Deputy Battalion Commander with call sign Berlin: "I was lucky back then - I stormed two platoon strongholds"
"He knows how to kill the enemy while looking him in the eye, how to hold a position single-handedly, and how to escape from situations that seem hopeless. He never planned to become a career soldier, but he returned from abroad to defend his hometown."
Deputy Commander of the 119th Territorial Defense Forces Battalion of the 111th Separate Territorial Defense Forces Brigade, call sign Berlin, lived most of his life in the Donetsk region. In the 2000s, he was an officer in the Titan special forces. In 2014, he was mobilized. He served until December 2016 as part of the Border Guard Service. Then he worked in the German capital for five years. He came to Ukraine in early February 2022 to extend his visa. At the time of the full-scale invasion, he was in Bakhmut, where he had a house.
- How did that 24 February start for you? How did you find out about the offensive?
- We could hear the sound of explosions in our city even before February 24, and that morning artillery cannonade began. There was information on TV and the Internet that a full-scale invasion was taking place. I had collected my military gear from the ATO. I took them and went to my military unit, because I had an order that in case of war I had to go there, bypassing the military registration and enlistment office. It was just in Bakhmut. I was told to come back the next day because I had to go to Kramatorsk, where everyone was being registered. I came back, and during the night our border guards moved out, and the Bakhmut territorial defense unit was already based there. That's how I joined it. In March, we started going to Popasna, and then we occupied the defense line in our suburbs and met the enemy. Our battalion fought for Bakhmut for almost nine months. On October 7, 2022, I was injured, and in November, when I was in the hospital, soldiers were taken out of there for recovery.
- We will come back to this topic. I want to ask you, if you were constantly hearing explosions before February 24, as an experienced soldier, did you realise that the war could go beyond Donbas?
- I understood. My relatives lived in Horlivka, and in 2014 they found themselves on that side. I also had many friends and acquaintances in Donetsk. I even told my parents that we were on the border in Bakhmut, so I hesitated to invest in the house I was building. I was planning to work in Germany for another five years and come back. I was sorry to sell it. Although, I realized that in the event of a full-scale war, I would lose it. In the end, it happened as I had predicted. My house was destroyed before my eyes. But that was not the most important thing. My comrades in arms, friends and acquaintances were dying. We were "fired" very hard there.
- You were temporarily acting as a company commander, right?
- I started the war as a sergeant. When the fighting was going on, three officers were killed. The battalion commander called me and said: "Take control over the company because there is no one to lead it". I was an officer, even though I was in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The fighting was such that the 58th Brigade was losing its positions there. Their and our battalion commanders gave me the task to recapture a platoon stronghold. I listened it. I asked: "And with whom? There are young guys here who have never been in combat, they do not know what it is...". I take my assault rifle and go. The battalion commander called out to me from behind: "I'll send you scouts now!" The company commander, call sign Mayor, who was 70 years old at the time, went with me. Just imagine! I was lucky back then—I stormed two platoon strongholds. I was the first to go. I was followed by a maximum of four men. I captured the first one with Mayor, who was covering me. There were scouts about 70 meters behind. I went under the very edge of the forest belt. I knew it because I had been here before. I knew where our lost military strongpoint was. We approached about 50 meters and sat down. I suggested to Mayor to call for a mortar attack. He said: "Let's first go over there and scout out around'." We successfully stormed. "We were not expecting Wagner.
- How many were there?
