Sviat, soldier of Artan special operations unit of DIU: I was wounded twice in one battle, I was saying goodbye to my comrades in arms on walkie-talkie

Author: Anna Miroshnychenko, “Who is with Miroshnychenko?”

Sviat is a soldier of the Artan special operations unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Before the full-scale invasion began, he worked as an administrator in a store. Now he has already been to the hottest spots of the frontline. The program "Who is with Miroshnychenko?" tells about a serious injury, after which he said goodbye to his life, fear of death and personal life of the young scout.

About the operation in Sumy region

- Your last mission was in the Sumy region, and I know that it was not easy for you, you were wounded there, can you tell us about this moment of your war?

- We prepared in advance for a certain period of time and practiced various scenarios. 

- Is this Sumy region, March of this year?

- Yes. We practiced different scenarios, focusing on the one that suited us best. But unfortunately, sometimes things don't go as we would like, and we, of course, have to be prepared for that, we gathered a group, I got a call in the morning, at 9 am, and they said: "Sviat, gather your best 10 people and you have to be at this point in half an hour." I memorized the route with my eyes, I was in a situation where the gadgets didn't have time to upload the route we were supposed to follow, so I just had to look at the map, memorize it well, the route from the landing point, and I relied on my memory. All my guys were confident, they knew we were doing the right thing, no one ever doubts, at a certain moment of being at the landing point I looked up, there were so many things flying in the sky, and you didn't even get in touch and ask, "Is this yours or not yours?" Because there were Orlans, Zalas, Mavics, FPVs, everything was buzzing, you just realized that the only choice was to move as stealthily as possible, dividing the group into 2 subgroups.

When we reached the point, so to speak, of completing the combat mission, we had two RPG operators, our wounded, there was a field, it was burnt out, but it had been mined before. There was a small path along which we were able to move, and it so happened that my first subgroup, in which I was, went to this path and we met these two wounded. It so happened that at the moment we were crossing with each other, I still wanted to gather some information quickly, but at the same moment, when we first encountered each other, an FPV circled over us, and it flew over us, and the first attack came from the wounded, near whom I was. I managed to bounce off to that field, also, it was on the off-chance, lucky or not...

On the shelling of the reconnaissance group and the injury of Sviat

- Do you mean the mined one? 

- Yes, you don't think about it at that moment, and when I fell, I heard two blows to my body, it was in my arm and in my left leg, I quickly got up, came to myself, looked at my arm and saw a hole in my jacket, felt that the blood was not flowing, there was no massive bleeding, I realized that it was not, in principle, I could take some further action, I looked at the guys, the guys started to gather, unfortunately, one of our comrades was badly wounded, the one who had already been wounded before, and we had to evacuate him out-bye. My guys are good, they have always shown their high level of training before, and they generally knew what to do. Because I was wounded, I could not help them with the evacuation, and I had a group behind me, so they certainly did not follow us afterwards. I gathered half of my weapons so that I wouldn't interfere with the guys during the evacuation, and ran to my previous group. They had a stretcher, which the guys really needed, because whoever knows knows that it is very difficult to evacuate without a stretcher. I gave the command to my guys. I am also proud that they have such courage, I told them to undress, take off their equipment so that they would be more mobile and it would be more convenient to evacuate. I ordered them to take soft stretchers and move to the group to help. I went to look for a shelter to which we could transfer a seriously wounded man. 

- Did you do all this to the wounded?

- So, having reported the general situation in which we found ourselves, having found a certain place where we could directly place and stabilize the wounded, I went out to get the group, met the group, brought people in, placed the wounded, and my brave guys provided him with the first necessary assistance. When I reported the situation on the walkie-talkie, I heard an explosion and an accompanying scream. I knew this voice very well, it was my brother-in-law, and then I immediately rushed there, it was literally very close, about 20 meters away, but just around the corner of the building. And when I ran out, I saw him lying in a depressed state of consciousness, I understood that it was a grenade dropped from a drone. And it so happened that the grenade exploded in the air, not on the ground, and fragments went into his arm and under his armor. At that moment, my unit commander was nearby, and together we started to provide first aid, we stopped the bleeding by undressing him. He had 3 massive holes in his chest, and at that moment, when we were already closing the last hole, we heard the sound of an FPV, and at the same moment we heard it, he and I simultaneously turned our heads in the direction of the sound, and the FPV landed, dropped to a level below and hit us directly. 

- This was the third time, wasn`t it?

- Yes, it was at that moment that I received my second wound, and unfortunately, it knocked me down, I felt hot shrapnel entering my body, it was a strange feeling, at that moment I was already... At first, it's like this - shock, then you feel the blood pouring out of you, and somehow at that moment, my whole life flew before my eyes... 

