 600 meters along the road, this car could not see how many of us there were, what armoured vehicles were dug in. To put it mildly, we explained to these boys that if they did not leave this place now, they would go to their ancestors. We did not have to wait long, the car turned around and drove away. At that moment, I was standing on the side, making sure that no one got out of the back seat and pulled out weapons. 

It was literally seven minutes after this car drove away that we heard the rattle of tracks, similar to an infantry fighting vehicle. We ran to our friends to warn them that there was movement. The guys did not need much persuasion, as they say. They began to set up near the bus stop, arranging defense and ambush. They deployed a machine gun, brought up an armored personnel carrier, and Yashka and Frodo deployed a Stugna ATGM. My guys dismantled the anti-tank grenade launchers. And started to wait. As soon as we saw the vehicles coming, we took up the fight and started firing at them with everything we had.

- Were there many enemies?

- In that place, the road was not straight, but rounded. The sniper saw an enemy infantry fighting vehicle, three KamAZ trucks - not curtain-sided. We started shooting at them. It so happened that I had fully armed my platoon with armor-piercing ammunition, which can pierce armor. When I first saw the Russians... There were myths that they were poor, that they were chmobiki (chmobiki are russian citizens who were mobilized as a result of partial mobilization in russia in September 2022 -ed. note). No, they are not poor. Everything was organized. When they saw that they were under fire from ATGMs and grenade launchers, they were hit, they did not get confused, did not decide to run away, but began to retreat in an organized manner. We poured in, fired through the bushes and ahead of them, there were arrivals and explosions. The battle was over, the enemy withdrew.

- How long did it last approximately?

- It took about ten, maybe fifteen minutes from the moment the shooting started until they withdrew. When they came to their senses, they also began to return fire at us. But it was not aimed fire, because they could not understand where we were standing.

After that, we walked to the battlefield to possibly find damaged equipment and people. But we saw only the remains - a piece of ribbed sheet metal that flew off when the infantry fighting vehicle was hit, metal shields, pieces of rubber tires that flew off from the high-explosive anti-tank. There was also a pile of some metal, blood mixed with oil. After that, my sniper came up, looked through his optics and saw the corpses of Russian soldiers lying further down the road. That is, they had simply thrown them off the armor and KamAZ trucks.

A civilian was driving that way and asked, "Guys, how can I help you?" I gave him my number to tell me what he saw. About ten minutes later he called and said that he had counted about seven or eight armored vehicles, three of which were damaged beyond repair. That is, they were pulled out, but they were no longer combat-ready. KAMAZ trucks were also hit: tires and windshields were shot through... They evacuated the wounded.

Yashka and I figured out what to do. We returned to our guys and started building a defense. But they came to him, and he said that he had to go to another settlement, because it was also turbulent there. They took their weapons and went there, and we stayed with the territorial defense forces

- Was it the first column, the first battle, when they attacked Izium?

- Yes, it was.  Later it became clear that this was the first massive attack on the city, because by this time there were already enemy reconnaissance patrols. After the battle, Yashka said: "Guys, your unit gave the Katsaps a good whup-ass, you pasted them."

- That is, the artillery and planes had already been working before, but the convoys did not reach so close to the city.

- Yes. When the battle was over and we went to the commander with a report that we were conducting reconnaissance and the battle was over, we had no wounded or killed, he said that at the same time we heard a battle near the "Did (Grandfather - ed.)" position, near the concrete bridge. An enemy tank was hit there. There was also a reconnaissance unit there. Trophies were taken from the hit tank - weapons, fire extinguishers. I realized that the Russians were trying to find out from all sides where they could sneak into the city. When Yashka and I were looking at the battlefield, we could see armored personnel carriers, patrols, armored personnel carriers, and motorized scooters moving further away, on the horizon, in the fields. They were trying to cover Izium from all sides and enter where they could advance. In the north, they got a whup-ass, and they didn't go there anymore.

A Russian tank destroyed by NLAW. Izium. March 6, 2022

- What did you do next?

- After the battle, we returned to the checkpoint to regroup, replenish the expended ammunition, and analyze what had happened. We sent a car with erritorial defense fighters and grenade launchers to the Hlynske stop to set up an observation post there. We agreed that if they saw any vehicles moving, they were to open fire on them and roll back to us, and we would take over the battle. We reported the situation to the commander, and he said: "Wait for now, we are making a decision." Then the brigade scouts arrived and told us that they would replenish our supply of NLAW grenade launchers.

Drones started flying over us. At first, we thought they were ours - they looked like the brigade's Leleka-100. But the brigade scouts told us that there were no our "birds" here. They were enemy! We opened fire on them when they flew closer.

We replenished our ammunition, prepared to reconnoiter the area, and planned to go to the village of Hlynske to find killed and wounded Katsaps. But we didn't have time to do it, because after the brigade scouts and the chief of intelligence arrived, the first mine hit us. It exploded about ten meters away from me. We were lucky because the mine fell into the loam near the road. We were contused and covered with clay. A fragment pierced my phone - and I was just about to report to the commander that our equipment was slightly out of order, but the phone was damaged.

After that, we dispersed, going to our positions, to avoid being hit by all of them at once. When we saw that they were hitting - and they were really hitting or shooting poorly, because this artillery attack on us lasted for twenty minutes, and they couldn't hit us, they hit the power lines in the field, the landings, the road, I realized that we had to act.

We had an armored personnel vehicle left, and we turned it with the hull back and the turret with the machine gun toward the enemy so that we could maneuver on the road because there was not enough room to maneuver. You can turn 360 degrees in a fraction of a second on an infantry fighting vehicle, but unfortunately, you can't do that on an armored personnel carrier. I ordered my driver: "Go ahead, follow me, do as I do. We have to get this armored personnel carrier out." And we jerked out of the landing on that loam. We reach an improvised checkpoint, he dives into the armored personnel carrier, and I start taking the ammunition: zincs, grenade launchers. I close all the landing ramps, jump on the armor, and we drive away. As soon as we had driven 200-250 meters away, I saw an air raid on the spot where our APC was. The impact was strong, because it hit the armor of the APC, hit me in the tile, and whistled past us. The debris was already on the way out, so we were not in danger. But the fact is that they finally shot! That's how the driver and I saved our armored personnel carrier. We brought it to a safe place, to the area of the Brand Oil gas station. I ordered the driver to disguise the vehicle and went back to get the guys. Something was bothering me, so I looked up and counted five drones. They were circling over us like hawks in a spiral, scouting the area and adjusting their fire. I started shooting because two of the drones were very low. I managed to shoot one down and it crashed into the landing, the other one flew away and gained altitude. And other drones, like Orlan aircraft, were flying directly above us very high. 

When we got the guys out, we were still missing a few, because the commander of the reconnaissance company ordered them to move a little further away. We went to the command and observation post and left the fighters there. After that, we had to take what was left. It turned out that there was no machine gunner for the turret. I said: "We have a machine gunner". My fighter Kostia Zolotyi had served in the National Guard by that time, as a gunner on the Cossacks, so he understood the job. He climbed up and took up a position. We returned to that makeshift checkpoint, took everything to leave nothing for the enemy. As soon as we started to leave, an attack happened, meaning they had already taken the checkpoint under fire control.

Then we went down to our guys and regrouped. We saw that everyone was safe and sound.

- Was it at the gas station?

- Not at the gas station itself, but in the woods where we hid the equipment. A commander contacted me and asked where we were. He drove up with Triumph, the commander of the 1st Airmobile Company. We reported the situation, and the commander ordered to conduct an ambush.

 - Did you do it or did you withdraw to the city?

- "It so happened," Roman answers after a pause, "that we were given a reconnaissance unit from among the mobilized people. A few days before, they had come under an air strike, according to them, they were being chased by enemy aircraft and bombed. Anyone who has been under air strikes understands that it is a bit scary when you are being targeted by aircraft. The guys just lost their nerve, they said: "We are all..."It made me angry, and I started to bring them to their senses, because it was okay for them, but it could have had a negative impact on my people. 

I also didn't have time to call the commander and warn him that our armored personnel carrier's two front axles were out of order and it could break down at any moment. In addition, we did not know the city, because as soon as we arrived, we went on a combat mission. If we still understood where everything was located in the north of Izium, we did not know how to get to the commander in the city. Along the E-40 highway in the city itself, near bus stops, there were tank ambushes with crews, we counted three of them. It was getting dark, evening was coming, and to move out on armored vehicles against them... There was a great chance that you would get hit by your own rocket. Everyone was nervous, waiting for the enemy... Although, when the territorial defense forces were leaving, we gave them instructions to warn them: do not shoot at the armored personnel carriers, because the enemy has a track - IFVs, MT-LB, and we are driving wheeled vehicles.

