Chief sergeant of 1st Assault Regiment Jockey: "I stabbed GRU operative to death with captured knife I had taken from another dead Russian"
During the assault on the position where the serviceman was stationed, he and another fighter were wounded. In addition, Jockey’s palms were badly burned — during the fighting, he tried to fix an assault rifle that had jammed. It was because of this that the enemy not only got right up to the Ukrainian assault trooper’s trench, but also opened fire on him. Yet even in what seemed like a hopeless situation, Jockey managed to prevail. The command of the Dmytro Kotsiubailo 1st Assault Regiment has submitted this fighter for the title of Hero of Ukraine.
That battle was captured on a Mavic drone livestream. But from the air, it was impossible to make out the details. At the command post of the 1st Assault Regiment, they could see that the fighter in the trench had entered hand-to-hand combat. But how the clash ended was unclear. Over the radio, they asked: "Joсkey, if you’re alive, raise your hand." And he did. Those watching the fight let out a breath of relief.
The man remembers that battle in detail. Wounded and burned at the time, he returned to the unit after treatment. Now he trains new recruits in the skills he has mastered himself. Even though he has been in the army for only two years, since April 2024. He was mobilized at the age of 43 while on his way to work — he had been employed as a welder at a military vehicle repair enterprise. He had been exempt from military service. But despite that, he was taken. He ended up in the Dmytro Kotsiubailo 1st Assault Regiment. And now he cannot imagine himself anywhere else.
"I WAS THROWING GRENADES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRYING TO FIX MY JAMMED RIFLE"
- In the autumn of 2025, we had already been stationed near Dobropillia for some time. At first, it was quiet, but then things escalated — the enemy was trying to advance toward the city. We had to hold the positions and prevent the enemy from moving forward, to beat back their assaults. At that time, I was a squad commander. How are tasks assigned to us? Here is your point: you go there. We arrived. We held the position. We completed the mission. We were rotated out. We rested, trained at the range. Then we assembled again, and once more we were assigned tasks. In the morning, in the gray light before dawn, we moved out to the designated point. We got there, dug in. And then we held them off. Or, if needed, we conducted search-and-assault operations, stormed positions. For some time, we were able to arrive at the point and dig in. But over time, the enemy became increasingly active. There were times when I had not even managed to dig in yet, and the Russians were already pushing forward in small groups.
- Did they relay that to you over the radio, or did you see their movement with your own eyes?
- The principle is this: one man digs, two keep watch. Then we rotate. We also sleep in turns — two hours each.
On the day the close combat happened, the commander had warned us there was movement in our direction. Our guys picked them up on a thermal imager as they were moving along the tree line. So we were already on alert. They crept up on us quietly. They moved so silently that not even a branch cracked anywhere. Then, whoosh, they appeared. Five meters away, and they were right on top of us. The shooting started. A fight broke out.
- You say you were in a "well" – what does that mean?
- It is a hole where you can stand at full height and observe the enemy through a firing port. It is an individual foxhole, 80 by 80 centimeters in size. Everyone digs it to match their own height. Later, a foot sump is added. Separately, a sleeping bay is dug out where you can lie down and store your gear. Because everything is underground. From above, such a "well" is covered with boards, camouflaged, and firing ports are also made.
- Did you have time to prepare your position?
- Yes, because we had been there for over a week. There were three of us. Each was positioned in such an individual foxhole. I was observing the rear sector. My standard-issue weapon was pointed backward. And forward – a captured one. I had positioned two captured weapons there.
- Where did you get them?
- In previous battles. We let the enemy get closer... And then we took their weapons, the Russian Kalashnikovs. In the previous battle, I used captured ammunition. I only had two and a half magazines left. I had plenty of rounds for my standard-issue weapon.
The battle began. I grabbed the captured assault rifle and engaged the forward flank with it. I wounded one of them. Another one in the center was laying down suppressing fire, but did not approach us. He was spooked by a Mavic or FPV drone, so he was operating from a distance. But two others started to catch us in a pincer movement, flanking us. I was running out of ammunition for the captured weapon. I expended two and a half magazines. I took my standard-issue weapon. Expended one magazine. Reloaded the second magazine. Fired half of it, and the rifle jammed. That was it. What could I do? It wouldn't shoot. At this time, the enemy was flanking me. I started throwing grenades. One, then another. At the same time, I was trying to get my standard-issue weapon back into working order.
