The story of a National Guardsman who fought in Luhansk Region

A soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine with the call sign Vesna told about the battles in the Luhansk region and how the Russians seized a boarding house and took cover of elderly people.

The history of the military is published by the National Guard of Ukraine.

A National Guardsman named Vesna is a contract worker of the 3rd operational brigade, he started his service as a conscript. Currently, he is a gunner of an artillery calculation.

At the beginning of February 2022, the man went on a rotation to the Luhansk region as part of a battalion group in the settlement of Shtormove.

A soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine with the call sign Vesna

“On February 23, we had a trial evacuation of the Military Defense Forces, in two and a half hours we collected all the things and moved to a safer position. During the day we were stationed, before going to rest, the command was given to return to our facilities. We ran into the dugout a soldier who was on duty at the post and said that the war had begun.” – says the fighter.

The National Guard under the pseudonym Vesna is a contractor of the 3rd operational brigade

At first, no one believed the soldier who brought the bad news, but in half an hour the senior officer of the platoon base came running and told him to go down into the concrete shelter.

A soldier of the National Guard went outside, saw the shooting from the side of Stanytsia Luhanska and heard explosions.

Vesna told about the battles in Luhansk region

“We spent the night in a shelter, KRAZ came after us, and we first went to a checkpoint, then regrouped and headed in two columns towards the city of Rubizhne.” – says Vesna.

The position of the Guardsmen in Stormovo was three kilometers from the border of the Russian Federation, the group was small in number, so it would not have been able to hold it against larger enemy forces.

Soon the guardsmen were taken to Rubizhny. There, they received a new combat task – together with another military unit, to repulse the enemy column. Guardsmen were on duty in Rubizhny at observation posts and positions on the outskirts.

After being wounded and contused, Vesna fights again as part of her unit

“At the exit from Rubizhnye, we set up a roadblock in the direction of Kreminnaya, checked cars for entry and exit. Our roadblock began to be shelled, the head of the roadblock gave the order to retreat.” Vesna recalls.

The fighters went into the forest and waited until the shelling ended and then returned to the checkpoint.

There was a boarding house near them, the head of the checkpoint together with two soldiers went to check the building.

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“After 10 minutes, bullets started whistling overhead, we again retreated to the forest strip. At the entrance to the building there was a group of soldiers with red armbands, who started shooting at us. At the same time, our checkpoint was bombarded with mortars. We got into an armored capsule and retreated under fire. to the battalion group to regroup.” – notes the national guard.

In the evening of the same day, the guardsmen returned to the checkpoint, where there were already other Ukrainian military personnel who had arrived as reinforcements for the assault on the boarding house.

The military expected that there were only occupiers in the boarding house, however, when tanks and assault teams were already on alert, the guards were ordered on the radio station not to open fire, because there were civilians in the room.

“It was about a hundred elderly people and disabled people who cannot get out of there on their own. The Russian troops were covered by the civilian population, we had no choice, so we cautiously began a phased assault, during the assault the occupiers partially retreated into the forest.” – says the fighter.

The soldiers, who came to reinforce, went to catch up with the Russians, and the National Guardsmen were engaged in evacuating people.

“After that, we moved towards the village of Zolote and served at platoon strongholds there. We were covered by heavy artillery and we also worked in response, then a Russian tank drove up to our position at a distance of about 600 meters, started shelling our position and withdrew. One of our servicemen was wounded and one died“, the guardsman shares.

The next day, the enemy approached the position of our troops almost close to 10 meters, at the same time there was shelling from mortars, there was a direct hit of a mine in the dugout. Fortunately, everyone survived, but one guardsman was hit by a fragment in the temple.

The soldiers got out of the dugout, but it was difficult, the wounded man lost consciousness on the way. The guards retreated with a fight, the man carried the wounded man to the evacuation point.

“The enemy did not shoot aimed, it just rained bullets, we shot back and retreated to a nearby position of the Armed Forces, and requested artillery support, opened fire on our position, later aerial reconnaissance confirmed the enemy’s losses. After that, I was transferred to another position. She was – the most unfortunate – near Katerynivka”, – says the national guard.

There was a clearing between the landing and the field, from which the tank drove out and began to “iron” the position of the Ukrainians, on the ground, in the trees.

The enemy knew that there were dugouts in the landing, and worked as intensively as possible to break through.

The next morning there was another heavy shelling, then Vesna was also hit, and was thrown back by the shock wave. The man received a severe concussion, he was evacuated and sent to the hospital.

“I learned from the next battalion group that karma still exists, because this tank was blown up by a mine there.” – said the guard.

Today, Vesna is fighting again as part of her unit.

It will be recalled that after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, a professional bodyguard “stormed” the Military Commissariat for a month and a half in order to get into the combat unit of the National Guard.

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