I realized that we were not able to fulfill the task at that place and with that unit of mobilized soldiers. We had to think of something. We had to find other people to set up an ambush. I decided to take my reconnaissance reserve, which the commander had at the command and observation post, take more grenade launchers, stock up on anti-tank mines and move back. We came back with that APC of the reconnaissance company - they led us around the city because they knew it very well, knew how and where to drive. The lights in the city were off, given the combat situation, and the streets were not illuminated. We were taken to the Mars command and observation post. We disembarked, went to see the commander, and the surprise was clearly visible on his face: "Why did you come back?" I briefed him on the situation: "Given the situation, I need more weapons, I need to take my people. I also need to replace the mobilized personnel of the reconnaissance company". I took my reconnaissance reserve and we were given mines

Given the fact that our armored personnel carrier was out of order... We brought it in, unloaded everything we needed - weapons, reconnaissance equipment, optical devices, a grenade launcher, additional NLAWs, ammunition, and our belongings. And loaded it all onto an APC of the 1st Airmobile Company. I knew the driver (call sign Shima, unfortunately, he is already deceased), he was waiting for us near the bus station, already loaded with anti-tank mines, anti-tank missile systems, grenade launchers. We got in and waited. And at that time, the air force and artillery began to bombard the city.

- When you drove through the city, it was already evening. But you saw that Izium was still intact?

- More or less intact. When we drove to Siverskyi Donets from the north of Izium, the private sector was intact. In the morning, the Russians began to blow up the city center - the cathedral opposite the Central District Hospital, the hospital itself, schools... That is, they were aiming at the enemy's concentration, so to speak, but in fact they were just hitting people. As I understand it, the operator of the enemy drone did not care who was running around in that video, they just hit and hit.

A destroyed hospital building

There was no electricity at all in the northern part of the city, it was turned off. We were driving around the city - it was dark, we could see the starry sky. Some of our guys mistook the planet Saturn and the stars for drones, saying: "There it is, flying after us..." But at that moment, the drones were indeed already over the city, adjusting artillery fire - they were hitting the prosecutor's office, the Mars shopping and recreation center. When we were reporting the situation to the commander, and we were already equipped and going to load onto APCs, Grad rockets started hitting exactly the Mars hopping and recreation center. There were flashes on the nearby five-story buildings, and the shopping and recreation center itself was damaged. People were running out to load up - a hit, they ran back in to hide. Because heroism is good, but you need to save your life to give maximum results.

During a lull, we jerked to the armored personnel carrier that was waiting for us near the bus station. We loaded up. We did not wait for one fighter, he did not have time to reach us. We started moving actively, and Shyma said: "We have to leave because now we will be targeted". And so it happened. He hit the gas, we drove off literally 200-300 meters away, and there was a Grad hit where the armored personnel carrier was. We drove on - another hit, shrapnel and concrete crumbs hitting people, the back of the vehicle. The central part of the city was somewhat illuminated, we were driving along the highway where there was light, and Grads were methodically hitting us. I don't think it was targeted, just one battery was aimed, the other one was launched and the city was destroyed....

- Where were you going?

- To the central market of Izium, there is a roundabout there. Shima was going to the Didiv Bridge, because we had to pass it again and move to the north of Izium. But then a shell falls in front of us, the driver brakes sharply, then hits the gas, then it falls behind us, coming from all sides. Shyma slammed on the brakes, and he was driven a little bit to the right, so he drove into the wrong street. He said: "Hurry up, guys, because now they are going to cover us."

I realized that we were being hunted down - our group, our cluster of people and vehicles were seen by the enemy through drones. Because we had just run behind the high-rise buildings - the arrivals had stopped, we had just started moving on - we were spotted, and a shell came. One after another, we were hit in the yard, in the high-rise building.

We contacted the commander and reported that we could not move out. By the same bad irony, the SOS Army tablets we had in our backpacks were smashed by debris and did not work. The connection was just lost, there was no internet. The commander told us to go to the TV tower, where a new APC with our crew would be waiting. We saw the tower, it was clearly visible from the city. We decided to go through the cemetery, through the private sector, up to the tower, but the artillery started shooting at us. First, they hit us at the top so we couldn't move any further, then they hit the TV tower's courtyard, and fireworks started - I realized that they hit a transformer, it was like Independence Day before the war. After that, we lost all light and communication - nothing worked. The guys who were on the tower said they were being targeted: "They are shooting at us, we are rolling back," and they went to the Mars shopping and recreation center. And we, given the situation... We were in the middle of the street, moving in combat formation, keeping our distance. But we were seen, we were targeted, the artillery was hitting the yards, the cemetery. 

We realized that we had to hide. We went down to the high-rise buildings and disappeared from their sight. We found a basement where we could hide. My platoon sergeant in charge took people there. We had to get oriented where we were. I was the last one in and saw the hit. There is a private house not far from the SSU building, a shell hit it, and the house burned to the ground. They couldn't find us and just hit the place where we were supposed to be. We went down to the basement. We tried to reach the commander, reported that we were going to make our way to Didiv Bridge anyway. But we didn't know where it was, where this place was, there was no internet - at least we couldn't ask the locals, to see a map.

- Were there no local people in the basement you ran into?

- No, because there was nothing equipped for shelter. But when the guys started to organize some kind of dinner there, set up a duty call, I decided to go further. There was a room covered with a curtain, and I looked in and saw that there were still people there-women and children. They were covered with blankets, bedspreads - they were sleeping. People were hiding from the artillery shelling. I decided not to touch them so as not to scare them. And I realized that we had to get out of here, because we could put the civilian population under fire.

- Has it been a late time of night yet?

- Yes, it was a night.

The second day. March 7

It was already the seventh of the month. I couldn't sleep because I was worried that we couldn't complete the task. We don't know the city, we don't know where the Mars shopping and recreation center is located. We only know where the TV tower is, and that's it. We tried to use it offline to find out at least roughly where we were, but nothing worked. Everyone's phones were depleting. We decided not to use them to save energy - maybe there would be a connection somewhere. We tried to contact the commander through the radio station, but it was useless, because either the connection was jammed or it simply did not go through. Communication in the city is a bit of a problem. Especially since the enemy was suppressing the city with electronic warfare.

Later in the morning, when we woke up... Well, when we woke up - in such conditions, in the cold, you can't sleep much... They took the insulation from the pipes and laid it instead of the bunks. Those who managed to take sleeping bags from the armored personnel carrier shared one sleeping bag among three or four people. Someone was on duty, someone was warming up. And so you wake up, your whole body is chilled, you can't really move. And you have to keep going, you have to do something.

From one point of view, the lives of the personnel are a priority, but the fulfillment of the task is the highest priority. We are counted on, it is necessary. So I gave the command to get ready quickly. Someone managed to eat something and drink water. We gathered our equipment, checked our weapons, organized our fighting order and moved into the city. It was not so dark anymore, we could talk to people. The artillery attacks had more or less subsided. We started asking the locals how to get to the bus station, the city center, where to go. They showed us the way, and we followed. When we were able to orient ourselves on the ground, we opened our tablets, whose batteries we had saved, and identified the place where we were. We saw the traces of the landings. And we realized that Shima had taken the wrong alley from the roundabout near the central market. The guys asked me what we were going to do next. I said: " What do we do? We'll look for our people."

We heard that an enemy tank was moving through the city, leaving and arriving almost simultaneously. One of the guys noticed a vehicle that looked like an non-road vehicle coming. I gave the order to fight, because it was probably an enemy breakthrough. But we saw that it was ours. It turned out to be an SOF group, not Yashka's group, but another one, there were two of them. They said that the enemy tanks had come close to the town and that there was fighting. Their pickup truck was smashed by debris, the tires were all punctured, and some of the guys were wounded and bandaged.

We tried to reach the commander again. Finally, we succeeded. An APC with our crew drove up to us. The commander gave us a task to move to the school-gymnasium No. 4 near the cathedral and there to interact with the commander of the 1st company Triumph. He had already told me that there was a tank shelling in the north, from the railway station area, and we needed to destroy it. I said: "No problem, let's move to the point". And we went.

Gymnasium No. 4. On the right, a bombed-out wing from a tank hit. Izium.

All the roads, the highway, the central square, the state administration building, the park, the alley, the school - everything was destroyed.

- Overnight?

- Yes, overnight! We saw craters from air bombs, cut roofs, asphalt, windows, doors, roofs, floors, poles, wires - everything was shattered. On both sides of the road were cars that had been destroyed and burned to ashes. It was dangerous to move because there were large sinkholes everywhere. The wires were sparking. Somewhere they were stretched like a tripwire, and while wearing armor, you could break your neck or get injured by them. We were moving around the city, the ground was shaking from the constant hits, something got in our eyes. Everything was burning, everything was in smoke, there was smog from burning building materials, trees, tar, slate... And a bunch of people coming out of the buildings, including children, were watching all this. We shouted to them to take cover, but they didn't care, they were in shock: yesterday it was more or less okay, and today it's over, Armageddon, the city is almost gone... And the enemy continued to attack

A hole from the FAB near gymnasium No. 4. Izium. March 7, 2022 

Damaged equipment of the national police and the TDF (Territorial Defense Forces). Gymnasium no. 4.