I kept throwing grenades. With the gloves I had on my hands, you can't disassemble a "Colt" — it's a Western weapon. I tore off my gloves. I tried to push out the two takedown pins. But what else could I do? Stand and wait? There was no way out; I had to do something. Gunfire all around. The enemy was also using grenades. Everything was exploding. I threw another grenade, then a second one, and went back to the "Colt". I took out the bolt carrier. It was in a hard jam. I had "Ballistol" on hand, a gun cleaning oil, but even that didn't help. I hit that part against a wooden board, it wouldn't budge. It was dead stuck. Again, one grenade, then another. And I kept trying to disassemble the jammed part. By then, I ran out of grenades, too. That was it. I had nothing left. My standard-issue weapon wasn't working. No grenades. No ammunition for the captured weapon. At the same time, I had plenty of my own ammo. But the calibers didn't match. I had 5.56mm, and the captured one was 5.45mm. Nothing I could do.
At this time, Muscovite had already crawled right up to my "well". I was trying to fix that part, and he shot directly into the firing port. The bullet passed over my arm, powder particles even remained on my skin, but it flew past my head. I was standing at full height right then. After the shot, I dropped to my knee at the bottom of the "well." And that bastard was lying near my "well", pouring fire on my partner and calling out to his own partner. He yells to him: "What's up, how are you?" The other replies: "I'm WIA." "And this one is done," this one says about me. "I took out him." I heard that Trach had already gone silent; he's a fighter from our trio. Only Shershen was returning fire, also from a captured weapon. As a result, as it turned out later, all three "Colts" that each of us had jammed in that battle.
"I DID NOT WANT TO DIE WITHOUT A FIGHT"
- "Shershen was returning fire in all directions with a captured assault rifle," Jockey continues. "Trach was already sitting with his last grenade. And this Muscovite is lying near my 'well.' My whole life flashed before my eyes then. I thought, now he will either throw a grenade into the 'well', to finish me off, or shoot me dead. I did not want to die without a fight. I grabbed the captured knife, jumped up, and the enemy was already right next to me. With one hand, I grabbed the barrel of his assault rifle and pulled it toward me. His eyes, I remembered them well, were wide like an owl's. He didn't expect me to attack him. I stabbed him in the fingers with the knife. He let go of the trigger and grabbed the pistol grip. I was pulling with one hand, and with the other, holding the knife, I was swinging so he wouldn't regain control of the rifle. He started twisting. He wanted to wrench the rifle away...
I felt the pain in my hands — I had grabbed the enemy's assault rifle barrel, which was scorching hot from firing. But I paid no attention to it. I was already pulling the hot barrel with both hands. I pulled that Russian toward me, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. And went to work with the knife. He twisted and turned. But I dragged him into my "well". He was in body armor and a helmet. We wrestled for some time. I stabbed him to death. And I jumped out.
We usually dig in near trees. My hole had caved in during the battle, the wooden boards had fallen down. I ran around the tree. I took the enemy's assault rifle — it remained on top, as I couldn't reach it inside the "well" over the enemy's body. I delivered a finishing shot using the enemy's weapon. But he was already KIA. There were only three bullets left in his rifle. I was still without a weapon! I started searching that Muscovite. He had a tactical vest for six magazines. I look into one — empty. The second — empty. I thought, that's it, I am definitely done for. The third — boom, two magazines. I reloaded. And I started pouring fire on the dead Muscovite's partner. He began to fall back. And the third one went silent. They started retreating. At that point, our FPV drones also started operating.
I heard them asking me over the radio: "Jockey, is that you? Wave your hand." I waved. They told me, "Hide as quickly as possible, because the sky is dirty." I jumped into the neighboring "well." We had a spare one. On the first day we arrived at this position, there were four of us. One was taken for assault operations, but he had managed to dig a "well." I jumped into it. I pulled up the spider antenna so the radio would work. And I discovered that a meter and a half up, the antenna was severed. It had been cut by shrapnel. It's a good thing I took my backpack from my "well", I had a spare antenna in there. I screwed it on. Established contact. And only then did I see that the palms of my hands were burned down to the flesh.
- What was the most valuable item in the backpack?
- The backpack itself! A power bank, cigarettes. Everything was valuable. Chocolate. Spare batteries for the radio.
- Was it painful?
- Only later, when the adrenaline wore off, did it start to hurt. I was still running on adrenaline all night.
- How long did you stay at the position after that battle?
- Almost 24 hours. Two of us were wounded. Trach had both of his forearms pierced by shrapnel.
- How did you administer first aid to yourselves?
