"CHONHAR" entry-exit checkpoint. Crime against country. Testimonies of eyewitnesses
The first documented testimony of eyewitnesses and participants in the hitherto unknown battle at Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint on February 24, 2022. The details of the heroic resistance put up by the Ukrainian military are told by direct witnesses of these events - an employee of the Sokar gas station, border guards, an APC driver, and the head of intelligence in the South.
Unique footage of the mined Chonhar road bridge, which was unsuccessfully attempted to be blown up. A significant portion of the participants in that battle are either still in captivity or have been killed. The losses of the 137th Marine Battalion, which was the first to open fire on the enemy column, have not been disclosed yet.
Our heroes share their truth about what happened on the eve of and during the invasion for those who gave their lives, health, or have not yet returned home.
Our work on establishing the full picture of the events continues. If you were directly involved or a witness to these events and have something to share, please get in touch.
***
On 24 February 2022, at 4.40 a.m., Russian troops fired Grad rocket launchers at Ukrainian positions at the Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint, after which an enemy convoy of armoured vehicles crossed the administrative border with the annexed Crimea and captured the left bank of the Kherson region in a day - this footage from the State Border Guard Service surveillance camera went viral, giving the impression that Russian vehicles had marched through like a parade without any resistance. The soldiers who were the first to meet the enemy and open fire on the convoy - with ten times less forces and means - remained out of the picture and out of public attention. Among them are the marines of the 137th Separate Marine Battalion and border guards of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, many of whom were captured or killed. We managed to find witnesses, and with their help we tried to recreate the picture of the events and the battle and identify those who desperately resisted.
12 February 2022, Kherson region
Zelenskyy:
These are truly large-scale military exercises, involving 1300 people, and it's no coincidence that they are taking place across all border regions of our state. This is exactly how our state should have responded in 2014, and this is precisely what was missing back then...
Excellent training – thank you for the quality and for defending our country. Watching this gives you confidence in tomorrow and in today as well.
Zaluzhnyi:
As we anticipate, we will neutralize any enemy attempting to approach us through rapid, mobile operations.
Oleksii and Yevhen, border guards
Oleksii Ruzhynenko: I was in charge of the regime, that is, I checked that people were following the rules, that is, not smoking in the wrong place
Yevhen Ekkert: And I checked for a document, that is, their passport
Yevhen: Yes, I probably spent nine months in Chonhar.
Oleksii: I've been here for three months, less than three months.
How did you become border guards?
Yevhen: Well, I got drafted. The summons came, and that was it.
Yevhen: I was turning 19 at the time. My birthday is on November 10, and on the 16th, I joined the army. So, I enlisted at 19.
Oleksii: I wanted to go to the Tank Troops Academy in Kharkiv, but I didn’t pass the exams. I went to the military enlistment office. And instead of what I expected, they handed me a summons. They told me, "Just go through the process, it'll be done in a week." And that's how I ended up there, you could say.
What is your combat training like?
Yevhen: Well, a machine gun.
Oleksii: AKM (Kalashnikov upgraded submachine gun).
Yevhen: AKS.
How much shooting practice did you get?
Oleksii: That is, about... 15 rounds, more or less.
Yevhen: About 20, basically a magazine.
Oleksii: In total, 30 rounds and that's it.
Yevhen: 30 rounds at the target – sitting, standing, and that’s all.
How much distance did you have from the Russian border crossing point?
Oleksii: About two or three kilometres.
You could have seen them.
Oleksii: Yes, easily... from the tower.
Did you feel this tension there?
Yevhen: Well, you know, there was combat readiness training, for example... I don't know, mostly combat alert drills, and that's it – basically, nothing else was different.
Oleksii: About a week before it all started, we were already wearing body armor at the border checkpoint. Yeah, they didn’t tell us anything special, just body armor. "There will be an inspection, so put them on," and that was it.
What were your instructions on when to open fire?
Yevhen: Well, if there is a threat to the life or safety of the border guards.
Oleksii: You see, different officers said different things. Some said that if Russian troops were already crossing the bridge – the administrative line – then you should open fire. Another officer, for example, said that if they had already fired at you, then you should shoot back. For him, it didn’t matter whether they crossed or not.
And about a week later... a drone approached the entry-exit checkpoint.
Yevhen: Well, it was surveilling our area...
Oleksii: We’re not even allowed to fire a shot, just aim the rifle, and maybe it spots something, turns around, and flies away – just so no one shoots.
Yevhen: I mean, it most likely saw our defensive positions, for example, and just flew away.
Oleksii: I mean, nothing, you just stand there and watch, that’s all you can do.
Yevhen: You don’t have authorization to shoot it down, for example. It just looked around and calmly flew away, and that was it. And what can you do about it? If you shoot, you’ll be held accountable. Well, then there will be questions about the ammunition – where did they go? You signed a document for 140 or 120 rounds, for example, and then it turns out you have fewer rounds. Where did they go? You’ll be held accountable for that.
The day before, there was a large-scale exercise called "Blizzard". Do you know about them?
Oleksii: No, I didn't.
Yevhen: No.
What weapons did you have available?
Yevhen: Assault rifles.
Oleksii: Assault rifles.
Oleksii: That's it, nothing more. А! And we still had an APC.
Yevhen: The APC was in the caponier and that was it.
Oleksii: Yes, he is also a border guard, but he is seconded. We don't know him that well.
16 February 2022, Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint
Ivan Motok, driver of the Command Group of the Rapid Response Border Commandant's Office, 25th Border Guard Detachment of the SBGSU (State Border Guard Service of Ukraine):
I started my service on 17 September 2020. I signed a contract and joined the State Border Guard Service. I completed training as an APC driver.
Commandant's offices began to be established in 2014, when Russian forces invaded our territory. We are more mobile now, with armored vehicles, better equipment, and more firepower. In the event of any aggression or provocation, we must immediately deploy to the area to neutralize the threat if possible or to reinforce a detachment or checkpoint.
During your service, did you have to go on this kind of mission?
In 2021, there were also provocations from our enemies. We deployed to the Kherson direction as part of our Border Guard Commandant's Post of Rapid Response. We had armored vehicles, but nothing serious happened at that time.
Have you participated in the "Blizzard 2022" command and staff exercise?
No, I was not there.
On 14 February, we were ordered to reinforce the position of the Chonhar border guard detachment.
We took up our positions with a team of 30 people, plus our commanding officers were with us. We set up tents, brought in stoves to heat the tents. The guys started rotating shifts, taking up defensive positions. And early in the morning, an excavator was brought in, and we started to fortify our positions.
Denys Herasymenko, a worker at the construction site of the Socar petrol station at the Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint
DENYS: My name is Denys. I was born in the town of Polohy, Zaporizhzhia region. I ended up in Chonhar for work. We were building a petrol station for the Sokar company, plus the restoration of the Administrative Services Center (ASC), the bus station, and the surrounding areas. Plus, we worked on the infrastructure. The president even came to see it. It was his initiative, after all.
We should have handed it over a long time ago, but this time it's supposed to be final – the opening is on 15 March.
Were you a builder there?
Let's just say I was a builder.
So you can't say exactly what you were doing?
Well, it's better not to say.
I was just a ordinary worker, that's what my job was.
And you were there around the clock and lived in a construction trailer?
Yes, yes, yes. If something broke down, electricians would come, and they kept finishing things up.
Have you seen security measures tightened?
I had seen them before, and everyone felt it. Everyone there knew about it, and the locals knew it too.
If you drive towards Chonhar, you'll come across a checkpoint. You can see how our guys are setting up, how they are digging in this APC, how everything is set up, where they have what, basically, how many men are there. Anyone can just see it! If locals are moving back and forth across this border, and they go there to clean or sweep the area, or do some housekeeping, they knew where everything was buried, where things were dug in. And everyone knew it! I mean, it wasn't a secret – it was an open secret. It was ridiculous.
There was also private security protecting all of us. That is, policemen were stationed at the ASC at night, and there was also a private security guard. He mysteriously disappeared in the evening, along with our policemen. Then I was told an offensive was being prepared.
Did anyone warn you to leave because it might be dangerous?
Well, nobody but my mum... Nobody but my mum.