On the morning of March 7, we reached the reinforced concrete bridge to Did's position. There we met the armored personnel carriers of the 1st Company and the brigade's snipers. We asked them how to get to the other side of the city. They said it was through the bridge, but it was heavily shelled by an enemy tank. The brigade scouts on the "loaf" were the last to get across. When they were driving down the street, a Russian tank was already going down a parallel street. That is, they still managed to drive. But we didn't care anymore. We had a desire, not even a desire, but a high impulse to complete the task. Zolotyi checked the NLAW's battery, and everything worked. And we went back to work. But when the interaction with the snipers started, Zolotyi checked the battery again, and it didn't work. I asked what we had from grenade launchers - only "flies". Then Mongol, who was already deceased, said: "Commander, we can't blow up the tank, we need NLAW". We started asking the local military, and no one had an NLAW. Well, damn, I think, everything is against us. I went to Triumph, reported to him, and he said: "Come here, I'll give you new NLAWs, everything will be fine."

We came to him, and he said: "Give me a fighter, I'll give you all the batteries, they are in the area of the Mars shopping and recreation center. He and Zolotyi moved out, while I waited at the school. Massive arrivals began in the area of the school, again at the Central Regional Hospital, at the cathedral, at our deployments, because they were visible from the drones. And all the civilian buildings, high-rise buildings, mansions - everything was on fire, everything was burning, everything was exploding. The slate was cracking, the flames were maybe 20 meters up, there was such heat... The air force was constantly flying, blowing everything away, tanks were shooting, MLRS, artillery were working - the city was simply leveled to the ground. I did not wait for Zolotyi, because the planes started flying directly over the school, near us. I went to the shelter, checked that my people were in place, and said: "Let's get ready to fight".

A battle broke out in the area of Didiv's bridge, I heard Didiv's negotiations, how they tried to hold back the tanks, but they just dismantled their position. There were dead, some were covered with earth. Did (Grandfather - ed.note) reported to the commander, who ordered him to make a decision to retreat behind the bridge and blow it up. After some time passed, the soldiers retreated, Did (Grandfather - ed.note) checked that everyone was safe, and the first explosion occurred. The blast wave swept across the city, and we were covered with a little bit of rubble.

Then the fighting moved to the iron bridge near the bus station. The Russians drove up, fired at close range, and artillery was working. After a while, the command came to blow up this bridge as well, because there was a risk that the Russians would cross it. The explosion was followed by another shock wave. I didn't have time to come out of the basement to see the situation - I just rolled down the stairs. Later, I received a message that Triumph was the "two hundredths". It was a shock for me. Then they said that Triumph was the "three hundredths" and the scout was the "two hundredths". So, my Zolotyi is all... My fighter who followed the NLAW was killed.

Then Shyma's driver comes running in, gives me the documents, gives me Kostia Zolotyi's phone. He said he had already been taken away. Then the commander comes to me: "Give me a couple of people to evacuate". We assigned a sergeant and a soldier to evacuate the wounded and killed. I had a fighter named Solovei - unfortunately, he has already died. We were told to check out the bridge and make a photo confirmation that we had blown it up - that the spans were intact. We went up to the roof of the school to get a better view, but we didn't have time to do it because a tank was firing on the school, and we were hit by some plaster and the ceiling. We decided to go from the side of the Central Regional Hospital, where there is a three-story new building near the hospital itself - we thought we would take pictures from there. But the commander got in touch and ordered us to move first to the area of Didiv Bridge, then corrected the task: we had to go not to Didiv Bridge, but to the area of footbridge, where the enemy was breaking through and we had to help. Did and his unit also moved to the pedestrian bridge. I told the guys that they had to leave, but they said no: "There is artillery fire, it is very risky. We can all die, because we are a group target for them." I had mixed feelings... I understand everything. On the one hand, the calculation is correct: if 15 people are moving, even on the run, this is a very large target. And given the fact that the city was being shelled and destroyed, they would not have spared us even the air force - they would have blown us away. But I realized that it was suicide to walk through a city that was being shelled. You run down the street, a shell falls somewhere nearby, and you are gone. 

Then two civilians came running up to me, wearing Adidas with three stripes... They ask: "Brother, can I help you?" So you can understand: two skinny men in Adidas, with purses, with assault rifles with bump stocks, and they offer to help.

- Where did they come from?

- I don't know. I asked them: "Who are you guys?" - "We are locals." - "Are you territorial defense forces?" - "No, we're just locals." - "Where did you get the weapons?" - "The territorial defense forces ran away, they left their machine guns, whether they fell out or not, and we picked them up." I asked: "Are you out of your mind?" - "Tell me how to help." I said: "Load the grenade launchers on your backs". I ordered my guys to unpack the "Fly" because they were in plastic bags. We fit up. I told the soldiers to stay here, wait for the commander's instructions and report to him that they were ready to perform the task, so that if anything, they could immediately get into the APC and leave. I went with the locals to help Did (grandfather -ed.note) . I could only see this bridge from a height, where the supports were. I asked these men how to get to that bridge so that we could hit the enemy. They said: "We'll show you a shorter way". We walked through the yards, went to the garages, and there was, so to speak, a view of the pedestrian bridge itself, of the part of the city where the fighting was going on. We went out and worked out. When the armored vehicles rolled out, we practiced with grenade launchers. I quickly gave the dummy course to men on how to fire that grenade launcher. We fired ten shots, maybe a little more. 

- Did they shoot as well?

- Yes. I set up a grenade launcher and told them: "Draw a bead on". They run out - boom, shot one, shot two, I take the second grenade launcher - and again... And so on without stopping. Then I saw that an Orlan began to fly over us, the enemy came very close. I said: "Guys, we have been detected, we need to change our position". We relocated. And when we were near the Mars shopping center, I saw that there was a stockpile of "Flies" (RPG -18) near the prosecutor's office. I said: "We need to replenish our ammunition". We went there, and near the prosecutor's office I met a familiar face - a territorial defense fighter with whom we were at the checkpoint on March 6. I asked him where Yashka was. He answers: "Over there." - "Where is over there?" - "He's on the roof". I decided that it was on the roof of the prosecutor's office, so we went up there, but Yasha was not there. 

- Why did you mention him at all?

- The territorial defense fighters said they were cooperating with Yashka. One of the tasks of the SOF is to organize the resistance movement, and the territorial defense is a direct part of this movement. Plus, he had a Harris radio, an American radio station, which only they had. I saw another Yasha fighter running and shouting: "Give me the rockets, we need more rockets!" I told the locals: "Load the 'Fly' (RPG - 18), take the rockets to Stuhna. Together with a soldier with the call sign Kalyna (Viburnum -ed. note), we moved to a five-story building, went up to the technical floor, and higher, to the roof. He said hello to Yashka, he and Frodo had just turned the Stugna around and were working on the enemy, who was trying to storm the city by crossing the pedestrian bridge. Frodo was directly behind the Stugna, while Yashka was adjusting it. I wanted to help the guys. I was told: "Hold the phone, take pictures of everything - we need to record where the missile is going." All the missiles went slightly to the left of the target.

I personally saw a haze over the battlefield where the enemy was working, like in the desert. A white OMP Ural (their police, special forces) with an armored kung drove out from there, worked on us and drove away. Only a missile was flying at it, trying to roll away. The first missile hit him and he rolled back into the alley. The second missile went to the left. Coincidentally, he rolled back, and the missile hit him - a piece of white metal flew off. Yashka was very unhappy that the missiles hit so hard.

Then the "thirty" - a 30-millimeter "Kalibr" - started shooting at us, and there was a lot of shooting. We decided to change our position because we were being burned. We went downstairs and moved to the prosecutor's office. There we regrouped and decided that we should not leave them alone, we should keep hitting them. We went down the street to the pedestrian bridge, where Jonik, another Yasha fighter, was waiting. Together with the territorial defense fighters, they were defending the city. We moved out through the courtyards, got as close as possible to the edge in front of the river, and then crossed the street near the church. We started a resistance movement and entered the school through a window from the courtyard. We figured out that in one of the houses on the other side of the street they started to deploy something similar to a KSP, some kind of headquarters. Because there were antennas for communication. As I understand it, Jonik took up a copter and saw it all.

