The story of the soldier Oleksa Byk, who defends Bakhmut

Bard, poet and journalist Oleksa Byk has been fighting the Russian invaders for 9 years. Currently, the man is on one of the hottest areas of the front – Bakhmutsky.

The soldier spoke about the battles for Bakhmut, leaving the encirclement, his vision of the war and its end project “Ukrainian witness”.

Oleksa has been at war since 2014. He was a witness to the occupation of Crimea, where he went with his colleagues to prepare material on the criminal actions of the Russian Federation on the peninsula. Russian soldiers without any identification marks and their armed local supporters put the journalists face down on the ground. As Oleksa later told, it was then that the war began for him.

Later, the man fought in Zaporizhzhia and defended the Donetsk airport. He is currently fighting in the Bakhmut region, commanding the engineering and sapper company of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Aleksa Byk

Oleksa comments on the situation in the Bakhmut direction as follows:

“The Russians are throwing bodies at us. The dynamics of the enemy offensive is slowing down, but there is some progress. It is not leading to a turning point in the war, but it is causing casualties. Unfortunately, the enemy has taken Soledar, destroying it completely. He is doing the same to Bakhmut and its surroundings. Objectives neighborhoods are turned into piles of broken bricks. This is such a tactic – they make the defense of broken bricks unprincipled. And our tactic is to bleed and weaken the enemy.”

The man says that sometimes he has to fight in difficult weather conditions, when fighters are forced to move through mud and carry 5-6 kg of Ukrainian soil on their feet, which sticks to their shoes.

At the end of spring last year, Oleksa received the Order “For Courage” from the President of Ukraine.

At the end of spring last year, Oleksa received the Order “For Courage” from the President of Ukraine

The military man said that he was awarded for the fact that he successfully led his comrades out of the encirclement. The soldiers, in particular the wounded, used to get to the village by field through the terrain, which was used only by Russians.

“We left on our own with 300, we went along the green field, to the village where the enemy used to go. Then our little boy worked for us. We lay well. And the plane.

My helmet flew off. I get up, look for a helmet. I think, that’s all, here are all my corpses. But everyone is alive! I am a lucky person in general. Then we got up and, like in a Hollywood action movie, smoke everywhere, dust in the air, mine fragments ran across that field. They ran to the village and hid behind a house. For this raid, they gave me the “For Courage” order”, – says Oleksa.

According to the military, the course of this war may change the more intensive supply of artillery by Western countries.

“The tanks that we will receive from the partner countries are not yet a decisive force. We will not receive aviation soon. But if we were given 150 HIMARS and ammunition for them… I am very grateful to everyone who helps us with weapons. But European, and and world countries should also understand that we are their shield.” – thinks Oleksa.

The man believes that the results of the war for Russia will be catastrophic. However, in the opinion of the military, difficult times await Ukraine as well, even after the victory.

“The war is only a third of the way, reconstruction will take much more resources. Take care of yourself, take care of each other. God does not give trials that man is not able to pass“, says Oleksa.

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