- I can't say for sure. We went almost all the way across the border. They came from our flank. The military strongpoint was about 150-200 meters long. They occupied the extreme trenches on the other flank. We were quietly bypassing them. When I approached them, I saw two of them sitting there, smoking. It's hard to say how many were behind them. I "killed" the one on the far side - he fell. The second one did not react in time, although his weapon was lying nearby. By the way, there were a lot of them. We discovered it when we entered. There were RPG-7s, M-22s, M-24s, popularly called "flies", two machine guns, a "Degtyaryov" ('Degtyaryov`s machine gun - O.M.) with a lot of ammunition load. When we occupied the military strongpoint, I placed the scouts on the flanks and told them to control it. Then I brought ten men from the 58th Brigade there, stationed them, explained everything because they did not know what to do. Later, when the battle started, they behaved in such a way that I realized that these guys had never been in such conditions. One of them fired an RPG so hard that he almost deafened us - he didn't even look at us standing behind him before firing, didn't warn us. It's a good thing that it went well.
So, when I had stationed them, I told the Mayor: "Let's move on - let's walk forward to find out where the main positions of the f@ckers are." After those two were "killed", there was no movement from the enemy for an hour and a half or two. We told the guys that we were coming back, so they wouldn't " kill" us. I was the first to go. I hold my assault rifle in front of me. My finger is on the trigger. Before reaching the intersection of forest belts about 40 meters away, an orc comes out. If he had small arms, he would have "killed me." But he used an RPG and made a "click." I hear a projectile, charge flies near me. I fired a round at him. He fell into the bushes. And then they started shooting at us from all over the forest - about 12 points. I fell into a fire ditch (by the way, later the Wagner crawled to our positions through those ditches). I shoot back. Bullets whistle, but they can't hit me. I hear the Mayor shouting behind me: "Cover!" I realize that we have to act. We work as if we were practicing. I jump up and run through the wood line behind him. I changed the magazine, opened fire, and so, covering each other, we withdrew to our positions. I come in and see the guys sitting there. I give them commands: "RPG - fire here, machine gun - there!" I take the walkie-talkie and call for mortar support. It's good that the mortar guys were in touch - they started working very well. Then the f@ckers started to assault. We repelled several of them. That evening I was wounded: I was firing over the dugout, and something hit me from behind, knocking out my assault rifle - I hurt my arm and back very badly. It was a grenade from a VOG. I was lucky that it hit me but did not explode. Otherwise, I would not be alive.
We also asked for an ammunition load to be brought to us - there were problems with logistics. Although we were heavily shelled, we held on. Then our guys pulled up the neighboring positions to this one. They organized the supply of ammunition and took two wounded. In the morning we received an order to leave these positions to the 58th Brigade. That was one of the battles. There were many such battles. When Yura came to visit (Yurii Butusov, the Editor-in-Chief of Censor.NET, recorded an interview with Berlin in Bakhmut two years ago - O.M.), he asked me about the number of contact battles. I counted more than a dozen - when both the enemy saw us and we saw them.
- How would you describe the enemy? What was it like back then? The Wagnerites were fighting in Bakhmut. The guys said that they were not such an easy enemy.
- Wagner's stormtroopers are not professionals. They are "meat". It was the officers who were trained and had extensive combat experience - the command leadership. If I were given such "meat," I would simply work miracles! But we have never fought like that and will never fight like that. There was a battle when we were already together with the 93rd Brigade, and the orcs broke into our trenches. One of the Wagner men was ten meters away from me. He was wearing our pixelated uniform. He had a chevron on his sleeve: "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself!" He looked at me and shouted: "We are fellow troops!". I didn't manage to hit him. He couldn't hit me either. But we knocked them out. You know, I would say they are fearless. They don't care about anything. Sometimes they walk without even holding a machine gun in front of them - it hangs on the side. How can they do that, knowing that our positions are ahead?
I'll tell you how the day before I was wounded, on 6 October, we repelled an infantry assault at the Alpha-23 position. I asked my comrades-in-arms: "Make a video of how many we kill. He did.
I see two orcs standing up again. I open fire, give the command to my machine gunner: "Fire". I also went out to take the captured assault rifles and stations. I turn over one of the f@ckers. I see a Buryat. He was wearing pants and a robe made of very cheap material. His shoes are made of leather. An assault rifle, three magazines, one grenade - he had nothing else...
- Did you save money on them?