- We didn't. If I had taken off my body armor, I wouldn't have been able to put it back on. Plus, I also had two shrapnel wounds to my forearm. Fortunately, there was no massive bleeding. The forearm got soaked in blood and then stabilized. If I had taken off the body armor, I wouldn't have been able to put it back on with my burned hands. And Trach had both of his shoulders pierced. He couldn't even lift his arms. He couldn't even pull the body armor off over his head. And he wouldn't have put it back on either. And we still had to exfiltrate. Shershen was unharmed. Until the relief arrived, none of us fell asleep. How could we sleep — with that much adrenaline.
"YOU DRIVE PAST THE 'DRAGON'S TEETH' AND FEEL AN ICY RING DESCENDING FROM YOUR HEAD, A TERRIBLE HEADACHE BEGINS — THE ADRENALINE COMEDOWN"
- Were you all together until morning?
- No, everyone stayed in their own "well."
- Could you talk to each other?
- Only when absolutely necessary.
After the battle, the commander contacted me and asked about my condition. I reported back. He understood that we needed to be replaced. But we had to wait. "Can you wait until morning?" the commander asked. So we waited for the morning. At first light, the relief arrived. We jumped out of our "wells," and those who arrived jumped into our places. We moved out fast, and escorted by a drone, headed for the evac.
- To jump out of the "well," you have to push off the edge of the ground with your hands...
- Well, yes. It was painful. And holding an assault rifle was painful too. One of us already couldn't carry a weapon, so we had to carry his assault rifle as well. My assault rifle, disassembled during the battle, remained under the Russian. I walked out with his assault rifle, with the captured one. Only after the exfiltration did we find out that Russian special forces were fighting against us.
- Do you still have that same knife with you now?
- Well, how could I leave it behind? It is always with me. And now too, of course.
- When did the realization come that it was all over?
- When we were driving toward our own forces. You drive past the "dragon's teeth" and an icy ring descends from your head. A wild headache begins. Everyone's head hurts. It is such an adrenaline comedown.
- Did you want to discuss that battle?
- No, I didn't want to. I wanted to smoke a cigarette, lie down, drink some proper hot coffee, call my wife. Later on - maybe, recall the battle too. But immediately - no.
- You say that during the battle your whole life flashed before your eyes... What exactly did you see?
- My wife, the children waiting for me at home. I thought I was f###ed. I thought — if I am going to die, then at least with a knife in my hands, I will take down at least one with me in the end.
- Where does this desire not to surrender come from, even when it seems there are no options left?
- From training. I remember this one moment. We were undergoing training in conditions as close to combat as possible, during which training grenades, drones, equipment, UGVs were used, everything that is used in war. The position was located in a tree line. And, suppose, wounded appear at our position. A UGV arrives for them. And two WIA, one moderate, the other light, are transported along the tree line. At this time, Mavic operators are training. A drone flies up, as if an enemy drone hovered over the wounded — and drops a grenade on them...
Then we all conducted an after-action review of the "combat" operations together. And one of our commanders asked: "So you two not very smart people were lying in the UGV and watching that drone hovering over you... Why didn't anyone roll off the platform to the side?" And he said a phrase that stuck in my mind: "I would roll into the bushes with my legs blown off just to survive." This exact phrase popped into my brain when the Muscovite was lying right next to my "well." "Even with my legs blown off, I would fight for my life to the very end." And my arms and legs were intact. Something just clicked inside me: "I have to roll to the end." That is why I pulled out the captured knife. That is why I won. And survived.
- How long did the treatment for your hands take?
- They treated the burns on my palms for over a month. Doctors diagnosed first- and third-degree burns. On each hand, I only had two undamaged fingers left. Now, during cold weather, my hands freeze terribly. Therefore, I was sent to the training ground — to train recruits. After being wounded, I was also promoted. Now I am a sergeant of the 2nd Assault Battalion.
- Did they remove the shrapnel from your shoulders?
- Yes.
- The other wounded...
- He is still undergoing rehabilitation. Trach managed to fall down the stairs in the hospital and break his leg.
- When was it scary? Or wasn't it?
- When a battle is happening, adrenaline kicks in, you get tunnel vision, you see a red haze in your eyes — then it is not scary. It is scary right before the battle. The waiting is scary. And after the battle, the realization is scary, when you think: wow, I could have died.
- They say you also had a close-quarters battle before that... Or were there many of them?
- Sometimes there were two skirmishes a day, three. Even while digging in, we had to fight. Once, we had just entered a position, I dug in waist-deep, and a battle started. We shot those bastards dead, dragged their bodies into the bushes, buried Muscovites. And continued digging.