The plan was to hit that position with heavy fire, then practice with grenade launchers and move on, changing positions. That's exactly what happened. We opened fire on that point, fired, and began to evacuate. Yasha led the group, I was the dragman to make sure everyone got out. There were two officers in one group. When we were leaving the school, it hit the school yard. It hit me in the left leg - it felt like you were accidentally kicked in the foot during a soccer game. I realized I had to hide, flew over the fence and took cover behind a brick building. Then I ran to Kalyna, and we ran to a safe distance. It had just started snowing heavily. I felt something wrong with my leg, I thought a rock had hit me. They cut my leg, and it turned out to be a shrapnel wound, a through wound. There was blood loss, but not critical. I reported to the commander that I was the "300th" and told him where I was. He said: "Find your unit and come to me."

Everything seemed to be fine while the adrenaline was going on. But when it wore off a bit, I started limping on my left leg, it became wooden and hurt. There was a local combat medic in the territorial defense, Aptechka, his name was Yevhen. He said I needed to be bandaged. We returned to the five-story building where the Stugna was firing from, and the local territorial defense set up their position in the basement. They searched me. When I was taking off my thermal underwear, a piece of shrapnel fell out because it pierced the soft tissue and got stuck between the layers of the thermal underwear. I was told that I needed to be examined by a professional doctor, tamponade, and drainage.

We went to the Central District Hospital. There, I met surgeon Yurii Kuznietsov, who examined my wound and said that everything was more or less normal because the fragment had gone through. He put in a drainage system, applied a tight bandage, gave me an antibiotic and painkillers. We returned to school, and Yashka's group, the 1st Company, was there. Just then the tanks were firing.

- Is this the fourth school again?

- Yes, the one near the hospital. It was on March 7 in the afternoon. By lunchtime, the tank had worked on the school and completely destroyed the right wing, if you look at the school from the yard: it had pierced the roof, the second floor. The boys and I were waiting for the commander's command. I remember a flash, then a pile of dust - plaster fell on our heads. This was the second time I was hit.

They asked me how my leg was - it was fine, I could move. We went back to the five-story building. Aptechka, a territorial defense medic, and I scouted the situation and saw a column of armored vehicles on the other side of the river along the street: a tank, two armored personnel carriers, a MT-LB, and an infantry fighting vehicle behind it. Their sniper was working to cover this column. We wanted to practice with a grenade launcher, but the sniper spotted us. We were hiding behind a five-story building, and they started to dismantle the building because they saw grenade launchers there.

Then Yashka and I moved to our point where we were working with Stugna. A group of grenade launchers opened fire on the enemy column. In response, we received hits from tanks and armoured personnel carriers, but something hit them as well. It was such a tasty battle! The tankers (I don't know, maybe they were cadets) were smearing: they saw where the fire was coming from, but hit the neighbouring entrance instead. We went down to change our position (I insisted on doing it as soon as possible), because the tank began to understand where we were located. As soon as we came out of the entrance, there was another hit, another flash... I just saw the flash and I was already lying on the asphalt. Yashka was standing over me as if nothing had happened and said: "You know, we should change our position, because something is wrong..." I said: "Are you serious? The tank has just finished its work". We got up and moved on. I was limping, I couldn't run, I could barely walk. They put me in the basement near the Mars shopping centre and said: "We'll be right back. We will take night vision devices so that we can set up an observation post at the position." That's how the day of 7 March ended.

Then Yashka and I moved to our point where we were working with Stugna. A group of grenade launchers opened fire on the enemy column. In response, we received hits from tanks and armored personnel carriers, but something hit them as well. Such a tasty battle started! The tankers (I don't know, maybe they were cadets) were missing: they saw where the fire was coming from, but hit the neighboring entrance instead. We went down to change our position (I insisted on doing it as soon as possible), because the tank began to realize where we were located. As soon as we came out of the entrance, there was another hit, another flash... I just saw the flash and I was already lying on the asphalt. Yashka was standing over me as if nothing had happened and said: "You know, we should change our position, because something is wrong..." I said: "Are you serious? The tank has just fired". We got up and moved on. I was limping, I couldn't run, I could barely walk. They put me in the basement near the Mars shopping and recreation center and said: "We'll be right back. We will take night vision devices so that we can set up an observation post at the position." You could say that's how the day of March 7 ended.

- Did you destroy that column at least a little?

- We dismantled a little bit, hit an armored vehicle. This equipment did not work on us at night. As I understand it, something hit both the turret and the hull. But, as the guys said, the vast majority of missiles flew down, only one or two hit the target. The rest either ricocheted or hit along the building, but did not cause any significant damage. Because the vast majority of people were from the territorial defense, either mobilized or local, they probably fired grenade launchers for the first time in their lives.

- Did they leave you in the basement?

- Yashka and Frodo put me on a bunk and went to get night vision devices. My unit found me. We settled down in the basement and began to distribute who would be on duty where, preparing technical means of reconnaissance, thermal imagers, night vision devices. Yashka's group arrived. The guys went to the top of the five-story building and watched the area. While on duty, there were no signs that anyone was targeting them, but artillery and MLRS were still hitting the city, and aircraft were flying - they said they could hear the sound of planes.

The third day. March 8

- In the early morning, the shelling started, and a "grenade" flew into our basement - it hit the stairs and exploded. A hole appeared in the wall between the entrance to the basement. We were lucky - it passed over us.

In the morning it was snowing normally. The commander got in touch. We had already begun to find out who was where, where the 1st Company was, where we were. We were informed that there were agreements at the level of the states that they would organize "green corridors" for the evacuation of civilians. That is, in the morning, everyone had to comply with the ceasefire. But the fire continued. In fairness, I must say, both on the part of the Russians and on our side.

It was snowing heavily, and only their "birds" were flying. They flew very low. If you went up to the fifth floor, you could be hit with a stick. We decided not to shoot, not to violate the agreement, so that civilians would not come under fire because you decided to shoot down a drone. Everything is clear, but... There is always a "but". Then the brigade snipers approached.

- How long did this "green corridor" last?

- About two hours, from about nine to eleven. In the morning, I went to the Kuznetsov Central District Hospital to get bandaged, and there I met the territorial defense forces. They said that today they would take out civilians. In the hospital, I saw a commotion. Some doctors refused to leave. They bandaged my wound.

The basement of the central district hospital in Izium. A rescue island, Roman calls this place.

We returned to our positions, and the brigade snipers came. Ivan Pohodko, with the call sign Jonik, raised a copter. My machine gunners and I covered him in case of a drone attack. We scouted the area. And on the other side of the river in the private sector, we found the enemy's concentration - up to 20 units of wheeled vehicles, armored personnel carriers, which were standing in houses, yards, in the middle of the streets, tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles. By the way, they found the same white Ural that was shot down. It was not combat-ready, just standing there a little bit twisted. We decided that we needed to create an uproar - this is a very big target, such a concentration of equipment. If we organized a raid, we could destroy a lot of Russians. But we decided to pass the coordinates to the higher command so that we could work on it with artillery. We waited for the artillery until the evening, but there was no way to hit it.

- Has the footbridge been destroyed yet?

It was not destroyed on March 7, when the main bridges were blown up. It was filled with explosives, but it was not possible to blow it up because the shelling damaged the wiring, and in such a place that it was extremely difficult to get there - the area was shelled. By the way, as Kuzinetsov later told me, the locals tried to cross over to the other side, but the Russians regarded this as espionage and shot people. I saw a man who had a bullet wound in the shoulder, and bullets also passed along his stomach and collarbone. That is, he was wounded, he immediately fell down, pretended to be dead, and they finished him off, but unsuccessfully. The bullet passed tangentially, but left sulcus. He stayed in the cold for four hours until the Russians withdrew. This was despite the fact that he was walking with a white flag and waving it with all his might. I don't understand how this can be interpreted...

- Did he crawl off the bridge by himself?

- Yes. When it started to get dark, he crawled and made his way to the hospital through the yards. He received medical care.

- While you were waiting for artillery support, what did you do, what did you talk about? I understand that on that day you had less action, you were running around the city less.

- On March 7, when we were fighting on the bridges, it was still active. On March 8, the actions more or less subsided, because "green corridors" were organized by agreement. Why did we decide to pass on the coordinates rather than try to destroy the equipment ourselves? Because one or two shells can make this crowded equipment start destroying itself, because each armor has an ammunition package. Once it catches fire, there is a detonation, a chain reaction, explosions... Artillery is more effective. And if we had approached, a battle could have started, people could have been lost, and we might not have hit a single piece of equipment at all. In addition, these were not mere chmobiks, but a very strong enemy, prepared, who did not count losses or resources at all, and made every effort to destroy everything around them.

We flew drones, analyzed where the equipment was located, its type, and coordinates. Yashka and I sat together and summarized it all, and he marked all the targets in the chat to pass the coordinates to the higher command. Given the situation, in order to adjust the fire, we decided to work with the snipers on the enemy at night. And Yasha's group and my guys were to go into cover and, accordingly, adjust the fire for attacks. When it was all organized and planned, we went up to the TV tower to gather our equipment, report to the higher command, get the situation, bring the means of the senior chief of the MLRS and move to the point for correction. The snipers set up their positions earlier, and we moved to the TV tower. It was cozy and spacious - the room was the size of a gym. Some of the territorial defense forces and Yasha's subgroup were already resting there.