- Yes. But I would like to point out that we fought on the front line mainly with their сaptured weapons.
- The next day you were wounded. How did this happen?
- The day before, I was told to reinforce the positions of Alpha-31 and Alpha-23, which were held by the fourth company of the second motorized infantry battalion, commanded by Achill. I brought the guys and repelled the assault I told you about. The next day, the morning of October 7, begins with the guys from Alpha-23 shouting over the radio: "We are under fire!". Everything possible was flying there. I felt that the position would not be held. From the battalion's control point came the expected command to reinforce the positions of Alpha-31 and Alpha-23 again. I called two squads and gathered six men each. While they were waiting, we heard on the radio how the guys were screaming and dying. When it was time to leave, they said: "Commander, we are not going!" I took my assault rifle and said: "Those who are not afraid, come with me!" Three of the 12 left. I took the car and drove to Alpha-23, where the situation was more complicated. We drove up. An enemy drone spotted us. They opened mortar fire on us. There were two Ivanovychs with me - adult men in their 50s, and a young guy named Dunaiev, who was in his 30s. We entered the Alpha-2 position, which was in front of Alpha-23. There was fighting, shooting, and hits. It was already smashed - there were four or five soldiers left who were shell-shocked. We kept moving on. I turned around to give my guys an order. A shell whistled, and all three of them disappeared right before my eyes (two Ivanovychs, as it turned out later, were killed). What to do? I ran to the Alpha-23. I came from our side of the military strongpoint. I knew that there was a picket there. I moved there. There were four guys from the 93rd Brigade in the dugout. Two of them were wounded. I asked if they could get to the Alpha-2 on their own. They said yes. I told the others to hold the rear to prevent the f@ckers from entering, and I went to the front. Everything was already ruined there, there were remnants of trees and the bodies of the guys. I got to the front trench and saw a drone flying overhead. I asked if it was ours. No. It was the enemy's. The commander of our battalion shouted: "Run to help Berlin!" I passed our positions and saw that the guys were no longer there - half of the soldiers were KIA (killed in actions) and the rest were WIA (wounded in actions). I realized that no one would come to help me. I shifted to the left and noticed four Wagner guys approaching. They did not see me. They were aloof. Only the first one was holding an assault rifle. The rest of them were just walking. I stand in front of them and open fire. I even saw the eyes of this first one when the bullets hit him. I don't know if he didn't expect me to be there or if they were not informed. I "killed" the second one. The third one hid behind the corpses, but I threw grenades at him, and the fourth one ducked into the bushes somewhere. I hear someone calling to me: "Guy, help!" I looked around - no one. And there was a wounded machine gunner of the 93rd Brigade lying in a dugout covered with earth. I pulled him away. He was able to move on his own, so I sent him to Alpha-2 and stayed alone.
The enemy drone started to adjust its ordnance on me. The hits started again. The orcs were approaching from two sides - I managed to move to the left and right. I was receiving information from our two drones on the radio communications set: "Berlin, f@ckers left! Berlin, now to the right!". That's how I was moving back and forth and fighting back. I remembered hearing the whistle of a shell, an explosion next to me. I was covered with earth, contused, shrapnel entered my neck and right ear, and blood was spouting. I realized that I needed to get up and walk, but I had swimmy vision and my eyes dimmed. I heard Drone shouting to me on the walkie-talkie: "Six Wagners are running to the left, 30 meters away, and four to the right, 40 meters away!" I moved my legs and got out from under the rubble. The battalion commander shouted into the walkie-talkie: "Alpha-2, run to help Berlin!". But I saw the condition of the guys there and knew that it was not going to happen. I thought it was all over... But our IFV started firing from the right flank. It seemed to have made two shots, and the Wagner firing stopped - they laid down. I crawled back as best I could, clinging to the branches. I got to the end of the position, closer to the picket where the two of us were. There were about 15 meters to go. I shouted: "Guys!". Fortunately, they heard me. They ran over. They set me on my feet. One of them opened the package to tamponade me. I held my neck. I went all over, stumbled, and wandered. I reached Alpha-22, where the guys from the 93rd were. I fell into a sinkhole. They found me unconscious. All I remember is that they were carrying me, or taking me somewhere in a car. I regained consciousness on the surgery table in Bakhmut. Then I was sent by ambulance to Dnipro to Mechnikov Hospital. First, they performed one operation on my neck. The doctor said: "You're lucky that the guys just rewound it and didn't pull the fragment, because they would have torn the artery and that's it." And in the ward, I was lying with another soldier. We both had our faces rewound. He said: "I was covering Alpha-23 in the battle near Bakhmut, where our Berlin was!" I answered: "Yes, I am Berlin! We came out of the same battle!"
