“The surname Otchenash helped to get out of Bakhmut”: the story of a border guard of the Donetsk detachment – News

The surname Otchenash helped to get out of Bakhmut

State Border Service of Ukraine

Military Bohdan went to the Bakhmut direction as a technician-driver, and became a temporary acting commander. According to him, an unusual last name helped the man to get out of there.

The story of the border guard was told in the State Border Service of Ukraine.

In 2014, Bohdan entered the first wave of mobilization in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Rick drove a BMP (infantry fighting vehicle). On his armored “swallow” he visited the hottest points of the front.

He saw a lot, but these stories, according to him, are not for the faint of heart.

“Sometimes it was necessary to take body parts from the battlefield “so that the relatives had something to put in the coffin.” I thought it was all behind me, and on February 24, 2022, a full-scale invasion began“, says Bohdan.

In October 2022, Bohdan aligned himself with the border guards of the 1st detachment. At the front, he had to become a temporary acting commander of a fire support outpost. He remembers how one day there was a heavy street fight in the direction of Bakhmut, a group of border guards was encircled.

“The commander gathered us and said that it was necessary to rescue the boys. No one hesitated, everyone went“, Bohdan recalls.

He says that the comrades were “repulsed” with heavy losses. The commander was wounded. There were no officers in the group.

“The commander had shrapnel wounds, the leg was the most affected. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, and the battle continued. It was necessary to manage people. There were many sergeants, but my brothers entrusted it to me. My soul still hurts from that day“, Bohdan admits.

Then the border guards lost 6 comrades in battle. It was not possible to get out from under the fire. An enemy drone was watching the Ukrainian defenders from the sky. The mortar shelling did not abate, but it was possible to drive the Zhiguli as close as possible. The wounded commander was evacuated to the car. On that day, he was saved by a tablet and a magazine for a machine gun. Debris that could have been fatal got stuck right there.

While the commander could not perform his official duties due to injury, Bohdan had to lead in his place. He says that taking positions was easier than sending people there. The most difficult moment in the organization was to correctly plan the movement of the troops, because “it was the road that usually crippled and took lives.”

“One and a half kilometers to the position was enough to die eight times. Scary during execution, but easier. The hardest part is moving. You have reached a position and you don’t want to change from there, because it can fly on the way. Therefore, sending people was a big responsibility.

I often stepped in myself to own the situation, calculated the routes, and only then sent people there“, the border guard explains.

Bohdan remembered the exit from Bakhmut for the rest of his life. He recalls how he “saved Nissan and the surname Otchenash”, he also constantly repeated the prayer of the same name. That day, around 11:00 p.m., the position of the border guards began to be stormed, and shelling began.

“At such a late hour it was as clear as day. On the enemy side, flashing beacons began to be passed so that their reconnaissance group would work. We jumped into the car and drove off.

On the way, the washer ran out, and it was raining, the swamp was knee-deep. The windshield cracked, I half got out of the car and watered the glass for five kilometers from a flask. Had enough mud. And in the morning they tell us: “Let’s go to Bakhmut one more time, we need to pick up 2 cars.” They took away, where to go“, Otchenash recalls with a smile.

At home, the border guard has two children waiting for him, and all he dreams about is “raising his gnomes.”