I remember Frodo very much - we managed to become friends during the fighting. When I was moving around the city, the soles of my boots came off because I was constantly exposed to bricks, building materials, uneven surfaces... My boots were great, but they could not withstand all that - snow, mud, constant loads... I had to take black reinforced tape and wrap them. Unfortunately, I had no other shoes. Also, my phone got damaged after the first shelling. Frodo came over one day: "We captured a pro-Russian man of about 50 years old - here's his phone, you need it." I switched the SIM card and memory card and went to call my wife to tell her that I was fine because she was worried - the last time I called her was on March 6, when the fighting for Hlynske was going on. I congratulated her on March 8, International Women's Day. It was the best gift I could have imagined that day... We talked a little bit, and then we went on with our business.

Yashka was wounded in the hip - he was trying to catch the connection. Those bastards were shooting, and he was walking around, trying to catch the connection, because he needed to contact the command via the Internet. I shared an antibiotic and painkillers with him. We talked with Jonik and Frodo on various topics, discussing equipment, command, who had what events, how they prepared for all this, and how they got into the army in the first place. Someone talked about Yashka, about the commanders, about how everyone was motivated and ready to fight.

- How deep was Yashka's wound?

- I'm not sure if it was deep, but he could move around. Probably, like mine, it was a through and through, that is, generally light. You can move around - everything is fine.

We talked for about an hour, had dinner, and then went to the spot. We got out, got on the bus, and visited my APC crew, who worked as a repeater for the commander - kept in touch with the city and the 1st Company and our platoon.

- Was it near a shopping and recreation center?

- No, they were at the 'Parallel' gas station a little higher up. While we were loading additional weapons and equipment, we saw the enemy artillery shoot flares to look at the city. We saw an air force trying to enter the TV tower, but the air defense system was still working - it looked like an S-300. The plane enters and there is shooting. It makes one dive, another, another, another and goes high because it can't do anything. I remember it well.

Then we drove around the city. We stopped near the Mars shopping and recreation center, and I took a few more guys. We went on foot to the high-rise building opposite the footbridge. We got there around 22-23 o'clock. We met the snipers, went up to the third floor and set up a watch in the apartment. I was the first to be released from duty, I decided to give the guys a little rest, and I heard our snipers operating on the other side. Then I finished my shift and went to bed.

The fourth day. March 9

...On March 9, we all woke up to the sound of shelling the building. It was tanks, artillery, and then MLRSs started firing as a special treat. Apparently, our snipers shook up some people there, killed some of the Russians.

- What time did 9 March start for you?

- It was around six or seven in the morning. They began to hit us hard, very hard. They were firing at us. The guys counted about three tanks that drove out and took turns shooting at the building. The artillery was shooting at the building closer, further, in the neighboring yards - that is, covering the sector, trying to find where the snipers were located. Then the MLRS started firing, we could hear the hits and explosions. The house was shaking very hard, some windows were broken. Frodo tried to contact the snipers and start an organized change of position. I sent my sniper to the roof to support the guys who were working, and Yashka, Jonik and I stayed in that apartment to control the sector. When Frodo was coming up to us (he was just between the second and third floors), a tank shell hit the neighboring apartment. It was a powerful hit, because it blew out the apartment and broke through the brick wall on the stairs. Frodo was thrown from top to bottom by the blast wave, and glass hit him in the lower back. He ran in, saying that he had "something there". We saw that his jacket was punctured and had blood stains on it. And my arm was thrown behind my back by the blast wave. It shook the apartment very strongly, the ceiling fell off, the cabinets just fell off, the tiles in the bathroom were broken. And there was dust everywhere. The first thing I thought was: what about my sniper on the fourth floor? And after a while, he came running in, a little shell-shocked: "We were thrown on the roof by the blast wave". Then Frodo said: "Yashka, it's time to leave." Yasha agreed: "Yes, we need to change our position." We went down the stairs and, together with the snipers, left the opposite side of the building through an apartment on the first floor. We were about to leave, but again there were mine hits in the yard, again there was debris... But fortunately for us, everyone was safe and sound. 

We started moving towards the Mars shopping and recreation center. We ran into the first high-rise building. There, in the basement, we bandaged Frodo's wound and tamponaded it. Yashka did it, I helped him. Other guys were talking to civilians who were hiding in the basement. Then we moved to the mall again. From there, I, Frodo and Yashka went to the Central District Hospital, to Kuznietsov - we had to bandage Frodo. I left my guys in the basement. The snipers went on with their program, and we went to the medics. There, they started treating Frodo, and Yashka recorded everything on the video to keep it as a "memento for posterity". When they finished with Frodo, they started treating my leg. And we went out into the yard. Yashka said that he would take Frodo to Sloviansk to the hospital and come back. I asked: "Leave me at least the radio so that I can communicate." Yashka replied: "Here, take Harris. I'll leave you Jonik until we arrive".

Jonik and I went to our basement near the shopping and recreation center. We started waiting. I told the guys that we had to pack our things, we had to move to the TV tower, because, firstly, there is a connection there, and secondly, our commander, our command, is there, it will be much easier for us to receive combat missions from there and go on missions to the city. And we will all be right next to each other. I decided that we would move out at intervals of five minutes: the first group goes out, we time it for five minutes, the second group goes out, then the third, and so on, so that there would be no accumulation of personnel. But it turned out a little differently. The first group left, Jonik and I were waiting for our turn, and then the radio station reported that the enemy would throw pontoon bridges in the area of the pedestrian bridge, the beach. We decided that we had to go there.

We had a "den" in a green building at 55 Pokrovska Street, near the Vega store. It was a gathering point for Yashka's group, the territorial defense fighters and us. We all met there: Kalyna, Boroda from the territorial defense forces, Jonik and my guys. Then Yashka came out to us and told me to take Kalyna and do some reconnaissance with my unit. He told Jonik to go to Yashka, take the unloaded Harris, give me the working one, and have the territorial defense fighters go with him to the tower for coordination. We talked with Kalyna, broke down the battle order and moved to the river for reconnaissance.

The last photo of Yashka. A TV tower. Izium. March 9, 2022

While we were moving, we heard that artillery was firing - explosions, hits. But we didn't pay much attention to it. We moved through the yards, through the private sector. We reached a road that led from a concrete bridge to a footbridge. There was a small mansion there. A woman met us, her husband and son were already at war. We said that we would leave the main group with her, and we - me, Kalyna and Advocate - would go out to reconnoiter. We went through everything, saw that no one was throwing pontoons - there were no intelligence signs of a pontoon crossing. We came to the 1st Company's observation post near the city beach, where we were told that they could hear a generator working, but they did not know whose generator it was.

We reported to Yashka, because he could continue to transmit information. But there was silence in response. The signal was not getting through. But we kept trying. At some point, we got an answer. It was Zelenyi (Green -ed.note), the sniper commander. He said that Yashka was the "200th" and that they had been attacked by an air raid.

Bombing of a TV tower. Izium

- What time was it approximately?

-In the afternoon. It was already evening. When this happened, Kalyna said that in case of the group commander's death, the group itself would be withdrawn from the area to be replenished. We gathered again in the area of the "dig", I handed them the Harris, they said goodbye and went to the TV tower. We stayed in the "dig" and tried to reach our commander.

- Did Yashka manage to take Frodo to the hospital?

- Yashka and Frodo went to Sloviansk to the hospital in the morning. Yashka came back and was on the tower because we heard him on the radio at first. We tried to reach the commander, believing that he was somewhere in the area. We thought there were many dead. I was especially worried about the fact that I sent the first group to the TV tower, and they may have been killed as well... According to my calculations, it was probably six soldiers. There was no connection, so I could not estimate the losses. 

At night, after all the events on the beach, I decided to go to the 1st Company's command post, which was in the 4th school, to find out where the commander was, to get in touch with him. I waited for Triumph. He arrived already bandaged. When he was wounded, Kent, the platoon commander, Yaroslav, now deceased, took command. Triumph said that he had been to the commander, that everything was fine, that he knew where he was. I asked about my men. "You can sprinkle them with cold water, as they say, and they are gone. I also sent a driver to drink coffee at the tower, and that driver was gone." It gave me a little bit of a morale boost, because I realized that I was losing people, one soldier after another. 

The commander was in the SSU building. He went there with a local territorial defense fighter, Oleksandr, who said he would take me there, he knew where it was. We walked around the city. It was dead, nothing was working at all. We walked through the central market - everything was smashed, sometimes burned. Glass and windows were smashed in pharmacies and kiosks. People tried to take at least something that could be useful. The window of the Kulinichi cafe was smashed, and all the food was taken away because there was no food delivery. The city simply ceased to exist. We passed by ATB. The supermarket was running on backup generators after the power was completely cut off. There was nothing there, only the backup lights where the meat and canned food was stored. Except for gelatin, there was nothing left on the shelves, people had taken everything.

