Continuing our series “Notes from the Front” about the real stories of our defenders, which can’t be silenced, we want to introduce you to a soldier with the call sign “Pop”. He told us about his first battle and the feelings he experienced during it.
“I am originally from Zakarpattia and worked as a builder. I was called to serve at the beginning of March 2022. I went through training for about a month.
By April 24th, we were already positioned in the Luhansk region. At first, we walked half the night, then dug trenches for half the night, and entered our first battle the next day. The Russians didn’t know we were there, so we took them down quickly and clearly. Literally in five minutes, the entire paratrooper unit of 67 Russians was down.
Actually, for me, the first battle was unclear, I wasn’t scared somehow. But a few days later, when the second battle took place, I started to feel some fear. Because I realized where I ended up and what was waiting for me. However, later it becomes not so scary, because you get used to it. Moreover, before each departure, we are asked who is ready to go. Nobody is forced to go if they are not ready, because if a person is not ready to go into battle, then you can’t rely on them on the field.
There was also a time when we walked to a village for a whole day. Then we were transported, but for five kilometers the route was shot up by multiple rocket launchers. However, we were lucky to drive through without hits.
In general, the Russians methodically bomb everything. They had a tactic – first they destroy everything with artillery or “Grad” multiple rocket launchers, and then they enter the settlement and shoot everyone.”