I was brought to Vinnytsia from Dnipro. At first, they worked on my face, because I also had a burn. Then I was transferred to the ENT department - they removed small fragments, reconstructed the ear canal, and created a new eardrum. Now I can hear about 60-70 percent now.
While I was in the hospital, I received calls from relatives of the soldiers who died at the positions in Bakhmut that I told you about. It was hard to answer because I didn't see and remember everyone. But I recognized one of them when his mother sent me a photo. I remembered how I was going from Alpha-2 to Alpha-23, and there was an explosion, after which my guys disappeared, and there was a colorful military man sitting in a trench - with a beard, wearing fancy armor, a helmet. We made eye contact. I remembered him. During that explosion, he also fell face down into a trench. I told his mother about it. She then came to my hospital, brought me pies, hugged me, cried, invited me to her place. You know, she treated me like a son...
There was another moment when a surgeon came in and told me: "Your grandmother gave you 1,500 hryvnias." I ask, which one? He answers: "From the village of Demydivka. She read about you in the newspaper." And I had given an interview not long before - I told my story, told where I was being treated, thanked the doctors. This old lady was from the same village as this surgeon. He said she invited me to come. Volunteers helped me - they took me there, and imagine, the whole village gathered! They set the table. I received so much attention! They gave me a tour, took me to the school. People offered to move to them after the war. They said they would find me a house. This is the attitude of Ukrainians towards the military. In Bakhmut, it was different - not even comparable.
Then I had the opportunity to go out into the city from time to time. It's so quiet and beautiful - paving blocks, flowers, cafes and restaurants. I'm in uniform, with my face rewound. They offer me a table and free coffee right away. It's very nice.
And in the hospital, psychologists also came to see us. Then I saw that they were bringing guys with no limbs and torn stomachs. I thought: what's with that ear? Everything was fine. Eventually, I returned to the front to my unit.
- Where was your battalion at the time?
- It was withdrawn for recovery. It was stationed in Dobropillia. I was immediately appointed commander of a newly formed mechanized company. The Order for Courage was just then awarded. Then I was sent to study in Britain - I took a course for commanders of mechanized units. When I came back, we were transferred to the Avdiivka direction. We fought in the battles for Avdiivka, Stepove, Berdychi, Tonenke, broke through near Ocheretyne, where our company was on the main attack line, and conducted a counterattack. Then high-ranking officers came to us and said that they were planning to appoint me battalion commander. I fought for three more weeks in Krasnohorivka. It was a nightmare there!
- Can you compare it to Bakhmut?
- There were not so many drones in Bakhmut. Now it is very difficult to even move from street to street. Or, for example, a drone is guiding a car, and then three or four FPVs fly up at the same time and just attack. So now they can still see and adjust. Plus, there was no continuous line of defense. You go to the command and observation post, and the next house can already be occupied by f@ckers. However, they did a stupid thing in Krasnohorivka - they went straight through the center, and we were on the flanks, so we completely destroyed them. However, it was still very difficult. And then an order came that I was appointed as deputy battalion commander - I was transferred to the 111th Territorial Defense Forces Brigade, and I went to Kyiv for training. I exhaled here after Krasnohorivka.