We went to the SSU. I saw three of my fighters there, who had somehow joined the commander or he had taken them away. I went to the commander, reported to him the situation, what was going on, where we were all the time. We decided that our unit would stand in the area of school No. 4, at the 1st company's command post, so that we could coordinate our actions. The commander told me that he knew where we were. Because when we were working with Yashka, he was constantly passing on the enemy's coordinates so that the artillery could strike. 

After that, the territorial defense forces and I returned. I took my personal belongings, went to the "Dig", picked up the personnel, and we went to the 1st company.

The fifth day. March 10

On March 10, in the morning, the commander told me that we had to go to the TV tower to find out what was left of weapons, ammunition, and man-portable air defense systems so that we could pack it all up and take it away at the right time. I asked the commander about his men, who was where, maybe someone was left under the rubble. It turned out that the bomb shelter in the TV tower can be entered from different sides. I said: "Maybe there is a chance to find someone there." He said: "You won't find anyone alive there."

I took Solovey`s (nightingale's -ed.note) group and machine gunner Hans with me. We ran to the tower at a trot through the cemetery, which is located on a hill. We passed the apple orchard near the TV tower. We went into the generator room. After the air strike, we saw the picture... Everything that was intact a couple of days ago was now... Only ruins remained. The generators were screaming disgustingly. In the power room, we saw traces of blood, first aid: first aid kits, torn stickers, tamponade, hemostatics... I saw Jonik's plate carrier - it had a recognizable groin protection, communication equipment There was a huge hole in the front plate from a fragment, covered in blood, and the back plate was also completely covered in blood. I understand that he received a fatal shrapnel wound during the air raid, and they were trying to stabilize him, perhaps, but... You don't survive from that kind of hole, and even in the chest.

Jonik's kit

We also found Boroda's equipment - a territorial defense forces fighter with whom we fought, unloading bulletproof vests, and everything else. I ordered the guys to collect what was suitable for use in tactical medicine, ammunition, and ammunition. Then we saw territorial defense fighters walking around the city, one of them I recognized. We said: "Come inside, because there are two Orlan aircraft flying over the city, they are reconnoitering the situation." They replied: "No one will burn us down". I insisted: "Come inside".

The KrAZ Spartan truck of a sniper unit was destroyed during the bombing of a TV tower on March 9, 2022. Izium

I decided to walk through the rubble and ruins. Maybe I could find my people who were buried. I found the burial place of two guys from our brigade, if I'm not mistaken, an anti-aircraft gunner and the same driver Triumph was talking about. I was unable to get close to them, to reach them. I made my way through generators, transformers, everything was covered in wires, blocked with bricks... You could say a stone jungle had formed. I got to a flight that had been destroyed. I saw a body under it. At first, I thought it was my sniper, but then I looked closely and saw that it was Yashka. A slab fell on top of him and covered him up to the waist with concrete crumbs. I tried to get him out of there somehow, to get to him, because it was possible to climb in at that time.

But the territorial defense fighters, whom I ordered not to move forward, did, as I understand it, attract the attention of the drones. The radio station sent the command hole" - to hide, there is an air raid. I tried again to get to Yashka, but it didn't work. I realized that if I made a mistake now, I wouldn't be able to get him out, and they would fire on me. 

I ran to my guys to tell them that it was time to run away. Just before that, we summed up the results, took pictures of all the weapons, and put them together. So we fulfilled the task set by the commander. But an air raid! We had to run away, because aviation is a terrible thing. We went down to the cemetery through the same apple orchard, running as fast as we could. When we were already going down the hill, explosions began, and we were thrown down by the blast wave, we rolled. We ran into the first high-rise building that came across the street. We caught our breath for a while. I told the guys to go down the stairs. I was the last one to go in and saw a fighter flying over the houses, saw its jet engines, stabilizers, feathers - all this nasty picture of it flying in for a second approach... It dropped bombs on the TV tower and on the city, because we were thrown down those stairs again by the blast wave and thrown into the basement. There were local old ladies there, and they were a little shocked that three people had been thrown down. We shone the light and there were benches in a U-shape and old ladies sitting there. They were shocked, and so were we: wow! 

We left and ran to the SSU building, to the commander. He was not there, he had gone to report to the brigade commander on the situation in Izium.

- That day, your fighter was wounded in the face... How did it happen?

- We did not find the commander, but the commander of the brigade reconnaissance company, the deputy battalion commander and the commander of the 1st Triumph company were there. The situation at that time was as follows: the enemy started moving, they were able to assault the city through the footbridge and in the area of the city beach. My group moved to help and reinforce the personnel of the 1st Company, which was standing near the pedestrian bridge. But, again... Given the fact that we had to move there urgently, that we were far from that point, and that artillery had started to work on the city and UAVs were constantly flying over it, we went through the private sector.And the enemy acted as follows: they used artillery fire to divide and separate the units and prevented them from rejoining. My fighter Chemist, who was later wounded, was walking with me, I was in front, he was covering me. One group was coming from the left flank, my group was coming from the right. The group on the left flank was covered by artillery, people could not get up, they were being shelled. And we moved on. I gave them instructions to act according to the situation and that we would be waiting for them below. If they didn't make it, let them go to the 1st company in the building where their positions were located.

It started snowing, it was falling normally. I went ahead with Chemist, and the group behind lost sight of us. In the radio station, we could already hear that there was a battle going on, the brigade artillery was firing on the enemy, there was a small arms battle between the units. Chemist and I decided to move forward. Perhaps we shouldn't have done so, because our unit was separated, and this is dangerous in such areas, and in urban areas it is a suicide mission: there are a lot of dead zones where they can open fire. Two people are not a combat-ready unit, in the sense that your comrades will not be able to cover you in order to evacuate you. But the task was to come to support. In addition, we had already explored the area that day with Yashka's subgroup, so we knew where to go.

We reached the city beach and discovered an enemy breakthrough. A battle broke out. My fighter was shot in the face, which I found out later. I thought he was shot in the leg because he moved a little further than I told him to. I told him to keep a distance of five meters, he moved fifteen meters. And this is an open area. I called out to him, he turned his head - and at that moment he was hit by a bullet. He fell down but kept moving. I was working in short bursts of fire, changing my position to create the impression that I was working to separate people. The enemy thought so at first. I was hiding behind a slate fence - it was perfectly visible where the bullets were coming from. The battle lasted three to five minutes, but I felt that I was surrounded, because the diagonal holes in the slate appeared. I reacted, saw two bodies running, opened fire on them - I hit both targets, they did not get up and did not open fire. A machine gun started firing at me and started mowing down everything around me. All this time, simultaneously firing and rolling, I tried to establish voice contact with the Chemist. Because, according to the rules of tactical medicine, if you already have losses, you must not allow even greater losses. But he did not answer. I realized that he had lost consciousness, plus I saw that fountains of earth were rising near him, meaning that he was being finished off so that he would not get up. 

They started shooting from grenade launchers. I was in the yard. They hit the attic of the summer kitchen, which was behind me, and blew up the roof. Then another hit, and another... I realized that they knew where I was and would probably create a maneuver to kill me. I made probably one of the hardest decisions in my life. I objectively understood that I could not run to the wounded man and pull him out of the fire in the open - it would be suicide. I also realized that I was the commander of a reconnaissance unit with a radio station that was wired for the entire battalion. If I was killed and the enemy got the radio, it would be death, they would figure out who was where and could kill everyone. I was also left alone, and the unit was split - that's how the circumstances worked out. That is, things don't always work out the way you practice in training, with everyone running five meters apart.

I decided that we needed to move back to our positions. First, to get out of the area of impact, to report to Triumph that they had a breakthrough between two platoon posts - "Flag" and "Boar" on the sides of the city beach. He reported. It turned out that we had scared the enemy with our fire. I was moving out through the yards, and at the same time I saw them running down the same street. I accelerated because I had to get ahead of them. I got out near the bus stop and saw that they were gone. It was good that I was in time. I'll repeat: I made a difficult decision to leave Chemist there, because he did not regain consciousness for more than three minutes, plus he was getting hit.

I reached our guys and found my unit. A soldier with the call sign Benia was in the first subgroup to break away, and he also tried to find ours. It had just started snowing heavily.

Forty minutes after being wounded, as I found out later, Chemist regained consciousness, crawled into the yard, threw off all his equipment and weapons, tore up his military ID card and, limping and losing consciousness, moved slowly away over the hills and far away. More precisely, one eye... At that time, Benia went out into the street leading from the footbridge to the concrete bridge, saw Chemist and shouted: "I'm going to shoot you now, Katsap!" And he responds: "Don't shoot, it's me!" They recognized each other, and the latter ran up to Chemist, grabbed him on his back and dragged him. As long as Chemist was conscious, he walked, but when he fainted, I had to drag him on my back. Imagine: you're wearing combat gear, weapons, and you're also carrying a person, plus you haven't eaten or slept properly lately.