- Do they really say that you remember everything at that moment?

- I just wanted to say that I had heard this phrase before - that the life flashed before your eyes - and I could never understand it, although I had also had many unusual cases before, but at that moment it somehow flashed by, and my only thought was - is this really it? I called the command on the walkie-talkie, said my call sign, said that I was heavy 300 and now I would be 200, thanked everyone and said goodbye. And then... It all happened so fast, so dynamically, and then, literally 5 seconds later, I heard a phrase from one of my fighters: "Why are you lying down?" I just took off running on adrenaline, ran into the building at the same time, took off all my ammunition, it was pretty cool, ammunition is always improving and at certain moments, quick-drops work as cool as possible in such situations, I undressed in about 10 seconds, took off everything, laid down on the couch and my brother-in-arms started tamponading me, bandaging me, stopped the bleeding in time. I am eternally grateful to him for what he did because if he had not provided me with the help I needed, there is a factor that a person loses blood very quickly and you have about 2 minutes to provide some help and save a life. 

About adrenaline in war

- Have you ever wondered what kind of adrenaline it was? Why did you take off running?

- Adrenaline...

- How did it work?

- Why did it work? I don't know, it's probably more like our body, it has a certain self-defense and for this purpose, it has a certain function such as adrenaline, which helps us in difficult moments. Why do military men always have moments when they want to go back? I'll explain - this also applies to me - after this situation, I would probably like to end it all and never go back, but adrenaline is like a drug, and after you've already recovered and started to decline, you feel this thirst for adrenaline, and at some point, you have this bright thought that you could do it again. Why is it that athletes always have more hobbies, and we have such a specificity that we want to tickle our nerves a little bit. 

- We have just heard a day in the life of a scout, a day in the life of a young scout.

- You get used to it sooner or later, so this pace and intensity is normal for us. You know, I had never been to a funeral before the war. I had never been before, and I always asked myself how I would react to it. And during the war, literally in the previous year, more than 15 I attended, both from my 3rd assault brigade, my previous place of service, and, unfortunately, in our unit, you cannot be immune from this, because it is war, you have to get used to it. ...in some way you can, but you don't get used to the fact that it's a common thing, you accept it, you don't push it away, you just accept it and thank these people for being such heroes and saving others for their lives.

- Did I understand correctly that you had nothing to do with military service before the full-scale invasion?

- I was an ordinary person.

- What have you been doing?

- I was an administrator in a branded clothing store, and I was involved in sports, boxing, and taekwondo. I didn't manage to go into sports professionally due to certain moments in my life, but I never gave it up and always loved doing it, so this probably led me to the fact that I was able to better enter military service and feel like a strong person at certain moments. Not everything that happens needs to be known to people. Perhaps one day I will be a gray-haired old man and tell my grandchildren how I used to race around the neighborhood when I was young... Maybe someone wants to share information. Speaking about me personally, I don't really like to boast and talk about my actions, I'm just the kind of person who works and that's enough for me. 

- Are you 25 years old?

- I am not yet 25.

- You are not yet 25 years old, and obviously you have to work with older people, how do they perceive you, given your age?

- I am personally very skeptical about age, because for me, the number is not a factor that I will start from. You know, in my 3rd assault brigade, when it was being formed, there was a guy who is still there, with the call sign Santa, he was 18 years old and was in the tank crew. He has balls of steel, a guy of 18. And I know a lot of people who are over 30 and they... you know what I'm talking about. That's why attitude plays a role here, how I treat them. There are two things: either you work and you have a normal attitude, or you don't work and you have a certain attitude... I have no problems with this. We are all friendly, we treat each other like boys, there is no army, no recall of the Soviet Union, and so on. If we need something, we always help each other, we will always make some concessions, but for me, there is a main factor: when you need to work, be kind, make the right decision and do the job. Because I am also doing it, and I have a slightly different workload, more problems, but this does not prevent me from preparing, training with my guys and performing combat missions together with the guys. If one of my guys is out, I have to go on a mission, I always go on a mission. In the American army, a sergeant has a saying: "Watch what I do and repeat after me." That's what we follow. 

- Can we say that this is your personal slogan for this war? Or is there another one?

- I think I'm more in favour of this one because it's simple and very appropriate.

Whether Sviat refuses the task

- During the full-scale invasion, did you ever have a case when you refused a task or said that it was impossible to complete it?