- What are your impressions of Kyiv, of the locals?
- I watched the civilians when there were air raid alerts and thought: you should be sent to the front line for one day to understand what war is. And here it is a vacation. I enjoyed Kyiv. I gained a lot of theoretical knowledge, even though I have a lot of practical experience. I recovered and got in shape again - I started jogging and going to the gym.
- I understand that you crossed paths with civilian men of military age in the gym?
- Of course, I did! You come in, and there are such big guys! In coffee shops and on the streets, too. They're relaxed, walking their dogs. And I'm sitting there thinking: I don't have cars, EWs, or even normal thermal underwear for the boys. And there are not enough people...
- Are you annoyed by this situation?
- No. I feel fine about it. There has been a war in Ukraine for ten years, and even in the third year of a full-scale war, you can come to Kyiv and live a full life - go to the pool, to the gym. Everything works. Do you know, when I first joined our Bakhmut TDF, the guys and I were discussing how long Ukraine would be able to hold out? I said: "Two or three months, and we will be sitting in shelters in the Carpathians." I had this feeling at the pace of the offensive. I thought that they were advancing with flank cover, bringing in reserves, and increasing their efforts on the main lines. As it turned out, they did something stupid with the columns - they just drove in.
- We were lucky that they did that.
- That's why today in Kyiv, for example, life is quite calm.
- After training, you have already returned to the frontline, to the Toretsk direction. How are you doing now?
- We are holding on. If we had been reinforced with infantry, given more ammunition load, new crews, the situation would have been different. As it is, we are running out of supplies. I won't even mention the numbers... I don't know how it will be, but for now, as I said, we are holding on.
- Do you think about when and how this war will end?
- I think about my parents who live near Kupiansk. Every time I come back from the front line, I try to call them and ask how they are doing, how is their health. I'm thinking about where to take them because the frontline is moving and it's dangerous in the Kharkiv region. And they tell me that they can't leave everything here. So now I am most worried about my parents.
You know, journalists, including foreign ones, often ask me what's next, and how do other countries influence the situation? I say: "Look, what is the Kursk operation? This is the level of operational and strategic planning, i.e., the highest military leadership of the country. And I'm dealing with a company and a battalion - it's planning for a maximum of two or three days." I just came back from the front line today, and I was assigned to defend a new line of defense. I need to draw up a plan for the defense of the village, so I go there for reconnaissance. I've already scouted 15 kilometers there. It's not just a walk. A drone is flying - I need to hide. I have to organize the logistics, how to deliver the material, put up barriers, etc. And I have to do it in such a window that there is no shelling. This is what I live for. So I don't think about global things. There are people who deal with these issues. You have to ask them.
- You are probably being asked because you see what is happening with your own eyes. For example, the same change in enemy tactics on the ground...
- By the way, I can compare the tactics in the Bakhmut and Pokrovsk directions. What did they do before? They came into fire contact with our positions, identified them, conducted reconnaissance, and began to increase their forces there - they threw more and more forces and equipment into the battle, inflicted more powerful fire damage, and launched constant "meaty" assaults, and that's how they could achieve success. Now they act differently: they identify our positions and strike at the gaps between them. Their intelligence is very good - they use technical means to track radio stations and cell phones and understand who is where. Before I went to Kyiv for training, I was at the command post. In the evening, we see three of their IFVs driving out online, bypassing our positions and entering the forest belt between them. Two of them manage to shoot down the FPV, and one of them drops off 10-15 infantrymen, and they scatter like cockroaches. They hide, so you can't find them. And in the morning they can either storm the positions or move on, avoiding them, creating a threat of encirclement.
We need to take this into account and act accordingly. Let me put it this way: if life has sent you here, then you need to become a professional!
Olha Moskaliuk, Censor.NET
Photo and video are provided by Berlin