The artillery started firing - not specifically at them, just at this area. They were covered, and Benia lost consciousness. He woke up and made it to our side. The locals caught the Chemist took him away and took him to the hospital. There, Kuznietsov operated on him. The chemist was wounded in the face, his right orbital bone was completely shattered, his jaw was broken, half of his nose was missing... There was a hole in it. But the medical staff under the leadership of Kuznietsov simply saved him from the dead. The next day, we found our wounded man, because I was in between battles going for bandages, and organized his evacuation. A resident of Izium helped us with this. He had two cars, he said: "I can't go on two cars". And we needed a car to evacuate a seriously wounded man. The man said he was from Kostiantynivka, where our battalion was based. We asked him for his address and contact phone number and promised to return the car. The Chemist was evacuated, then he went to Dnipro, where he underwent further surgery. That's how we saved his life.

- Is he alive?

- Yeah. He underwent a rehabilitation course and a bunch of plastic surgeries. Now he serves in our reconnaissance platoon, performing combat missions. He has been promoted to the rank of commander and position.

- And Benia?

-He resigned for health reasons. The man is already over 50 years old, you don't run a lot...

By the way, we returned the car to the civilian!

- At that time, was it clear that you would not be able to hold the city? How did you feel?

- All that came to mind was that we had to hold the enemy back as long as possible so that other forces could prepare to repel attacks, prepare defense lines, and pull up forces, both airborne and infantry units.

- How many personnel held the city? Can you tell me at least an estimate?

- Approximately, between March 6 and 13, the city was held by about 200 personnel. This is including units of the 90th separate battalion, brigade units, territorial defense, and local people. Because the number of people changed at different times: someone was killed, someone was seriously wounded, someone was evacuated, and someone came to our aid - this was the case with the 2nd airmobile company, about 60-70 people, who were sent to reinforce us. By that time, we already realized that we were here to hold down the enemy's forces, to prevent them from entering the city in a grand manner. Because Izium is said to be the key to Donbas, because it is the dominant heights and a direct road to Sloviansk. If the enemy had reached Sloviansk, I think it would have been a prerequisite for the encirclement of the JFO group. That is why we restrained that movement as best we could.

Leaving the city

- Did you then take back what you had packed on the tower?

- Yes.

- When did you go there again?

The last time I was on the tower was on the evening of March 12, when I received the command that my unit should move to the commander and receive a task. We had to move out of the city to new positions in an organized manner. It was a planned operation, approved by the higher command, which took into account the current situation and the fact that the enemy had already bypassed the city and began to surround it. The command came: they were giving us a "green corridor" for an organized retreat from the city. The first company, the second company, then the commander and I started to leave...

We were the last unit of our battalion to leave. We went on foot through the city, along the instrument-making plant. Then we went to the private sector in the south of the city and through it, along the Siverskyi Donets River, reached the village of Kamianka. Then, through Sukha Kamianka, we went through the fields to the southern outskirts of the village. There we were met by APCs of the 1st Company with crews evacuating the personnel. The snow was up to our waist in some places. Enemy aircraft were flying at us, trying to bomb our positions and bomb the defense forces that were covering the flanks of the city. According to the commander of the 2nd airborne assault company Vaso, the units of the 95th Brigade covered the left flank of the city to prevent it from being completely surrounded. And the aviation was attacking the 95th Brigade. 

We were withdrawing with the commander through those fields. Given my injury, we had other fighters who had injured their knee joints during the fighting, but they refused to evacuate because they wanted to continue fighting. The guys helped each other. They were, so to speak, making their last efforts.

- How and when was the last time you went to the tower?

- We were on the tower on March 12 at night. I tried to get to Yashka again, but since there was a second air strike, everything was further destroyed. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, but it was impossible to pull him out. I tried to get to our guys, but then realized that it was impossible. I marked the point where they were on my phone. And I made a plan: if we got out alive, I would contact their unit commanders to tell them where the bodies were under the rubble. After that, we went down to the bomb shelter, where our last stand was, the observation post. The commander was giving orders to the airmobile companies through communications, making sure they left the city. We counted down our time and moved out. 

There was some of our damaged property on the TV tower - backpacks and sleeping bags were punctured. It was decided to burn it all on the spot so that the enemy would not get it. The issue of civilians was raised - they might need it. But, given that civilians were hiding in basements, it was basically dangerous to approach the tower because it was under enemy control, and civilians could simply say goodbye to their lives here. Because, as I said, the Russian army does not care whether you are a civilian or a soldier, as I understand it, their goal is to simply destroy Ukrainians, and that's it. After we set fire to everything that was there, we retreated from the TV tower and began to move in an organized combat order to the village of Kamianka.

Yashka is a superhuman

- What impressed you about Yashka?

- Yasha became for me... Our first acquaintance was, as I said, a little cold. But then we saw each other as kindred spirits. We are ready to fight, ready to defend our country. He was a person who was infectious with fierce optimism, and you wanted to fight with him, to stay working with him. You realized that you had a like-minded person next to you, a comrade-in-arms who would defend the country to the last.

Roman Kosenko, call sign Yashka

You see, in war, sometimes it is enough to fight with a person for one day, and you have known them forever. Perhaps this is the fighting brotherhood, the fighting spirit that unites. A man who has been through hell with you, with whom you fought together against Russian evil spirits - that's it, you consider him your brother. That's why Yashka became more than a friend to me, more than a brother. During the four days that we worked together, I really liked the way he acted... It was clear that we were on the same page, ready to defend the country - and we did.

Yashka was also impressive because he was constantly on the phone: he would send messages to his family, friends, or the command... He was constantly trying to catch the connection, which is why he got wounded in the hip. He seemed to have no fear, no fear at all. Everything that could fly was flying past him, tanks and artillery were shooting at him, and Yasha was not concerned. 

Yashka's kit with which he worked in Izium

- Do you have a photo of you together?

Unfortunately, no. Because, as I said, my phone was damaged, and Yashka was filming everything on video, and his phone was left with him in his kit. I don't know if we managed to get all the files from it, but I think there were photos and videos of us working together. There was everything there: the remains of equipment, and targeting the enemy for the four days we fought together. We also took photos at night with night vision devices - our whole gang going on a mission. He would shoot videos and say: "We are working, that's it, Izium is ours, we will defend it until victory, to the last!" When you are with this person, you realize that it will happen. This positive attitude of never giving up, even in the most difficult times, when you think that everything is over, that you are finished, he is unique.

If he had lived, I would have been very happy to work with his group. Because he is a real warrior. He is a superhuman.

- How did you find out that he was taken?

When the counteroffensive began in the Kharkiv region, I was actively following it, because my guys who stayed on to fight also took part in the liberation. When the news came out that Yasha had been pulled out of the rubble by his friend Iskander, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my heart: Yasha would go home and be buried like a warrior. I heard the news that a priest fell into a pit at his funeral... It's all for a reason. It was all Yashka! I remembered the incident when those priests arrived - Yashka just hated them. And I thought: "Yashka, even from the other world you decided to troll them hard!" Indeed, I am very happy that they got him.

After being wounded, Roman went to Yashka's cemetery as soon as he could. Photo by Natalia Dmitrieva

"Sherwood Forest

- When did you join the paratroopers?

- In 2016, on January 20, I was assigned to the 5th Battalion Tactical Group of the 81st Separate Airmobile Brigade as a reconnaissance medic in a reconnaissance company. I actually became a paratrooper before I started my service, because in Poltava, where I lived, there was a club with intensive training, with a parachute-landing inclination, and with the traditions of paratroopers. By the time I accepted the position, I had already made 15 parachute jumps with my equipment: a paratrooper's backpack, a rifle with ammunition, a bayonet-knife... I was undergoing this training, we had exercises: after landing, we had to gather as a squad, go on an attack, storm... And I already realized that I wanted to be a paratrooper, I would become one, and I would succeed. The war broke out, and I decided to join the paratroopers. I was recommended there by my brother-in-arms Maksym Schmidt, who is now fighting in the Donetsk direction and has been through Bakhmut. We were friends and started our combat journey together.

I served in a reconnaissance company. Our commander, Major Todoruk, once said: "You guys are promising. We need to build a new Ukrainian army, so let's go to Odesa and enter the military academy." - "No questions asked." I passed the exams for the Special Forces Military Intelligence Faculty, studied for four years, and received the rank of officer. And when it came time for deployment, I chose the airborne troops without hesitation. I was sent to the 90th separate airmobile battalion. It was an honor for me to serve there because the battalion is famous, it has been through many battles, and there were many heroic people who served there and defended our country. So it was an honor for me. I accepted a reconnaissance platoon and began my service in the 90th Battalion as a commander of a reconnaissance unit.

