It happened in the spring of last year in the region of Bilogorivka.
The Lviv paratroopers heroically defended themselves against the overwhelming forces of the enemy. The enemy tried to break through by any means. Everything was on fire.
Andriy, a paratrooper of the 80th separate airborne assault brigade with the call sign “Cvyak”, recalls how our soldiers outwitted the occupiers in the Luhansk region.
“Our group was ordered to advance to the front to conduct reconnaissance. We occupied the anti-tank ditch, having conducted reconnaissance and discovered the concentration of enemy armored vehicles with infantry. Enemy EW units were working, means of communication were blocked, so a decision was made to withdraw. And then enemy tanks left from our right. One tank, the second, the third, the fourth… Then the BMP buzzed. It was Russian equipment that rose to the heights. Above the river, the enemy’s infantry began to take up positions. We understood that in order to successfully complete the assigned task and return unscathed, it is necessary to deceive and imitate the enemy’s unit. There were 8 of us in the trench. We cut off the bandages and went down the road. “Opera” was ahead, and I covered. In order to protect ourselves, we had to walk 400 meters in an open area. I turned and saw that a Russian tank was following us with its barrels. Fortunately, the tankers did not understand who we were. One hasty step could cost everyone their lives. We walked at a leisurely pace, although the psychological tension was very high! However, we were able to successfully escape by joining one of our units, where we passed on the information we had obtained about the enemy and, together with our comrades, began to successfully destroy the occupiers,” the soldier says.
The Lviv paratroopers at the Bilogorivka border along with other units did not allow the Russians to complete their task. There, the enemy suffered losses, both in manpower and combat equipment.
At one time, Tsvyach participated in a peacekeeping operation, was injured by an ammunition explosion during demining. In 2014-2015, the man was a scout in the ATO. For some time he lived in Irpen, worked in Germany. When the full-scale war began, he immediately returned to defend the Motherland as a member of the 80th brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.
“I could not return at all. But who would I be if I were hiding? Who am I without the country I live in? What will I tell my daughter when she grows up? Otherwise, I would stop respecting myself,” the soldier believes.
From the first days of the Russian offensive in the southern direction, the paratrooper and his comrades fought in the areas of Khristoforivka, Snigurivka, near Voznesensk, then performed tasks near Kryvyi Rih, and then chased the Rashists from the east: Popasnaya, Bilogorivka, Shipylivka, and Lysychansk.
“Nail” says that in the 80’s he likes the cohesiveness of the team. Brotherhood always helps to fight. One day near Sviatohirsk, Andriy’s unit was returning from hard battles, their driver Dmytro brought a bag of candies and marshmallows in those days when sweets were impossible to get anywhere. Nail admits: he has never eaten a tastier marshmallow.
And the defender admits that the realization that everything is not in vain comes in moments when civilians meet them with tears of happiness.
“Once in the South, we expelled the Russians from the village. People came out of their houses and greeted us. You just had to see their eyes! One grandmother fell to her knees. With tears in my eyes, I say: “Grandma, I’m sorry that we are so long.” At such moments, you understand that there is a point in fighting. I want to go further and further. Of course, we then collapsed from exhaustion, but the motivation to drive the enemy from our land remained,” – a soldier of the 80th brigade.
Until 2014, the man was Russian-speaking and “pro-Slavic”. But after the capture of Crimea by the Russians, his outlook changed.
“I pathologically do not understand the occupier’s language. Yes, my father was a communist and raised me as a Soviet boy. I learned the anthem of the USSR in the 1st grade. He was proud of his pioneer tie. At a young age, he believed that Russia, Belarus and Ukraine should stick together. But during the Maidan and the annexation of Crimea, I was overcome with enormous anger. As if hit on the head with a sledgehammer. I did not understand how Russia, which I considered a brother, could take a piece of Ukraine. I went to the Military Commissariat during the first wave of mobilization because it just pissed me off. My unit commander was a man with the pseudonym Vernihora, a patriot of Ukraine, the head of the Cossack movement of the Fastiv region. He instilled in me a love for Ukrainian insurgent songs and our history. Thanks to the commander, I switched to the Ukrainian language. Vernyhora told me the truth about the formation of Ukraine. In the hospital in 2014, I sifted through historical literature and realized that I knew nothing about the country in which I live. Now I consider myself a patriot and a nationalist. I will raise my child as a real Ukrainian,” concluded Andriy.
Public Relations Service of the 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.