Bohdan Kopchatov, detachment commander of the 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion named after Colonel Ye. Konovalets:
The 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion is subordinated to the Army and the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. I came there as a squad leader.
Only your unit provided intelligence there. In other words, virtually all the information that was available was obtained by your subordinates.
Yes, we were the only intelligence agency.
Did you know about the Blizzard 2022 command and staff exercise? Did your unit participate?
I took part in these exercises, personally, only at the planning stage during the meeting. I did not go to the isthmus with the president. It was a high-level meeting called "Organisation of Interaction." All the representatives of the security forces of the Kherson region were present: the National Police, the Security Service, me, a representative of the 59th Brigade. The commander wasn’t there; he was either on leave or on sick leave from the 59th Brigade. His deputy was present, as well as the commander of the marine battalion, Alpha, and then more – artillerymen, air defence. There were a lot of people at the meeting. It was personally chaired by Commander Andrii Sokolov.
Did this meeting raise the issue of shortages of weapons or a lack of personnel in that area in the event of an offensive? Were these problems discussed?
Definitely, and in my opinion, this issue didn’t even need to be raised because it was obvious. I mean, 400 people were defending an isthmus 200 kilometres long. You have to understand that this just doesn’t work. I clearly remember it was mentioned that the 59th Brigade was defending the Chonhar-Nova Kakhovka direction, covering that road, and someone from the audience asked who would defend the Melitopol direction. And specifically, Melitopol. The commander responded that a reserve brigade was supposed to be in the Melitopol direction and was already on its way. But it never arrived.
Andrii Sokolov, Major General, Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces Command "South", Commander of the "South" troop group (2022)
Was the issue of increasing the number of employees raised?
- Absolutely.
What was the problem?
- Most likely, insufficient forces and resources. The enemy had concentrated its troops over a large area, from Belarus to Crimea. There weren’t enough forces; troops were needed in the JFO area, in Kyiv, and in Kharkiv. Across the whole front – there weren’t enough forces – in the North and in Slobozhanshchyna as well. I think that’s why.
Foreign intelligence agencies had already reported the possibility of an invasion. What did Ukrainian intelligence observe in that area? So it was you who provided this information?
Bohdan Kopchatov: It is important to understand that we provided tactical intelligence. That is, what we see with our eyes. I could not see what was happening in the depths of Crimea. We could see the coastline and ... Well, they have a training ground right on the administrative border, so we watched, relatively speaking, the training ground and the rest of the coast along Lake Sivash.
What was the name of the training area?
Bohdan Kopchatov:Filatovka.
Somewhere around 10 or 15 days before the full-scale invasion, they started training there, large-scale exercises involving artillery, aviation, and so on. They were practicing basic general military operations, such as deploying, retracting, firing artillery, and so on. In other words, it was like a normal, relatively speaking, brigade exercise at the training ground. We recorded it all, reported on it, and so on.
Did it seem threatening to you at the time?
Bohdan Kopchatov: It seemed threatening to me when a couple of days before the offensive started, their soldiers started clearing anti-tank mines at various entry-exit checkpoints, including Chonhar on their side of the crossing. Why are they clearing them? It could be different - repairs there... but it was already some signs of non-standard actions and so on.
What were the orders after this information?
Bohdan Kopchatov: To observe. Probably a day or two before the offensive, large armoured columns were forming in our direction, quite long ones, and we reported that these were likely signs of the enemy's offensive. Because if they were marching in our direction, it could only be an offensive. And if there's an entry-exit checkpoint here, and a column of 200 units is heading in the direction of an entry-exit checkpoint, these are clear signs of an offensive. But it wasn't for me to make decisions. I have a narrow-profile job. We passed the information to the intelligence chief, and the intelligence chief passed it on to the commander.
Serhii Naiev, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2020-2024)
UP: Did you have any data from Ukrainian intelligence?
Naiev: Every day I received intelligence reports that there were no strike groups around the country.
Bohdan Kopchatov: We had 21 personnel as foot reconnaissance troops of combat units. In total, roughly speaking, I estimate around 400 personnel. This is what I would call the garrison of the Crimean Isthmus. We were facing the largest assault force surrounding Ukraine—25,000 troops against 400. It’s absurd.
Ideally, these exercises should have prepared the troops for a potential escalation, and, naturally, any shortcomings or vulnerabilities would have been identified during the drills. These gaps would then be addressed so that by the time of an actual offensive, everything would function like a well-oiled mechanism. But instead, things played out as they always do. The exercises were merely a formality on paper—just a checkbox, as if we had completed them and the troops were fully prepared to repel an attack.
Were bridge demolition measures verified as part of these exercises? Do you have any information on whether the functionality of these charges was checked?
I personally witnessed the mining of the bridges. At the end of January, my reconnaissance team inspected the area beneath them. I have photos and videos showing explosives in crates, and so on. I saw it with my own eyes.
But that was in late January. The offensive began at the end of February. I have no information on what happened in between.
Whose area of responsibility is it for serviceability?
Engineer troops. I know for sure that in February, an inspection from the engineer troops came with the president to check the mines.
We contacted the 808th Separate Support Brigade, which was responsible for the maintenance of mines, but they did not respond to our request - author's note.
23-24 February 2022, Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint
23 February – what kind of day was it when you came on shift?
Yevhen: In the morning, we arrived… everything seemed like a regular day.
How long was your shift supposed to last?
Oleksii: 24 hours. The personnel on duty were about the same as usual.
I remember one man came through. I think the shift supervisor asked him what was happening on the other side. He said there was some military equipment—tanks, APCs, that’s all, nothing else. So, they let him pass, and that was it, he left.
Yevhen: Some people were saying everything was fine.
Oleksii: We were still processing crossings. Look, only one side was closed, but the other… yeah, one lane was blocked, but the other remained operational.
When do you remember the last people crossing?
Oleksii: What time was it… around one in the morning? They came from Donetsk region.
We let them through. I think the border guards at their checkpoint were already saying that…
Yevhen: The lights. The power had already been cut.
Do you mean the approach of vehicles?
Yevhen: We heard sounds.
Oleksii: Since around 10 p.m.
Yevhen: From 10 onward, there was this low humming sound, you know… like that…
Oleksii: Closer to 1 a.m., we started realizing that… something was about to happen. We were watching through the thermal imager from the tower and saw a convoy moving in. The lead vehicle had its headlights on, while the rest were following behind in the dark.
I went back to the room, undressed, lay down, and barely 10 minutes later, another conscript came in and said, "The lieutenant ordered us to get ready and move out." That was it.
Yevhen: Combat alert. Get out of the building, take up defensive…defensive
Oleksii: Well, I don’t think there was an official alarm back then, just… Oh, actually, there was...
We went down into the trenches and waited.
Ivan Motok, driver of the command unit, rapid response border commandant’s office, 25th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine:
Every hour or so, I would start up the APC to keep it warmed up, just in case, since the equipment was old. Start it up, warm it, shut it down—again and again.
At around 4:20 a.m., I started it up again. It ran for about 15 minutes, then I turned it off. I had just stepped out into the revetment to have a smoke—just finished, I remember it like it was yesterday—when I heard the whistling sound.
Denys Herasymenko, a worker at the construction site of the Socar petrol station at Chongar entry-exit checkpoint:
I walked in, thinking, "I'll have some tea now." I pressed the kettle button—and then the first Grad strike hit. The first one landed, then the second—silence. And then it started pouring down, just like that. I dropped to the floor and started getting dressed right there. Meanwhile, everything kept pounding and pounding. The first thing I did was call the foreman and tell him, "Get out of there, it's war."
Bohdan Kopchatov: Around five in the morning... Oh! I remember exactly—somewhere in the middle of the night, my people were reporting that on the Russian side, the lights at their entry-exit checkpoints started going out. They were being turned off. Then the lights at the Titan plant near the Perekop entry-exit checkpoint went dark. I thought to myself, "Something’s starting." At about five or maybe half past four in the morning, my subordinate from the Chonhar direction called and said, "We're being shelled by Grads."
Where were you?
In the village of Odradivka.
I asked, "Are the columns moving?" He replied, "Not yet."
I immediately started calling everyone stationed on the isthmus, checking the situation in different directions. The tension was rising at Chonhar and Perekop—these were the two main entry-exit checkpoints. Perekop led toward Chaplynka, and Chonhar toward Melitopol. The situation was escalating rapidly—call after call. I immediately got in touch with the chief of intelligence to discuss the next steps. He told me, "Keep observing, and if an offensive begins—report immediately." Then the artillery strikes started—Chonhar was hit too, and the marines began taking losses from the Grad attacks.
A soldier from Chonhar called me and said, "The convoys are moving." I called the head of intelligence, and by that time, the columns had already crossed onto Ukrainian soil. I told him, "Lay down artillery barrage fire on the bridges." He hung up, called back shortly after, and said, "The artillery won't have time to deploy."
How long does it take for artillery to deploy? It's from a few minutes to an hour
Well, that artillery should have been deployed and waiting for the command to fire.
We had a general chat. It was me and the marines. Everyone was there - from platoon commanders to the commander of their battalion. And when the enemy's equipment started to move, we wrote in the chat - cut the bridges. The marines upvoted.
Ivan Sestrivatovskyi, senior sergeant of the 137th Battalion, 35th Marine Brigade:
I tried to detonate it, but there was no explosion. I tried to check the wires, maybe there was some kind of mistake, tried again three times, but there was no explosion, and I was following orders.
Bohdan Kopchatov: And he sends a text message because I didn't see it visually, I wasn't at Chonhar, there was no detonation.
There was no hesitation about blowing up the bridge. Blowing up the bridges was a clear decision—it was our safety.
Did you know at the time that there was no alternative way to destroy them?
No.
How come?
Well, it wasn’t my responsibility. My job was reconnaissance, and that’s what I was focused on.
When the bridges didn’t blow up—I wouldn’t say I panicked, but I was furious. I wanted to drag those engineers to some separate shore and... well, yeah. I just realized—that was it.
The bridges didn’t explode, the artillery didn’t deploy, the 59th Brigade didn’t move. It felt like the entire world was playing against us. At Chonhar, the marines had just one armored personnel carrier and an SPG—a Soviet-era anti-tank grenade launcher—with only six rounds for the entire defense.
Did the marines try to use their weapons against this convoy?
Sure. Of course. Imagine, six shots to a grenade launcher, one armoured personnel carrier and 200 pieces of Russian equipment.
Ivan Motok, driver of the management group of the rapid response border commandant's office, 25th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine:
I had a task: if, God forbid, shelling started, the guys closest to the bridge had to run to me, jump into the APC, and we would get out of there. Right away, I could see countless tracer rounds streaking through the air, explosions going off one after another. Then I turned my head to the left and saw our guys getting hit. One of them was clutching his head, screaming. And then—an explosion right next to him and that was it.
I saw the first enemy tank roll onto the bridge—and I saw it get hit. The marines took it out with an RPG. But right after that shot, they started pounding both us and the marines indiscriminately. The marines weren’t far from us, and after they hit the tank, the enemy bombarded them relentlessly for 20 minutes with everything they had. They left nothing standing. I don’t even know what happened to those guys.
Maybe 10, maybe 15 minutes passed. I waited, but eventually, I realized—there was no sense.
Our orders were that in such a situation, everyone was to run to the exit of the Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint, where vehicles from the unit were supposed to pick us up—buses, mainly. But as the buses approached, they also came under fire. And when I drove out in the APC, the moment I cleared the caponier, I immediately heard enemy fire bursting in bursts against the vehicle.
I had driven maybe 400 meters—I was already closer to the exit—and then, just behind me, there was a deafening thud. And that was it. My vision went dark. My whole body froze—I couldn’t understand what had happened. Maybe five seconds passed, but it felt like an eternity. Then I started to regain my senses. I looked at the APC—it was shaking violently. I couldn’t hear a thing. I just climbed out, grabbed my rifle, threw on my armor. And then flash, I was already at the entrance to the checkpoint. I saw two guys in a glass booth, firing at a tank. But the tank—it was theirs now, they had pushed in fast—turned and rolled straight into the booth. And that was it. I dived to the side and took cover under the road.
Denys Herasymenko, a worker at the construction site of a Socar petrol station at Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint:
I got up, quickly stuffed the essentials into my backpack. I was just about to put it on when I saw five of our guys running—two covering the rear, two dragging a wounded man. I shouted to them, " Guys, over here!"
Oleksii and Yevhen, border guards:
Oleksii: I knew right away—I had to get down, cover my head. So I crouched. Then I heard the lieutenant yelling, "Everyone to the dugout!"
We ran inside, sat down. Some were praying, some were screaming, some were crying. It was really terrifying.
Yevhen: How many times were we shelled?
Oleksii: Yes, about 40 minutes to an hour, something like that.
Yevhen: Then the command came that we should open the door and go out.
Oleksii: Our department said they sent a bus to evacuate us.
The lieutenant told us, "Alright, let’s move out in a column." The spacing was about 10, maybe 15-20 meters. That was it. We started running in formation. As we exited the dugout and ran towards our rear, we saw an APC and something that looked like Cossacks—people were shooting. Shooting at the column. We thought—damn. Maybe marines? We had marines here...
Yevhen: The vehicles were moving. It looked like the first ones turned around and ended up firing on their own. That’s how it happened, yeah. Most likely, there was no coordination between them...
Oleksii: We got to our rear, and there it was—an APC or something similar to a Kozak. And people were firing at the column. We thought, maybe it’s ours? The marines were just 100 meters away from us. Maybe they were coming to get us out? So we all started lowering our rifles, shouting, "Ours! Ours!" As we got closer, we noticed—white armbands, red armbands, all of them wearing masks.
Yevhen: We didn’t even...
Oleksii: We couldn’t understand—what the hell was going on?
Yevhen: Were they ours? Or not?
Oleksii: And then, just 15 meters away, we heard a Russian soldier sneer— "Oh, it’s the Ukes... f#cking bastards..." And that was it. Immediately…
Denys Herasymenko, a worker at the construction site of a Socar petrol station at the Chonhar entry-exit checkpoint:
They stormed in immediately, and two "Tigers" drove up. They had large-caliber machine guns mounted on top, thermal imagers, headlights on. "Stop! Hands!" I raise my hands, shouting, "I'm a civilian!" I started speaking to them in their language, saying, "I'm a civilian."
"If you want to live, crawl over here." So I crawled towards them. And then, another firefight broke out.
Maybe our guys were returning fire. Then I saw one orc go down, another one screamed and dropped as well. Well, at least he's showing signs of life—one was a "KIA (killed in action)," one was a "WIA (wounded in action)." It was our guy, a border guard, who flanked them from the side. The vehicle had stopped like this, and they were firing from cover to avoid getting hit. And he came up from an angle, catching them off guard. So yeah, they gave them a good beating.
Zhenia and Oleksii
Oleksii: The Russians storm in, their bags full of magazines, grenades, everything. When they forced us to the ground and stripped off our body armor, there were four magazines—three on the vest and one in the rifle. That’s it. They start yelling, "Where are this...grenades? Knives? Pistols?" We had nothing. "What do you mean, nothing? If we find something, we’ll kill you."
Yevhen: They made threats—said they’d execute us right there. Fired shots right over our heads.
Oleksii: I remember lifting my head, and I wasn’t the only one. We looked toward the gas station—there was a bus standing there, riddled with bullet holes, shattered glass all over the ground.
Yevhen: Yeah. The bus had already been shot up.
Bohdan: I immediately dismissed the thought of the order to hold the position until the last soldier. Because, for example, I wouldn’t have been able to live with the thought that I had sent people to their deaths. So I gave the order to withdraw right away.
During the strikes and fighting, the Marine commander pulled out. At the time, he was the commander of the 137th Marine Battalion. He left, but his men remained on the isthmus.
"My guys didn’t have any military vehicles there, and we had discussed this at the planning stage—if anything went wrong, they were to withdraw with the Marines. In fact, all our operations on the isthmus were closely coordinated with the Marines. Essentially, we were functioning as a single unit. When they pulled back, their APC broke down. They had to abandon it because Russian forces were already right on their heels. At that point, there were three of my men and their platoon.
Ivan Motok, driver of the management group of the rapid response border commandant's office, 25th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine:
I heard my phone ringing. I took it out—there were a lot of missed calls from our commander. He called and asked, "What’s happening there?"
I said, "Enemy armor is advancing. A lot of it. Tanks, Tigers—everything."
He asked, "Are you okay?" I said, "Yeah, I’m fine. Slight concussion, but it’s passing—just a ringing in my ears." He said, "Do you have your documents with you?" I answered, "Yes, I have my ID and my rifle with me." He said, "Rip off your insignia. Hide your documents and weapon—can you stash them somewhere?" I said, "Yeah, I managed to bury them a little." "Do it now," he said. "Then try to make your way to us."
Oleksii: We were brought to Crimea, and we were told that tomorrow we would let you go in the evening.
This is probably Dzhankoi, an international car checkpoint, near the border, where we were sitting in some kind of headquarters, I think. And that's where we were filmed. At first he said, "Who wants to be interviewed there? Well, everyone was silent, then he said, "Yes, you go ahead and do it. So I was the first one to be taken out. Then they put me back, and I think there is a video of me talking to my parents on the phone. They let me make a call.
Then I just, I heard my father's voice, my mother's voice - everything, I start to tear up. I start crying. I... I don't know what to say, everything. And then what, then...
I couldn't do anything. I saw my family only after that moment, two years later... well, almost two and a half years later.
Yevhen: His own mother wouldn’t have recognized him. Teeth knocked out, emaciated—his face looked like that of a 30- or 35-year-old. But I’m 23 now.
DENYS: I kept hammering it into their heads that I was a civilian. "Just let me go, that’s it."
And eventually, they decided to take pity on me and released me. Thank God.
How did you plan your withdrawal?
Motok:
I already knew where I needed to go—had to cross the estuary, Sivash. It’s extremely shallow, maybe two meters deep at most. I started walking along it. By then, I had already ditched my jacket. I was in boots, trousers, and under my tunic, I had a thick winter sweater. So I was just walking in my sweater, following the estuary. To my left, the terrain formed something like earth ridges—a natural depression, and I was moving along it. At some point, I wasn’t paying attention, turned my head left, and realized I had drifted too close to the road. That’s when I saw them—two Kamaz trucks parked, Russian soldiers standing there, smoking, watching me.
They were about 200 meters away. My first thought—I just knew they wouldn’t chase me into the freezing water. They’d start shooting instead. I figured, before they even open fire, anything could happen. So I just turned and waded straight into the estuary. I got about 500 meters in when I felt my legs starting to give out. It was incredibly hard to walk.
There were small islands scattered in the middle of the estuary, each about 500 meters long. I would reach an island, rest for a moment, then push forward into the icy water again. My legs burned from the extreme temperature shifts. Again, into the water, then onto another island. I must have covered about six kilometers like that.
You walked six kilometres on water, didn`t you?!
Yeah, so there I was—500 meters through the water, 500 meters across a small island, basically wading through waist-deep water. As I walked, I could feel my body getting weaker, everything was shaking, but the adrenaline was pumping, blood was flowing, and I wanted to live.
I reached the village where we had been positioned not far away. I recognized someone there and asked him for water, but by then my phone was dead, and it was about four o'clock in the evening, getting dark. He brought me some water, and I decided to keep moving. As I walked, it became harder and harder—my legs were giving out. When I was leaving the village, a woman caught up with me and asked, ‘Are you military?’ I said yes. She offered me to come to her house, but I refused, saying, ‘I won’t put you in danger,’ and kept going, telling her that people were waiting for me.
I spent about a month there, observing and recording the convoys. I would get up very early, while it was still dark, film the convoys, and send the videos to the authorized people right away. I reported the number of vehicles, their speed, and direction. They processed the information quickly, so when the fighting was going on, they already knew that another convoy was heading their way and were ready to engage it.
After a while, we found out that locals were transporting people from Zaporizhzhia through Melitopol along the evacuation corridors. I started reaching out to them, but since I only had my driver’s license and the Diia app, no one wanted to take me.
Time went by, and then a woman contacted me, saying, ‘We can take you, but you don’t have a passport.’ I told her, ‘I have my license, Diia, and a photo of my passport. That’s all.’ She replied, ‘Alright, but it’s at your own risk.’