They were constantly advancing in small groups. Sometimes two would approach, sometimes three. Sometimes we were told that one was seen moving along the tree line. Contacts were happening constantly.
- Do you remember your first battle?
- It was a firefight. The distance between the enemy and me was about 15-20 meters. But we had prepared for this...
"IN WAR, YOU START TO APPRECIATE VERY SIMPLE THINGS: HOT COFFEE, PLAIN WATER, A SHOWER"
- How did you end up in the assault regiment?
- Representatives of the regiment came to the proving ground, to the training center. I was enlisted right here. As for how I got into the army... I was commuting to work — I worked as a welder. The TCR & SS stopped me and took me in. But it was a strange situation, because I was exempted from mobilization, working at a facility of "Ukroboronprom". I was making spare parts for infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles.
- Why did they take you then?
- There was an order to draft 60,000 people. So they were taking everyone.
- And the mobilization exemption didn't work?
- Three days later, they gave me back my phone — I logged into the "Army+" app and found out that I had already been deregistered and was an active-duty serviceman.
- How did you react to what happened?
- At first, I was in shock for about a week and a half or two weeks, until I adapted. Everything became clearer when I got to the proving ground of the 1st Assault Regiment. In two weeks of training here, I learned more than during my entire Basic General Military Training (BGMT). It was useful. I understood that I needed to learn in order to save my own life. I hadn't fought before 2022, I had no experience...
- What was useful during the training?
- I was very surprised by the yoga classes, psychological training, and breathing exercises. At first, I thought, what is this for. But everything proved useful and helped. I fell asleep in conditions where it seemed impossible to sleep. There was a period when we were stationed at a mine, near Myrnohrad, in Novoekonomichne. On the third day, the enemy found out where we were. And for two weeks, around the clock, they shelled us with mortars using a grid-square bombardment pattern. Constantly. Incessantly. And under those conditions, I would fall asleep in the sleeping bay of my "well," even though explosions and detonations are heard very well and loudly underground. But I had to sleep somehow. I used Ujjayi breathing, and passed out.
- How long did you stay there?
- 17 days.
- Were there longer rotations?
- We try not to keep people at positions for long, but to rotate them so they can rest. Of course, sometimes it is better for a person to sit there for a month than for something to happen to them during exfiltration. Everything depends on the situation. But we do not have long stays in the trenches. I was lucky to get into the 1st Assault Regiment, I tell everyone that, because I communicate with those I went through BGMT with, and I hear what is happening in the units where they ended up. That is why I conclude that I was lucky.
- Why is your call sign Jockey?
- After the name of the coffee. When the company commander was writing down everyone's call signs, I suggested a different one, but someone had already taken it. And I was holding a pack of coffee in my hands at that moment. I looked at the packaging and decided — let it be Jockey. And so the call sign stuck.
- Do you know that you have been nominated for the title of Hero of Ukraine?
- Yes, but for me, the main reward is that I stayed alive. That is already good.
In war, you start to look differently at very simple things that you didn't even notice before. Now you know how tasty water is, how valuable it is, because when you go five days without water... And other great things — a shower, going to the toilet on a real toilet bowl...
- What do you wish for there, in those "wells"?
- To wake up!
- At night, they must be very cold and damp...
- That's right. And also wet.
But in the morning, you light a fire in a tin can using wood splinters, heat some water in a mug. All the while, your eyes are constantly on the firing port. You make hot coffee. You stand there, looking out, light a cigarette. That is great! It is a wonderful morning.
- There is a perception among the public that assault troops are a one-way ticket. But that is not the case, is it?
- Of course it is not. Laziness kills! You must not be lazy. If you were taught that one digs and the other keeps watch, then that is exactly what you must do. Sleeping in turns means sleeping in turns. Because you see examples of people disregarding this rule, and a group of three fighters all going to sleep together. And the position did not wake up in the morning. Because no one was keeping watch, the enemy jumped in and killed everyone...
And also lying. Let's say you lied that you had dug in, that everything was fine, and then a mortar strike happened nearby, and you got peppered with shrapnel. They come for the wounded man, and there is only a knee-deep trench, and he was just sitting there. We were taught to dig, with the explanation: this is your life, and to listen to the radio. Communication is 95 percent of our survival. 70 percent of the casualties are due to laziness and one's inner dumba##.
- How will this all end?
- We do not dig that deep. We have a rule in our unit: we do not drink, we do not shoot up, we do not get high on any substances, we do not gamble, and we do not discuss politics.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET
