“The first battle will show who will become a warrior.” The story of an attack aircraft that blew up on a mine and returned to the combat brigade with a prosthesis – Publications

Ruslan’s gait is somewhat slow and cautious. However, an outsider will pay attention to it only on uneven, rough terrain.

The reason for this caution is simple – the fighter does not have a right leg. At the beginning of 2023, it blew up on an anti-personnel mine.

For the next 7 months, the seriously wounded Ruslan, who serves as an attack aircraft of the 128th separate mountain-assault brigade of the Zakarpattia, was hospitalized and underwent 9 operations. And then he put on a prosthesis and returned to the brigade.

“Ukrainian truth. Life” tells his story.

“Is it scary on combat missions? You don’t understand – I get a kick out of it!”

– I remember that day well, – says Ruslan. – We entered new positions, I walked ahead. He took a step, felt a “click” under his foot, and a split second later saw a beret fly through the air with his foot. Anti-personnel mine… I’m right away shouted to his: “Stand, here are the mines.”

It was at 6.14 – I always look at the clock. He crawled back on his elbows and at 6:16 put on a tourniquet, and then reported on the radio that “300”. At 7:05 a.m. I was taken to the doctors. I knew what to do – I had one tourniquet hanging on my hip, one on my armor and two in the first aid kit.

Intensive training at the beginning of the war saved Ruslan. Although the Armed Forces refused to take him. On February 25, when a man came to the Poltava Military Commissariat and stood in a long line of volunteers, an officer came out and announced: “Those without combat experience, go home.”

– I didn’t even do military service – in the early 90s, the army was not fashionable, so my mother solved the problem for a box of stew, Ruslan laughs. – That’s why I returned home. And the next day, in the chat room of parents whose children studied in the sports section (in particular, my youngest son), a message came from the coach with an offer to gather men who are not indifferent to the fate of the country. I am a hunter with many years of experience, I have an SUV and a hunting rifle. That’s why he left.

In Poltava at that time there was a branch of the SSO unit that recruited fighters. After the interview, the volunteers were assigned to directions and began training at the training ground. At the same time, the groups went on combat missions.

Russian columns with armored and wheeled vehicles then approached Gadyach, but could not advance any further – some were stopped by the fire of the Armed Forces, and some stopped due to lack of fuel.

In a few days, the famous “Hadytske safari” began – Russians, who ran away from the abandoned equipment, hunted voluntary paramilitary formations mixed with hunters and poachers in the nearby forests. Ruslan’s unit also took an active part in the “safari”.

– At the same time, we were training on the training ground, and our coach was looking closely at who had a knack for what, Ruslan continues. – So I became a sapper and received the call sign “Engineer”.

The training was very intensive, but with an unconventional approach, the fighter recalls.

– For example, the commander asks: “How can you distinguish plastid (explosive substance – ed.) from shit in a trench at night?” So, the plastid tastes bitter – Ruslan laughs. – And we were also well trained in technical skills. 20 squats in full gear, 20 push-ups, get up and spin in place with your eyes closed. The medic will shout: “Explosion on the right, right arm and leg injured. I’m counting the time.” You fall down and with your eyes closed you apply a tourniquet. When I blew up on a mine, these workouts helped.

But the main classes concerned the explosive case. Soldiers were taught how to handle various types of explosives, how to lay “gifts” correctly, and how to activate them remotely.

Demolition groups often went on combat missions and stopped enemy convoys in several neighboring regions. Even before training, the “Engineer” signed a non-disclosure agreement, so he cannot disclose the details of the operations. For the same reason, he does not show his face.

– I can describe it only in general terms – the four of us stopped convoys with equipment and two hundred kazaps, – says Ruslan. – After our “boom!” enemy soldiers scattered in different directions. And we got up, shook off the dust and left. Was it scary? You don’t understand – it gives me a thrill!

For some time, the unit functioned semi-officially. But when the losses (wounded and dead) began, the guys realized that it was necessary to legalize.

For wounded soldiers, this means much less bureaucracy in treatment, and in the event of death, relatives and friends will be able to count on help from the state.

– At first we treated it with humor, – says “Engineer”. – A local priest was friends with our unit, who once promised me: “Don’t worry – in case of that, I will die at the highest level!” But a laugh is a laugh, and some things should be taken seriously. So that his relatives would not go to court and prove that he died while performing a combat mission. Therefore, in the end, he went to the military commissariat.

“We put the Katsaps from the machine gun, and they lie down and roll their corpses in front of them, take cover…”

Ruslan applied to the training center in Khmelnytskyi to get a sapper’s certificate, and he was promised it. A few days later, when he was away, the military commissariat called and said to be there in an hour – a transport was leaving urgently.

– I quickly packed my things, arrived at the place, got on the bus, which was already leaving, and fell asleep – I hadn’t slept for two days before that. And when I woke up, it turned out that I had been brought not to Khmelnytskyi, but to Lviv, to the Yavoriv training ground, where sappers are not trained. Ruslan recalls.

A few days later, the “recruit”, who already had combat experience, was made an instructor in sapper work and even offered to sign a contract to stay and serve at the training ground. However, the “Engineer” refused – he wanted to return to the combat unit.

– I had a relationship from my SSO unit, and I was promised that I would be sent to my old place, – says Ruslan. – And one day they ordered: “A car has come for you, collect your things.” I packed up, got into the car and was brought to the 128th separate mountain assault Transcarpathian brigade.

The brigade then fought heavy defensive battles near Bakhmut, and Ruslan was immediately made the commander of a detachment in a mountain assault company.

– We held positions on the outskirts of Yakovlivka, – recalls “Engineer”. – On the side, a landing where our adjacent unit was standing, and in front of it was a sunflower field, from which they constantly climbed. We put them down with a machine gun, and they lie down and roll their corpses in front of them, take cover…

One night, Ruslan and his brother saw in the thermal imager a group of seven soldiers walking near the landing.

– I ask on the walkie-talkie: “Ours or pi*ors?” “Wait a minute, let’s find out.” I will ask again in a minute – I am silent. And you have to react, because they are getting closer. The grenade launcher offers: “Let’s jump from the barrel 20 meters in front of the group and see where they run.

If in planting – ours, and in dreams – pi*ors. Shmalnuli – ran off into sleep. Everything is clear. They took a grenade launcher, a machine gun and blew everyone out. By the way, our machine gunner is short, so at first he stood on a box to shoot more conveniently. But in two weeks, so many spent casings gathered under my feet that even the box became unnecessary, – says the soldier.

At the beginning of last year, 128 OGSHBr were transferred to the Zaporizhzhia direction. During the approach to new positions, Ruslan was blown up by an anti-personnel mine.

During the first months of treatment, he experienced terrible pains (which have not completely disappeared to this day). And then gradually got used to it.

– After several operations, I was sent home for rehabilitation, – says “Engineer”. – My wife is at work, my son is at school, and for me to climb 19 steps with the help of crutches is pure torture. Then came the prosthesis, I got used to it and it became easier to walk.

“The first battle will show who will become a warrior”

The VLK gave Ruslan the 2nd group of disability, with which he is discharged from the army. But he went to Transcarpathia to the brigade headquarters and wrote a statement that he would continue to serve under his own responsibility. And he returned to the war zone.

– I really wanted to be in combat positions, I asked to be a machine gunner, I say: “You understand that I will not run away!” Ruslan says with a smile. – But they didn’t put it, they took it as an instructor. By the way, sappers from our engineering and sapper unit checked the positions we entered then. They assured that everything was demined. I then thought for a long time about what I would tell them when I returned. And we talked. Now we get all the ammunition we need for training without any delay.

For the past few months, the “Engineer”, who recently turned 50 years old, has been training newly arrived stormtroopers at a training ground set up several tens of kilometers from the front line.

A kind of mini-range is full of holes from grenade explosions and RPG shots, and metal targets are repeatedly riddled with bullets from automatic weapons and machine guns.

– Guys come from training centers and say that they fired eight rounds from a machine gun twice, and they only saw grenades and RPGs in the picture, – says Ruslan. – So I have a lot of work to do here. In addition, many people are not doing well with their health. Recently, a 50-year-old man weighing 130 kilograms was sent, who cannot even walk quickly because of shortness of breath. So which one is an attack aircraft?

The recruits are also not very motivated, the “Engineer” complains.

– There are few volunteers, those who were “drunk” to defend the country have been fighting for a long time or have died. And now they are bringing those who have been hiding in the villages for almost two years, relatively speaking, a herd of cows. How do I motivate them? I say right away that we will all die, just everyone in their own time. They laugh And what – I’m telling the truth Ruslan himself laughs. – There are also good people with a fighting spirit, they can become real fighters. The first battle will show who will become a warrior, and who will be frightened and make no sense of it.

Ruslan’s wife and 11-year-old son are waiting at home. When asked how his relatives perceived the fact that he could have stayed at home after being wounded, but went to fight again, the fighter answers with humor:

– My wife is a doctor, so she immediately said that I am crazy. And seriously, it is certainly difficult for relatives when the head of the family is at war. My wife bought a dog when I left… But someone must be here too.

According to Russian propaganda narratives, Ruslan should not have fought at all. After all, he has Russian roots, and also with a military background in the Red Army.

– My paternal grandfather is from the Tyumen region, an ethnic Russian, and my grandmother is from the Poltava region, – explains the “Engineer”. – During the Second World War, the Germans took my grandmother to forced labor, and in 1945, my grandfather her dismissed He was 40, she was 17. That’s how they met, and then got married. My grandfather was a military personnel, a high-ranking commander, after the end of the war he served for some time in Poland, where Soviet troops remained.

However, Ruslan’s “Red Army” roots did not work in the necessary channel for propaganda, he knows well the history of Ukraine, which tragically affected his relatives.

– On my mother’s side, my grandmother lived in Sumy Oblast and had 12 children, Ruslan continues. – She survived the famine. The man, trying to save his family, collected valuable things from the house and went to the city to sell and buy some products. And did not return, disappeared.

The woman was left alone with her children, eight of them did not survive the famine… I remember well how my grandmother used to hide food around the house until the last days, and my mother was angry because she could not understand where the moth came from. I hate Russians with all my heart. I only regret that I lost my leg early and broke them a little. But I will still fight, even without a leg.

Yaroslav Halas, an officer of the 128th separate mountain-assault Transcarpathian brigade, specially for UP. Life