- Not that I refuse, I'm a straightforward person and I also know how to analyze the situation. And the task that is set for me or my group, I always evaluate, analyze and, for my part, understand whether my group, together with me, can accomplish this task or not. If it can't, then for what reasons. Either what I lack to accomplish this task or what I am not satisfied with. If we discuss certain points that I make on my own behalf, we can come to a certain consensus. So I've never had someone refuse to do a task - I've never had that before. 

- This is, you know, when the military say that they are given an order, and they realize that they cannot fulfill it and there may be losses, but... the general said, "Go and do what I said. In your environment, in your unit, can you tell your general or argue and say no, sorry, we can't do it, because we will suffer heavy losses? 

- I can say this, if there is such a situation, I will never be silent, because I am responsible for my people, and every commander has an understanding that these are people's lives and you are responsible for them, they trust you, they are ready to follow you through hell and high water, and I cannot just put under fire them first, then myself, so that we go and die because there was poor planning or some other certain factors that I knew about but kept silent and did not say - I am not that kind of person. The tasks are all complicated and if you look at each task, sometimes you think, "How can you even do it?" This is the biggest task, this is the thought that comes to mind when you serve in the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. But you always need to analyze and think about how it can be accomplished and what resources are needed. It's all very well thought out and there is always a plan B in case it doesn't go exactly as planned. 

Areas of the frontline where the military works

- Your group since the full-scale invasion or since you have been in the unit where you are currently serving, where have you been, what areas have you covered, where have you performed operations?

- I can't tell you everything, but in general, on land, at sea... I haven't been in the air yet, but I think everything is ahead. The situation in the country is such that we have to be ready to go to any part of our country and perform a particular task. During this period of full-scale war, I have probably travelled to so many villages, cities and parts of Ukraine that, probably, if it were not for the war, I would never have visited this or that corner of our country.

- Listen, but in what condition do you see all this? Do you remember the buildings and all this?

- The moment when you arrive to work in the sector and everything is more or less normal before you arrive, but you realize that the enemy also uses intelligence data, and when we arrive there, no matter how covertly we move, no matter how we use security measures, but still, sooner or later, the enemy finds out, and everything starts flying there, and the worst thing is that there are people who have not evacuated yet, although they are warned in advance that they need to evacuate from the frontline areas, and there was a situation when a person just walks out into the street, we crossed paths with him and he said: "You were not there, I had a home, you came and I have no home." And you realize that he is generally right, but on the other hand, he also does not understand that if we had not come and defended this place, you can always build a house, but you cannot always get the land back on which you can build a house. 

How the enemy works

- Are you analyzing the enemy now? I mean, intelligence officers like you? But on the other hand, our enemies - how well are the Russian Federation's intelligence and similar units developed? 

- I cannot say that they are unintelligent or inexperienced. You see, those countries that are at war are a level higher than those countries that live a peaceful life, because war does not stand still, technology is always moving forward, and of course, we learn from it, from combat experience, from mistakes, we always go higher and higher and higher. It's the same here - who will outplay whom - either they or we. They learn, come up with some new moments, and engage the audience. We are also learning, thinking of our moments and involving them. They work very well, I can't help but say that, because there are certain moments in which they really outperform us. But the only point in which we differ is that we are human and they are not. And here I won't even say why this is so, because everyone understands this. I will simply say one thing: our attitude to the people who defend our country and their attitude to the mercenaries they engage in the war against our country have completely different components and a completely different approach: we are defending, and they want to gobble up our land - it will not work. 

About recruitment

- Are the ranks of intelligence officers being replenished now? Do young guys who are as energetic as you come to you? Given the standard fatigue of war, and the lack of understanding of how long it can last - a year or more?

- Of course, we sometimes do such an action - if someone decides to go to recruitment, undergoes certain training, demonstrates not only physical but also mental, moral and volitional qualities, then he or she will have the opportunity to join our teams, our family and work. We have everything we need to make your work effective - if only you have the desire and physical and moral health. That's why sometimes we organize such events, and it's really nice to see fresh people, especially when they are eager to learn, fight, and work, it makes you feel a little better - an old soldier who has trodden across Ukraine...

- Do you already call yourself an "old warrior"?

- Well, yes, I think I can and have the right for that, because I've been fighting for almost three years, and I'm not fighting in the rear, well, sometimes in the rear of the enemy, but... 

-  Could you tell us a little bit more about this, if possible? 

- I just wanted to say that I have always been in an active phase - a lot of combat, a lot of positional moments - it is tiring, tiring, because your energy resource that you use, it always either has to be replenished or will only be spent. That's why you need to take a mental rest here and before that - I have certain moments of my own for this, how I recover. 

About the fighter's rest

- How do you rest, I wonder? Or how do you recover? 