- After Izium, where did you have to fight?

- After leaving Izium on March 13, I tried to walk for two more days without noticing the injury, but on the third day my leg swelled up very much, became big and blue, and the chief of medical staff forced me to be treated in a hospital. During the two weeks I spent in the hospital, our battalion fought in Kamianka. Together with the 95th Brigade, they held the defense, repelled attacks and assaults. Not having finished my treatment, at the end of March, I came to the commander in Dolyna and again headed my unit. 

Then came Bohorodichne. The locals called it Sherwood Forest because there is a very large forest there. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Holy Mountains National Park. We held defense there, changed the reconnaissance company that was based there. The 2nd Airmobile Company took up positions in this forest, and our unit supported their actions.

After that, there were battles for Yatskivka, Krymky, Oleksandrivka - north of Sviatohirsk. When the fighting moved back to the Sherwood Forest, and a massive offensive began on May 9, the situation was not good, the commander said: "We will relocate your unit to that area." On May 11, we moved there. We were greeted with incendiary and phosphorus shells, which they used to cover the forest. It was all exploding directly over the village, over the forest.

We stopped by the commander's office and I received a combat mission. The Bravo position, which we were holding as an observation post on the heights in Sherwood Forest, was taken by territorial defense forces and surrounded. They were cut off from the 1st Company's command post. We moved to help them. The task was very simple: to go for reinforcements, strengthen the unit, pull out all the wounded and wait for two tanks and 40 personnel from the 1st Company's combat support unit to approach, drive to meet them and meet them at the place where the territorial defense forces had an ambush. After that, our unit was to be withdrawn.

But it so happened that the enemy was firing very actively in the forest, actively searching for equipment, and we could not wait for reinforcements. We organized defense on the spot and repelled numerous enemy attacks. At first, they were coming, thinking that there was only a territorial defense forces there that they could knock out. But they ran into the paratroopers and felt a very powerful rebuff. As I understand it, they were a bit shocked by this course of action. Then the artillery started firing on them. I thought it was our artillery, but the commander said that our artillery was not working there, it was theirs, they covered their own. And this is a plus for us, no matter how you slice it.

The next day, on May 14, an armored group arrived to drive us out of our positions. Our platoon suffered enormous losses, there were killed, heavy "three hundredths". Since there were no combat medics left in my unit, because they were all wounded, I, given my experience as a combat medic in the 5th Battalion tactical group, simultaneously performed these duties. And there, at the positions, I provided assistance to seriously wounded soldiers. Some had their legs torn off, some had bruises, fractures, and bullet wounds. I organized the evacuation to avoid even more losses. And then, when it was all over, I went to see the dead with the group that remained. I was hoping that my guys had been able to get away, but no, they were killed. It affected me a lot. I took these losses personally. And I wanted to take revenge. There was no more fear, there was nothing, I just wanted to make the enemy cease to exist. But my guys stopped me and told me not to get too emotional...

We went to the intermediate position "Zalizo" to support the forces and were already holding the defense there. We were holding back the enemy's attacks with small arms and artillery fire. During one of the battles, a bullet hit me in the butt of my rifle - I noticed it later, my backpacks were pierced by bullets and shrapnel... I can say I was very lucky during that battle.

I was wounded on May 21. It was 5.45 a.m., I woke up and heard a drone hovering over us. Usually, it flew past us, but now it was hovering over us. Then an infantry fighting vehicle with a loudspeaker rolled out, started broadcasting propaganda, playing a funeral march - it was their favorite theme. They said that we would feed the worms, that we would all be amen. The night before, they threw propaganda shells with leaflets, saying, surrender. And the battle started. Tanks, artillery, and infantry fighting vehicles were shelling our position. Everything was torn, oak trees were broken in half, everything that could be plowed was plowed... I was wounded in the leg.

At first, I thought everything was fine, but when I lifted my knee, I realized that my leg was hanging out, all the bones were broken. My sergeants, who were nearby, were also wounded, and a round came for them. I thought they were dead. But they came out of there, staggering a bit, with wounds and contusions, and started helping other scouts who were also wounded, pulling me out. Everything was torn everywhere, debris was falling and flying, but they didn't care, they were pulling out the commander. They made an improvised stretcher and a tire and evacuated me under fire. The late Solovei, whom I have already mentioned, received a shrapnel wound in the leg, limping, and a severe concussion, because after that he stuttered a lot.

- But he dragged you, even though he was wounded?

- Yes, he dragged me. He also helped other guys who were wounded in the hips, arms, legs. Being wounded themselves, they pulled out other wounded. This is the way it should be, because paratroopers always cover each other, because we are always surrounded by the enemy, and we have only hope for each other.

- Has this position held up?

- Of course they did! Later, Girkin and Gubarev were interviewed - they were working against us. They said that they had concentrated two to three army corps in the Dolyna-Bohorodichne direction - in terms of men and equipment... They tried to take Sloviansk, to reach it through the forest. And they themselves claimed that they were pasted. As they said, one battalion tactical group or company tactical group held back this invasion. Was it worth it? Every paratrooper fought to the last. I even heard such conversations on the air: "The guys at the position are covered, I have one wounded in the back". And this guy on the radio said: "It's not a wound, it's just... I'm staying." My morale was rising. The guys tried to support each other. Yes, it was hard, very hard. I can't even tell you how it feels when you are fighting on your own, trying to hold back the invasion, realising what an armada is coming at you, but still standing there and realizing that you are buying time for those who are preparing for war, those who are training at the training grounds, those who are preparing a fist to defend their territories. It is worth it. Every day you defend yourself is a chance.

The most valuable thing is people. People stop tanks, people stop airplanes and shoot them down. The paratroopers, like other defenders of Ukraine, proved that our people will fight to the last. And while our defenders were holding other areas, we were holding the north. Because if we had not resisted, the enemy would have reached Sloviansk, and it would have started: "We have taken Sloviansk!" They would have simply destroyed the JFO zone.

The efforts of the paratroopers of the 81st Brigade, who were not only in our Izyum-Slaviansk area, but also held the defense of Severodonetsk, held the defense along the entire front line and did not allow the enemy to advance further, dashed the dreams and hopes of the Russians to quickly capture Donbas with each passing day. Our brigade, as well as other defenders and units that were side by side with us, did not allow them to advance. The Dolyna-Bohorodichne line buried the Russians' plans to move on. And when the counteroffensive began, our soldiers began to recapture the territory, one settlement after another, further and further. They reached Bilohorivka, and now they are holding the line there as well.

- Your injury turned out to be complicated. How annoying is it that your treatment has taken so long?

For over a year I was not with my men, with my unit. But I realize that the injury is not simple: it knocked out bones and muscles. The doctors did everything to put my leg back together. In Cherkasy, where I was treated, military doctors from the United States came to share their experience, who operated on soldiers who had come out of Afghanistan and Iraq. They consulted with our doctors, and there was an interpreter with them. He said: "If you were treated in our hospital in Ramstein or in the United States, we would do the same thing as the traumatologists in Cherkasy. Your doctors are on the same level". They fought for me, performed surgery after surgery, restored the skin defect, and built up bones. The goal is for me to walk again, to live a full life. And then - back in the ranks. And - to victory. I want to pass on my experience, skills and knowledge to people so that they can use it and it can save their lives. I am ready to work where I can be most useful.

- Were there any moments of fear? Have you ever regretted it: I would have been better off not joining the paratroopers, better off picking strawberries somewhere?

- Not once at all. I only regretted that we don't have weapons that can take out those damn artillery systems and tanks. But I have never regretted taking this position, choosing this path, and being a paratrooper. Not even once! No matter how hard it was, no matter what losses we suffered, we - my people and I - always knew what we were doing, knew what we stood for, what we were fighting for. And each of us was ready to give our lives for what we were doing and for our country: so that those damn orcs would not get to our families, so that children would not hide in basements, listen to artillery attacks, or cook food in garbage. So that they do not walk under the occupiers, afraid to say anything. Yes, unfortunately, the most valuable things are given for this. I communicate and try to support the families of my fallen comrades. Because for me it is more than just service - it is family, it is brothers...

A paratrooper is a person who will put everything on the line to accomplish a task. This is a person who understands all the risks and who is willing to take risks, even knowing that he will lose his life, in order to do what is necessary, to fulfill a combat mission. The paratroopers are deployed to the hottest areas, where it is most difficult. They are relying on us. A paratrooper is an officer who leads his soldiers into battle by personal example, when he watches over everyone, when he makes sure that everyone goes out and he is the last one. He doesn't hide behind the backs of his comrades, he goes forward because it is his responsibility, his people. And he understands that he, like his men, is the force that will erase all the bad things from this world, especially the Russians. Paratroopers always stick together and fight for each other to the last.

Violetta Kirtoka, Censor. NET