INTERVIEW WITH 19-YEAR-OLD CAPTURED RUSSIAN ASSAULTMAN WHO IS ONE TO SURVIVE FROM PLATOON
Soldiers of the 13th National Guard Brigade "Charter" repelled a massive attack by Russian troops during the week on one of our positions near the village of Lyptsi near Kharkiv. During one of the assaults, a wounded Russian assaultman was captured after being abandoned by his comrades.
Ukrainians helped him and transferred him to the hospital. And now, after very severe injuries, a large loss of blood, this 19-year-old Russian assaultman, a contract volunteer fighter, has been saved by Ukrainian doctors. And now we will talk about the story of how this happened, how the battle took place, how Russian commanders motivated their soldiers, how they trained their assaultmen, and how the Charter soldiers repelled one of these numerous attacks on Lyptsi.
Please introduce yourself, what is your name?
Alexander Alekseevich Goncharov.
Where are you from?
I am from Russia, from the Novgorod region, the village of Khvoynoye.
How were you captured?
It turns out that a drone dropped a little bit of water from the drone, and there was a paper attached to this water bottle, and it said: "Move, thus, to the side, along the edge of the planting of forest after the drone, we will not shoot". I want to live too, I'm a human being too. I drank some water because my whole body was very thirsty, dehydrated. I started to move, I walked probably 100-150 meters. Maybe a little more than 200 meters. With stops, because it was very hard to walk. They met me there, showed me where to go. They gave me first aid. And before that, I went out to them and threw off my special body armor so that they could see that I was unarmed, without everything, that is, I was ready to surrender. So they took me prisoner, I shucked off my body armor, I was without everything. And there they gave me first aid. I showed them all my pockets, that I was empty, unarmed, that I needed help. They gave me water to drink. And after that they brought me here.
When did you sign a contract with the Russian army?
In July.
This year?
This year, yes.
Did you get any money?
Yes, I did.
How much?
In the range of 600-650 thousand. After a month of training in Belgorod, they told us to collect everything they gave us and drew up here for a uniform check.
So, what were you issued?
We had an anti-drone blanket, covering, that is, insulating, so to speak. We were given the usual sleeping bags, camouflage nettings, shovels, and food. A little more food. And a dry shower.
What about gear? Body armor, helmets?
Body armor, helmets, everything was issued. Clothes, too, but people bought new ones, most of them for themselves. We're going out in this forming-up.
Did you have any night vision equipment? Optics, optical sights?
No, we didn't get any night vision equipment, nobody bought any.
Did you put telescopic sights on the machine guns?
No, they said it was pointless, don't even think about buying them. We were lined up, we were given some small syringes, so that after being wounded, that is, crosswise, if your leg was wounded, you inject it into your arm. We were given these syringes, two each.
Painkillers?
Yes, we arrived, we were taken in turns. We arrived in Yasniye Zori, not far from the Russian-Ukrainian border. We spent the night there, at night two tanks and two APCs drove in there. We were woken up early in the morning, we were told to get in now, get dressed, get into and drive out. Everyone, everyone got ready, got dressed, got what we needed, loaded up the ammunition load and drove off. The first time we got lost. We found, drivers, the road, turned around, drove back. It was already light enough, we decided that we would not go anywhere else, but there was no point, it was already light. We undressed, there was a command to get back together and got in. There were two tanks and two APCs riding in front. I was riding on the fourth APC. The first tank was hit by a drop, or it was a kamikaze that hit the tank. People started jumping from it, running in different directions. The tank starts turning left. And the rest of the convoy starts turning behind them. They drove away to the left and turned somewhere a little bit to the right. And we came in the last APC. The driver, as he told us later, wanted to drive in and go through this forest plantation, but his steering wheel was locked. He couldn't make the turn, so we stopped in a forest plantation. It's called the Prague forest plantation. We all got out of the APC. There was a big panic. A very good shelling from the Ukrainians started. Everyone started to hide in trenches, dugouts. I wanted to run into the right dugout first, but there was no more room, so I ran into the left one. There we sat. We had five men at first, plus the driver of the APC. It must have been two hours of shelling. We didn't come out of there at all. We had our usual "tytki" walkie-talkies. We talked to each other.
"TYT" is the name of the radio station.
Yeah, that's right, they called it tut. Then, it turns out, we spent the night there. The next morning at night we heard Baba Yaga flying, but we were lying under antidrone blankets. It was scary. In the morning we woke up. Twin's group started making the rounds, looking for the living, two-hundred, three-hundred. We come out of this trench, and 5 literal meters away from us was the trench that I first wanted to go into. And there in the trench itself there were six "two hundred". And one near this trench, the seventh two hundredth. Something saved me that I did not go there, but went to another dugout.
What happened to them?
When we were sitting in the trench, there was a very big explosion nearby, and I got a piece of solid ground about this size. Probably at that point. Then a shell flew at them. Artillery, mortars completely. Kamikazes, FPV, yeah, even sometimes during the day. Regular drops. We had two tanks burned, two APCs burned, and all the ammunition load there burned. So we grabbed just what magazine cases we had. In the morning we gathered, found three hundred men. There were some missing men that we didn't find. There were two hundredths. The guys contacted the command. They told us to move to Berlin. We started moving. I was at the end of the column. We were already 19 out of 26 men.
What happened to the rest of them?
Here are the 7 were 200ths, and the 15 and the other 300ths.
Yeah, so there were 26 trained, and 15 of you went to the position on the assault position line, right?
Yes. And there were two unenclosed grounds, we were told, and the first unenclosed ground was 380 metres. We started running this first unenclosed ground.
Open terrain, you mean?
Yes, yes, it means...
Tell me, I wanted to ask, what did the commander say to you? What was your task?
We had to go from Prague to Berlin. That was the task.
Everything is clear, yes.
We ran the first open terrain of 380 meters. Everything was fine, we had a little break, took a sip of water and went on. When we ran the first open terrain, we passed through also, so to say, not a forest plantation, there was practically nothing at all.
What do you mean nothing happened?
There were no dugouts, no trenches. In the middle of this wooded area stood only one serviceman, if I'm not mistaken, as I said, his call sign was Kasper. He asked the Elder, did you know the road to Berlin? He said, yes, I did.
Who is the Elder?
This is the one who was leading us. We walked further, we got to a 100 meter open terrain, but there was a drone flying very frequently on this open terrain. So we stood and approached for maybe in the range of 10-15 minutes. Then we ran through this 500-meter open terrain and came, actually, to Berlin itself. There we had a little rest.
What is Berlin?
Berlin is a big forest plantation where there is a commander with the call sign Fox. We were led to him. They told us to have a 10-minute break and moved out. We said okay, we had a break. They said, 50 meters forward, there would be two trenches, from there you would move.
Do you mean an attack?
Yeah, yeah. We got there, settled in these two trenches and dugouts and waited for the command. They said to me that Domovoy had brought them a walkie-talkie, so he would be the commander. I said, I was 19 years old, I would not be a commander, didn't even think about me. I handed the walkie-talkie back to Yakuza. Yakuza at that moment, when Metr was 300th, came back to me instead of Metr. He was working with us. I handed the walkie-talkie back to him, told him we're going to blow smokes there now, on the planting you're going to work for. He didn't say the name. We'll work it with Grad, like the commander told us, and then you would go in. And to go in there, you have to run open terrain 500 meters to start with.
500 metres? Wow! In an open field?
You have to run 500 metres across an open field and then come in.
Wow, what a task assignment! So how did the whole group react it?
Well, naturally, everyone didn't react very well. Asked how we're going to do it. He said you're soldiers, you're an assaultmen. He said, whoever starts going back, we'll be killed.
Who said that?
The regimental commander.
Did the regimental commander get in touch with you?
He's been in touch with us the whole time, Sochi. Commander Sochi on the radio.
Have you heard it yourself on the radio?
Yes, he did. Did you hear it on the radio station or is it a rumor? It's on the radio station, he told us.
Wow!
That the one who forced back will be killed. In other words, killed by his own people.
Wow! It's amazing to hear that. I'm shocked that a regimental commander can say that. How did you feel about it?
But still, to be killed by your own, that's kind of harsh. We didn't have a choice anymore. We either went forward, which would probably be the same thing there. Or we stayed here and our own people would kill us. There was this little island in front of us called Garlic. It's literally small, really. We were told, from Garlic we would start and go straight ahead for 500 meters.
How many of you were there?
There were five of us.
Five people. Did your second group run away there?
I'm going to tell you more.
Go ahead.
We went in there. There were open trenches. On these open trenches we found some water and drank it. Since not everyone had backpacks with them, because not all the backpacks in the Armored Personnel Carrier had time to drop then on Prague. And the backpacks were burned. And my backpack was left with another person, because I was told that I had to go to Luxembourg. We drank water, found Ukrainian cigarettes, smoked and started to move on by command.
On this planting you came in?
Yes.
So you came to the very edge of the planting and then you started to move on?
Further down it, yes. We moved on. Command was saying, our eyes are above you, it's okay. We were moving, we were moving. I asked, like, guys, how much further do we have to go? They asked the command, how much farther to go? They said, we have to go as far as the armored vehicles. We only got to the place where, it turned out, there was this, so to speak, big trench, huge, open. But it turned out to be, thus, military vehicles. We had just crossed this place, and a terrible shelling started on us. They started shooting from everything again. It turns out that our commander was hit, he started to retreat. I took up the walkie-talkie, asking what should we do? He said, the regiment commander.
Regiment commander in person?
He said to move forward. I said, how were we going to move? He said, "Well, stay in the shelters, then. Move forward or in the shelters. And there was nothing in the shelter. Just leaves, grass, bushes, trees. I threw the walkie-talkie, told our soldiers to make a withdrawal. We started to withdraw. During the withdrawal half of our men were already dead. Because the shelling was all over the entire forest plantation. And plus they were shooting towards Ukrainsk. The AFU from assault rifles.
Did you see any infantrymen firing at you?
I didn't see them, I heard the sound of assault rifle fire. And I ran at the top of my speed. But I was the last one to run, and then I caught up with one man. And then we kept moving with him. First, he forced back, then I forced back. He forced back, I forced back. On the way, he was 300ths. I helped him. I applied a tourniquet and bandaged him up. He said, I ran all the way to the end. Maybe I'd get lucky. I started to slowly make my way back. I started to force back. As I started to force back, I looked up. The second group was already in this forest plantation. He says, "Where are you running to? I said what you were guys doing here. We were told to come in here. I said if you want, you could enter. I was not going in there anymore, I'm making a hundred percent force back. While they were trying to figure out if we were doing the force back or going forward, our guy was 300ths. I ran up to him, took his tourniquet. I started bandaging his arm. And I was sitting over an open foxhole. And there's an hit in this open foxhole. And so I got wounded.
Right thigh and left buttock. After that, I fell into this open trench. I lay there. I asked for help. Nobody helped. I applied myself a tourniquet, asked for a bandage. I wasted my bandage on that guy. Nobody gave me a bandage either.
Did your comrades hear you?
Yes, they were five meters away.
How could they not help? They didn't react to you at all?
No, they were afraid to go out themselves, so as not to be injured.
That's amazing. Did they tell you in training that you should help your comrades, bandage them up?
Yeah. I guess the guys were panicked and scared. Nobody wanted to get out.
Tell me, was it your first fight? Or were there people with experience?
We were mobilized. Who'd been in the service for two years. It was my first combat assignment. Then, it turns out, practically everybody got 300ths. We were waiting for the mist when things calmed down a little bit.
So two groups went into the forest plantation, 15 men? All 15 people were in the forest plantation?
Yeah. Right. Not all 15. Five of us, three of them. Four entered.
They didn't all enter, did they?
Yeah, yeah. Because there was a third group that entered afterward. I will tell you about it. We tried to go out at night in the mist. It was 500 meters trying to go back when it was not dark, but not light either. Since I left the walkie-talkie, I couldn't hear anything. But when I apparently lost too much blood, I got up, got dizzy, fell down and could not move. I crawled to some bush and injected myself with another painkiller I'd asked for. And under that bush, I slept, just in my body armor, without my assault rifle, because I had dropped it somewhere along the way, when I was forced back. It was probably morning by now, or closer to daylight. I was without a watch, I lost my watch on the way, and I don't know what time it was. It was already light out. I just smelled smoke, I opened my eyes, I saw our third group coming in. I said where you were going. They said we're going to attack. Another, three hundredth, asked if there was water. Everyone said no and went into the attack. Five minutes went by, I heard just, I was three hundred, I was three hundred, there were no other words, only gunshots I could hear. Minutes went by, probably another ten minutes. The guys were already forcing back. I asked where you were going. There were about five of them entering, only three leaving. They said we're out of ammunition load, we're leaving. I don't know if they survived or not. I'll never know. They left, us three hundred, we stayed in this plantation. Because I lost a lot of blood, had little strength, I fell unconscious again. I opened my eyes again, asking who was around. I heard only one man, he said, all the others ran back, that is, they did not call us, nothing, got up and ran away. I went over to him, looked at him, he had two legs, two arms, all wounded. He asked for a shot, I didn't have one, but he was already in a state of death, he started to groan a little. But I couldn't do anything to help him. He said, let's have a smoke, I gave him a cigarette. He says, I can't take a whole one, let's smoke in half. So we smoked half and half, he says, what are you gonna do next? I say that I don't know, I certainly can't get you out, no matter how much I'd like to, because I'm walking on one leg myself. I say, I'm sorry, hold on there, maybe there would be help. I went to move on, forced back more accurately. There were drones above me, there were a few more drops into him. I think he was already, unfortunately, two hundred there, because you could hear screaming and then just silence. There were drones hovering over me, for quite some time. I didn't have a machine gun, I just had armor, a stick that I was leaning on to be able to pass at least somehow, because I wanted this open terrain to pass somehow or to wait for the mist, but I didn't have the opportunity as such. I ended up being taken prisoner.
A cautionary tale.
Very instructive. I've been wondering why I needed to do this all the time I've been sitting here.
Tell us about your parents.
I have a father, mother and sister who live in Russia.
What are their names?
Boris, Nadezhda, Nadezhda is my mother, Anastasia is my sister.
What's their surnames?
Zemlemerov.
Zemlemerov?
Yes.
Tell me, how did they let you go to war at the age of nineteen to earn money, as you say? What kind of parents are they? It's amazing.
To begin with, they didn't believe me, they thought I wasn't brave and bold enough to take such an action. At first they laughed and told me to keep bad thoughts out of my head. Then they started to discourage me when I started to persuade from it more and more. And after signing the contract, they accepted it and hoped for the best, that I would come back alive and healthy. It turned out a little bit differently than we had hoped.
Did you give the money to your parents?
Of course I did.
Were they satisfied?
Parents? Yes.
What were the total losses as a result of these two days of assault?
I don't know, maybe a couple of people who were forced back, who were not the 300th, may have survived if they ran. But almost everyone was from the 200th. When I was running, I was running over the dead bodies of our soldiers.
Did you communicate with the members of your group? How old were these people? Were they as young as you?
There was one young nineteen-year-old guy like me, but he was in Prague when he came, he was in that dugout that was all 200.
What was your name?
His name was Pasha. His call sign was Baloo.
A Baloo? Where did he come from?
I'll tell you now. He was from St Petersburg.
Can't remember the surname?
Yashtykov.
Pavel Yashtykov. From St Petersburg, call sign Baloo. On the very first day, he was struck down. So he came to the front and immediately went back. How good was the training in the assault unit of the 7th Motorised Rifle Regiment?
I don't know how to describe it, because I'm not a professional myself, but they prepared us as much as they could, i.e. we practiced a lot. There were rest breaks, but it was literally 10 minutes every hour.
What kind of firearms did you use?
With AK-74 I shot not that well, but not that badly either.
How many rounds of ammunition did you shoot in a month?
In a month, I must have fired 600-700 rounds for sure, because I was given a disposable rocket-propelled assault grenade, and I fired more from a grenade launcher, as I was given two rocket-propelled assault grenades for a combat mission.
How many assault grenade launchers have you fired?
There are probably 30 of them.
Thirty in a month. Yeah, wow. Did you throw hand grenades?
Yes, we threw hand grenades.
How many grenades did you throw?
Maybe 15-20 grenades in all the days.
How were you treated by the soldiers of the Charter Brigade, who captured you?
It was pretty good, they gave me first aid. They gave me water to drink, offered me a chocolate bar, but at that moment I was so hungry because I was so dehydrated that I refused. They helped to take me out because I couldn't feel my leg at all. And when they gave me first aid, they also gave me some kind of pill, apparently, an anaesthetic. When the car arrived, they helped me to get into the car, they were driving calmly, talking to me, not raising their hands at me, nothing.
And what about the doctors here, in the hospital, how did they help you, how did they treat you?
It's quite good, there's nothing bad here, they communicate calmly with everyone.
Don't you have any pain right now?
Just leg.
You've been fully treated, I just don't see anything critical. You're stabilized, I guess, right? You can lie down now. I see you have a catheter, right?
I've got another wound in my shoulder, a hole. And there's a hole in this leg over here.
Wow, you're being cut well enough. So, a thigh, buttocks, shoulder and tibia, right?
Yeah, I may say so.
Well, I can see the whole thing, the legs are cut.
When they showed me, there was a bullet right there in the leg.
Yeah, and you got a bullet in your leg?
Well, there was a bullet right there, but I don't know what it was. The only thing that hit that foot was the VOG (grenade launcher fragmentation round). I mean, there was no hole in the shoe, nothing. I don't know how the bullet got there.
Well, that's how you navigate with a map, right? You mean you look at the routes where you've been?
Yes, during the interrogation I showed the map of the path we took.
Yes, you showed the way. But can you show us all the bases of Kursk, Belgorod, Yasnye Zori?
I don't know, I kind of showed Yasniye Zori, and I think I showed Belgorod, too. I want to appeal in principle completely to the Russian Federation, to the president, to the Ministry of Defense to exchange me, to return to my country, because I want to return to my country. I was taken prisoner for a reason to be exchanged. So I very much ask you to make every effort to have me exchanged and return me to my native country.