- Yes, of course, you need to do this, because if you don't, you will be in trouble. For example, when I left the third assault unit during the transition, I was very depressed, after 6 months on the outskirts of Bakhmut it was very tiring, and it was winter, you know, fighting when it's cold is very disgusting. I was in a depressive state and my emotional state was corrected by one person whom I married, she inspired me to recover and go, as they say, into battle with new strength and purpose - why I have to do this and why I have to come back. So, in general, for me, as a family man, the best vacation is with my family, and I don't know what can be better than that. So... 

- I really like such stories... The wife is sitting behind the camera on the other side, she doesn't want to come into the frame, but in fact it's a very beautiful young couple and I'm just impressed with the way you treat your family, your values...

- Until then, I was...

- You know, you can only feel this if you have lived and seen what you have seen, to feel this price. 

-A thin line that you realize you don't want to lose. Sometimes people just break down and they have no hope for something better, they don't want to continue to involve themselves in any certain actions so that they can have something, but everyone has such moments - you have to step over them and move on. With good hope for the future. That's why, before the war, my friends and I were having a vacation and talking about who would be the first to get married. And I was betting that I would be the last one in our group to get married, and it so happened that I was the first. 

- Are they not married yet?

- No, sometimes it happens that way. But I never hesitated, and it was such a deliberate action, I knew why I had to do it, and it just came from the heart. Moreover, when you have walked on the edge of a knife dozens of times, you realise - why should I give up? Not to try family life, love, and so on? You don't have to close yourself off from it.

Is there a fear of death?

- Listen, you have to admit that no matter what anyone says, you probably have this fear of death, right?

- No, no. There is fear, and I'll explain why - if a person says he is not afraid, he is a fool. Everyone is afraid, absolutely everyone. Before every mission, I tell the guys: I'm scared too, guys, but we have a choice - either we control this fear and do our job, or fear devours you and you can't do anything. No matter how strong you are, no matter what weapons you have, if you don't control fear, it devours you and even more so your comrades who are with you, because it has a very strong effect on people who are close to you. As for death, I have an attitude that I could have been out of this world so many times, so I ask myself every time why I live and why my guardian angel keeps me alive - I know that I will have a certain role in this life and I always wonder where my destiny is leading me and what I have to do. So I rely more on this, and death... whoever runs from death runs towards it, I love this phrase because it conveys certain moments with our mobilization and with draft dodgers, so here is the thing ...

About the draft dodgers

- Does it annoy you?

- It is not so much annoying that people want to save their lives in this way, but rather people who are face to face with a draft notice, and they start to take certain actions, to resist, to somehow react to the conflict situation. I think that if you have already faced this, then be brave, take it as a challenge and just overcome it, do it. As for the people who evade by paying someone money, leaving in a minibus covered with barn board, that's their choice, but whether you'll be happy there is another matter. I'll tell you a story: I was going to the Institute of Traumatology to have my injuries examined, and I met a man in his 30s, small in stature, but he was neat and he addressed me so politely, greeted me and asked if I could buy him a bun and tea. Yes, there's an air defense working somewhere. Could I buy him a bun and tea, and I was in a hurry, I had an appointment, you know, like in the morning when you're late... I didn't have any cash with me, I said: "I'm sorry, I don't have any." I ran, went up the hill and looked with a peripheral glance - there was a small cafe, a window, pies, tea, I saw him following my trajectory, I quickly ran there, said: I need this, that, and the other, I paid money, I came out - he was just coming up, I gave him - take it. And I just, I'm the kind of person who sometimes likes to ask questions, I say: you look neat, I don't smell any alcohol on you, you don't drink, I understand why, what situation you're in, why is that? He explains to me that he's from Romania, he's a refugee, he's been living in Ukraine for quite a long time - more than 15 years - and he works as a janitor, they give him accommodation there, but they only have enough money for food, nothing else. I wished him a good trip and left. I walked away, and you know what this story was about - I walk and think about people who want to cross the border illegally and escape like this - I think that this is probably the same fate for them, so in turn, you have to be honest with yourself and not be afraid, and everything else - if you want it - will happen, so that's it.

- Thank you, this was a very inspiring talk. I wish you a speedy recovery.

- Thank you.

- And to take part in more than one operation. Of course, I want us to win as soon as possible and for you to live your full life, you are so young, you have a lot to do, but we'll take it as it comes.

- And to take part in more than one operation. Of course, I want us to win soon and for you to live your full life, you are so young, you have a lot to do, but as it stands. 

Anna Miroshnychenko, "Who is with Miroshnychenko?"