How many checkpoints did you encounter on your way?
I counted about 50 kilometers to Melitopol and around 20 checkpoints. But from Melitopol, through that grey zone to Vasylivka and further, there was a checkpoint roughly every 250 meters.
I was just sitting there, and then I heard, "Good afternoon," and at that moment, I understood everything—I was almost home. I couldn’t believe it; tears welled up in my eyes. I stepped out, shook his hand, hugged him. We arrived in Zaporizhzhia in the evening, where border guards were already waiting for me, and that was it. I thought, is it really over?
Bohdan, reconnaissance officer:
You probably often think back to that day, that period, and those events. Is there anything you could have done differently to change the outcome for the better? In your opinion, was there anything that could have been done?
Specifically within my area of responsibility? I’m not even sure. If I had known what the outcome would be, I would have personally supervised the mining of the bridges—that’s one. I would have ensured direct coordination with the artillery—that’s two. I would have exchanged personal contacts with the artillery units and avoided communicating through intermediaries. And, if I had truly understood what was coming, I would have done everything possible to protect everyone—the marines, the border guards, everyone.
What was the point of those units being there if they still did not have enough weapons?
I think it was just for show. But that’s my personal opinion. The units were there, and they were mostly Marine Corps units that had been on rotation after Donbas. They deployed a battalion at only 50% strength, 80% of whom were conscripts, with non-functional military equipment—so how did this align with the actual objectives? And this is not the fault of the marines. These marines are exceptionally brave people, and none of them, except their commander, fled. Every soldier followed orders. But who sent this battalion on a mission to defend the isthmus? Some high-ranking officers in military command structures—how did they decide that such an under-equipped unit would hold such a critical line of defense? That is a crime against the country.
The exact number of those killed at the Chonhar checkpoint remains unknown. Our requests to the 137th Marine Battalion for a list of names to honor those who gave their lives defending their homeland went unanswered. Servicemen, speaking anonymously, say they are forbidden from commenting on the matter.
Please tell us about Illia Starysh.
IVAN MOTOK: I knew Illia well because we served together. On January 8th, I had my wedding—so he knew I was planning to propose. I even asked for his advice on how to do it. He had a girlfriend too and said he was going to propose soon. I told him, go for it, now it's my turn to teach you how it’s done. We were close—we were good friends.
He was a driver, and a highly skilled one at that. If we needed to go somewhere in a UAZ, Illia would just hop in and drive. He had a great understanding of machinery—he knew it, he felt it.
And when we took up position at the bridge in Chonhar, he ended up there with me. Because in case of an emergency, I would take the gunner’s position, he would be the driver—he would drive, and I would return fire. On the way, we stopped to pick up people. But in the end, it didn’t work out. When the shelling started, they hit the dugout where they were, and the guys scattered in different directions.
He most likely ran towards the APC, but with so many bullets flying everywhere, he was caught in the crossfire.
DENYS: Can you find a thousand people who, let’s say, witnessed the first shot of World War II? Do you think many people saw it? I did. I remember it now as a historical event. As a great tragedy—personally for me. Not just as a person, but as a Ukrainian. And I feel deeply sorry for the mothers, daughters, maybe wives, sisters of the fallen. I am grateful to them—for defending me. No matter how it happened, at the very least, they fell with their heads held high. With dignity. And I believe that is honorable...
DENYS: It's a pity, they were actually young boys, in general, I mean, how did they end up, how could they guard the border with a country at war? Why they weren’t stationed on the border with Poland or Hungary—experienced soldiers, those with real combat experience. Why they weren’t on that border, instead, it was just kids.
On April 11, 2022, the State Bureau of Investigation opened criminal proceedings under Article 111(1) and Article 425(3) of the Criminal Code—high treason and negligence in military service, specifically the failure to properly organize the mining of bridges and dams to facilitate their destruction and slow the enemy’s advance into mainland Ukraine.
Investigators have questioned several high-ranking military commanders and witnesses to these events. However, the heroes of our film are not among them. To this day, no formal charges have been brought in this case.
To reconstruct a complete picture of the first day of the full-scale invasion, we continue to seek direct participants or eyewitnesses to these events. If you have any relevant information, please reach out to us.
