"Everyone who decided to fight enemy is hero. There are no other heroes in our country," in memory of Deputy Company Commander Andrii Bakhtov (Stilly)

Even then, the Deputy Company Commander Tykhyi (Stilly), was legendary among the guys: he could sneak into the most dangerous positions to supply ammunition, and he knew everything and could do everything, and he was not hit by bullets and mines. And in general, "when Tykhyi (Stilly) is with us, we will find our way out where the sun don't shine, for sure." 

He did not look like some kind of terminator. He was modest, intelligent, fit, and truly Tykhyi (Stilly) (the call sign was just right for his character). He never raised his voice, but everyone heard him. And his calmness was enough to balance the entire unit. After withdrawing from Sievierodonetsk, the guys openly declared that they wanted Andrii Bakhtov to be their Company Commander. And they got their way.

He was appointed acting Company Commander on July 26, just before stationing combat positions near Zaitseve, near Horlivka. On August 10, he was killed in a fight with an enemy subversive group, true to his principle that you can teach your soldiers something only by your own example. That day there were heavy battles and continuous shelling, all the soldiers were at their positions. And when the drone operators reported that they had heard Russian speech at our positions, he silently took an assault rifle and a bulletproof vest and went to reconnoiter. He was followed by a signalman, Yan, who later told us about the circumstances of the commander's death.

This interview turned out to be the last in the life of Andrii Bakhtov, a police lieutenant colonel, deputy commander of the Myrotvorets battalion, head of the military training department of the Armed Forces Academy and commander of the 6th company of the Freedom Battalion. On May 9, he would have been only 49 years old.

It is published for the first time.

-Andrii, you have a Russian surname. Do you have Russian roots?

-Yes, I was born in Kazakhstan, lived for a certain number of years in Siberia, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and until 2014 I regularly went there because most of my relatives are there, my sister is in Moscow. We communicated quite closely. After 2014, we continued to talk but avoided political topics. Yes, I would send birthday greetings, ask how the children were doing, how the family was doing.

- What about now?

-It's hard with them. We hardly ever communicate. The influence of the Russian media and politics in general is felt. On 24 February, the day the full-scale aggression began, almost all my relatives called me - both from Moscow and from the Krasnoyarsk region. They were as worried as we were. Some of them reassured me, saying, "Be patient, it will all be over soon. We will win and everything will be as it was before - one nation under the Russian flag.

And I responded to them: "How are you?" I started sending them photos of their "Ivans", videos of dead Muscovites, and how we were killing them. And they stopped writing and calling me. They must have been offended. Someone is also trying to ask how we are doing through our grandparents. But I don't communicate, I don't care. My task now is to liberate our territory from the occupiers. And their re-education is not the time, that's the next task.

-Where does this patriotism come from?

-My ancestors are from Kyivan Rus, from the principality of Smolensk. No, they were not princes, my great-grandfather went to Kazakhstan to develop virgin lands under Stolypin's reform. He and his family settled there and started their own business. It seems to be something related to agriculture.  What else could you do on virgin lands? My grandmother told me that he had a shop and a farm. But when the Soviet regime came, they took it all away and left us beggars. My grandfather and father were born there, in Qostanai, and I was born there. And then my parents moved to Siberia on Komsomol vouchers, and I spent my early childhood there. And in 1981 I moved with my mother to Khmelnytsky region, her homeland, and grew up here.

I used to go to Siberia very often. I have such childhood memories of the taiga and pine trees. But when you look at how people live there and how we live here, it's a completely different way of life. I learnt to smoke in Siberia when I was 5 years old - it was the custom there. People start drinking and smoking very early there. Everybody lived in sticks, crooked, abandoned houses - everyone knew what the way of life was there. So, I have completely different values that I want to defend. If I wanted to, I could live in Russia. Why not: I have a place to go, relatives, and a big salary. There is a region there where salaries are high, although people there live poorly. I could do it, but I didn't. This is because I want to live here and defend our values.

In general, it's a paradox: Russians want to make everyone like them by force. They could just come to us and live here, as they did before. Please, come and live here. But do not encroach on our values. For example, I would love to visit Georgians, but not to convince them to become Ukrainians. I want to enjoy their values, their traditions, their cuisine. I enjoyed talking to Chechens and was interested in their culture. But I don't want to be like them, and I don't want to re-educate them to be like Ukrainians. I just wonder what kind of people they are: Georgians, Chechens, Evenki? Why do you need to conquer and re-educate someone?

-Are you a professional soldier?

-No, I'm actually a teacher. I have two higher pedagogical degrees: a physical education teacher and a practical psychologist. I myself have many categories in various sports: I started with running, then boxing, swimming, skiing, shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and officer's triathlon. These are competitions in which I took part at the level of Ukrainian championships. I could go to competitions in five different sports in a year - I was interested in such diverse competitions. This was my attitude in life because it was boring to do just one thing.

-How did you get into the security forces?

By chance. I was working at a school, coaching, and had good results both myself and among my students. At the time, there was a period of lack of money, especially in the teaching sector. In addition, in 1999, my eldest son was born, and I had to feed my family. So, when I was offered to join a special forces unit, and I had both the appropriate training and speciality, I did not refuse. For the main period of my service, I worked in the Berkut special forces unit, responsible for combat training and psychological support.

-You had also been on peacekeeping missions, hadn't you?

-Yes, it was already in 2006-2007. I was on a UN peacekeeping mission in Yugoslavia and took part in many special operations. I was also in charge of combat and special training and psychological support there. The experience was extremely interesting. I had the opportunity to talk to many specialists from different countries and compare their methods. Planning operations to capture gang leaders and their members was particularly interesting. They involved a large number of personnel, not like we do. And the planning itself was at a very high level.

-Were you also with Berkut on Maidan?

No, I had already resigned by then. After 2010, when Yanukovych came to power, I already understood what his policy would be and what we would be doing. I had the opportunity to take a preferential pension based on length of service, which I did. Most of my service period was a year for two, year for three. That's how it went. Until 2014, I was happily engaged in business, and family, taking my children to sports, playing sports myself, and having various hobbies. Everything was great.

At the same time, I had itchy feet,  I participated in the Tax Maidan. When Euromaidan started in 2014, I joined the leadership of the Self-Defense in Khmelnytskyi. I am well known there. From time to time we travelled to Kyiv, but the main work was done locally.

-You were at the origins of the Myrotvorets battalion, weren't you?

Yes, my comrades in arms invited me. After the Russians invaded Crimea, the Khmelnytskyi Maidan Self-Defence recruited a battalion of volunteers in just two days, about 400 people (I took an active part in this, sitting and recording). We were ready to take up arms right then and there and go to defend Ukraine. However, the military commissariats were not ready to accept us and asked for only 50 military men to help put things in order in the files and give out draft notices. We assigned such people, but I went to the military enlistment office myself and told them that I was like this, I had experience,"compulsory military service" I was a paratrooper in the 95th Airmobile Brigade. I went to my unit, the National Guard, and asked them to draft me. But cue the cricket noises.

The first people who remembered me were my supervisors from the Peacekeeping Corps, who were recruiting an international battalion from among those who had participated in peacekeeping operations. On 9 May, my birthday, I got a call back from Kyiv - and on the 10th I was already there. We started calling our friends and recruiting a team. I was also actively involved in the recruitment and training of personnel there.

Andrii Teteruk, also a colleague of mine in the peacekeeping mission, became the first commander of Myrotvorets, and I became his deputy. After a little team training, we moved into the war zone in July. We started with Sloviansk - we went in immediately after it was liberated and took over police functions because there were still many armed groups there, and the local police, then still police, had almost completely defected to the enemy`s side. But even in the liberated city, we were on the move: we had an all-around defence, we were ready for attacks, and the danger there was serious - despite the fact that Sloviansk was under our control, the separatists could completely jam our communications. We kept order, helped to test local police officers with lie detectors. In general, we adapted to the situation: in some places, police functions were more needed, in others, military functions, and in others, purely military functions. We were then called the 'Peacemaker' battalion of the special police patrol service.

Then we took control of Popasna, Toretsk, Maiorske, and New York - which was still Novhorodske at the time.

-Were you also in Ilovaisk?

-Yes, we were sent to support our forces that were there. We already understood that the city was either surrounded or semi-surrounded, so we went in under the smoke. Only volunteer fighters left, those who did not want to could write a report and stay. And this is absolutely the right approach: it's better to have 10 people you can rely on than 15, half of whom will cry and whimper. 

We arrived and took up a line of defence in the depot - across the railway line from us, the Kadyrovtsy were about 70 metres away. Small arms fire was going on almost around the clock, we were constantly being shelled with mortars and grenades. But we were so positive. We had virtually no losses, a few lightly wounded, but otherwise, everyone was alive and well.

But we were told lies every day. We saw that the situation was not unfolding in our favour, but Muzhenko and others assured us that we should stay strong, help was coming. We were tasked with liberating the city, but it was clear that our forces were not enough to do so. We already suggested that if you cannot provide enough forces, let us withdraw and take up more reliable and stronger positions and fight. But we were never given such a command, on the contrary, there was a constant ‘don't be a pussy’, ‘I'll shoot you’, ‘help is coming’ - this is the subtext. Muzhenko often talked to the battalion commanders, and I also had a commander's radio, so I heard it all. There was a reference to Poroshenko, to his position that we cannot retreat.

And then there was the organisation of the "green corridor". In fact, it turned out not to be green at all. Many people from our battalion were captured, many people were wounded.

-How did you get out?

-We spent three days on foot. Our entire convoy, all our equipment was practically destroyed. We were travelling on yellow Bogdan buses, which are great targets for their dug-in equipment. But we made it through. For some time we were travelling on discs because the tyres were punctured, but then there was a direct hit on the driver and we were forced to stop and take the fight. We destroyed that gun emplacement, but then we had to disperse and move out in small groups.

I also went to look for a car to take the wounded out, but I came under heavy fire and could not return. Later, I found out that the guys had miraculously found a car and taken the wounded to one hospital that was already under occupation, then to Donetsk. There, they underwent surgery: the doctors quietly operated on them together with the separatists, only telling them to keep quiet and not to confess. And then they managed to bring them to our territory by various means. This is already a well-known story, and a whole book could be written about it.

I was already getting out on my own. I was out for three days. And it was such an intense combat experience that it was impossible to get somewhere else in training.

-Haven't you lost your desire to fight?

On the contrary. After Ilovaisk, we got together with the guys who stayed, who supported me and wanted to continue liberating Ukraine. Many, of course, left: either for health reasons or of their own free will. But we returned to our positions near Horlivka, and together with other units, we performed both police and combat functions.

And in 2016, the reorganisation began. Several battalions were merged into a regiment, but we were withdrawn from the frontline to Sievierodonetsk, which was very far from the frontline at the time. The Synetskyi bridge, which was so busy and lively this summer (June 2022 - ed.), on adrenaline - it was absolutely peaceful and calm then. And we were given purely police functions: checkpoints, public order protection.

Then I resigned - my motivation was to go to war and defend Ukraine. At that time, I saw that the armed forces had strengthened and spread their wings, and the special police battalions had moved to the third line. I was not interested in this.

-Retirement again?

-But not for long. Almost immediately, I was invited to the Academy of Internal Affairs to take part in the formation of the military department, to pass on the latest experience to the young. I worked there first as a lecturer, then as a senior lecturer, and later became the head of the military training department.

A lot of students, this is my teaching field and my military experience. We taught children to love and defend their homeland. And when such an acute situation occurred, of course, I did not stand aside and returned to the frontline.

-Was there any premonition in February, before the invasion?

It was. Just a year before, I approached the leadership of the Myrotvorets battalion with a proposal to form a reserve. I said, "Guys, let me make a list of those who are retired but still in uniform, and we will undergo regular training once a week. There are tactics, firearms training, medicine. Let's have a reserve. I had a list of my guys who were ready to take up arms, and the battalion leadership supported my idea. But the leadership of the headquarters seemed to be in another world. So this list remained on paper.

I generally communicated with many of our fellow veterans. In the battalion, I was the organising unit, keeping the memory of our fallen soldiers and their families. I know all the birthdays of their children, they all received gifts from me, gifts on Saint Nicholas Day, women received greetings on the eighth of March.

-How many people were killed?

-The first team of Myrotvorets consisted of 11 people who died, and I kept in touch with their families. We also gathered as a large group on the day Myrotvorets was created, on 9 May, and on 29 August, the Day of Remembrance of the Ilovaisk tragedy. That's why I had such a group. It is very important to keep in touch with the families of the victims, to communicate with them. It is important for them above all.

Another list was of my active students who could be relied on. I was always saying there, too: "Guys, in case something happens, who is ready to go into territorial defence?" We agreed on a conditional place that as soon as the shelling of Kyiv begins or occupation is possible, suddenly there are disruptions - we would all gather at a certain time at a certain point. I will be waiting for you. They already had their backpacks packed, uniforms, everything they needed.

That's how it turned out. But I did not expect the Russians to act so rush and aggressively. I was expecting to involve students in some kind of humanitarian disaster relief: clearing rubble, delivering food to the weak, evacuating the wounded, providing first aid. And here I see that it is turning into a close firefight, and my students were not yet so experienced that I could take them into such battles. So I did not take that responsibility and sent them home.

-All of them?

-Almost. I was literally haunted by a few students who were uncomfortable or far away from home. I talked to their parents and told them that I was taking them under my responsibility, but it's war, I can't guarantee anything. They said that the boys are adults and at 18 they make their own decisions. And in the morning, they were already on duty. Later, I sent all those who could be sent home, because at first there was no communication or transport. But three of them stayed. They are still here with me - Vitia, Yasha and Yura. I have a group with my parents, and if they have no contact with the boys, I regularly report back.

-You mean here? In Druzhkivka?

Yes, here in the East. Now they have gone to work for the night, to serve, they have been on duty for nine hours, but they are all here. I was a little worried about them, but they have been under fire, have been under mortar fire, have been under mortar fire, and have proved themselves in small arms battles. So everything is fine.

-How did you get from Myrotvorets to the Freedom battalion?

-This is from Kyiv, from the VFTС (volunteer formations of territorial communities). I took the students with me, gathered the old staff from the Myrotvorets veterans, added some volunteers, and we joined the Myrotvorets battalion that was defending Kyiv. We quickly received weapons and started performing combat missions in Obolon. There we had our own lines, our own trenches, and we served there for two months.

I kept going to the police headquarters to get us officially registered. It's good when everyone is safe and sound. And if someone gets injured, wounded or, God forbid, killed, what should we do? I explained to them that there are volunteer fighters, motivated fighters with experience, almost all of whom are combat veterans. At that time, Myrotvorets was short-staffed by 100 people, and our 75 fighters could solve the problem. But for reasons unknown to me, the headquarters did not want to register us. And then the guys started looking for other units to continue defending Ukraine. I held out until the end, hoping that this issue would be resolved. And then in April, with a small part of my soldiers, I joined the 4th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. At first, we were assigned to the first battalion, but during the team training we were offered to join the Freedom Battalion, and so we went here, to the East.

In the end, we have one task - to defend Ukraine, and where and with whom, in fact, does not make much difference.

-You have just come out of Severodonetsk. To be honest, we were very worried that you would not be captured, because the bridges were blown up, and many of the soldiers were in such a situation for the first time. How did the people prove themselves?

It was one of the most tense moments. The enemy fired very densely and in large quantities. I have a habit, for example, if I need to move somewhere, I time how long it usually takes to hit. For example, if I had to drive across the Synetskyi bridge, I usually watched the 120 calibre: a box is opened, a target is set up, one mine is thrown,  minute later a second mine is thrown. Then the ruscists would open the second box, so the interval could be one minute or three minutes. So, when we were near Voronovo, the interval between mines was 10-30 seconds. And the guys were sitting in shelters all the time, which was a huge psychological burden.

First and foremost, these shelters were quite conditional. The only more or less fortified place that could withstand a direct mine hit was the command post. All the others were hiding in holes and dugouts covered with branches, hoping that went well. If a mine fell 3-5 metres away, they were lucky. If it's a direct hit - bad luck. And in such conditions, the fighters were getting stronger.

-The guys said that you were constantly with them at the positions and controlled everything, weren`t you?

-As a military man, it is very important for me to follow these stages of the fighters' development on the ground. To make sure they stand up, don't panic, and don't withdraw. Because there is a threat of getting into a firefight in the forest, where visibility is limited and there are many risk factors. And the guys withstood the pressure. They withstood everything: quite frequent intense mortar attacks, hailstones that covered large areas, and phosphorus. And they held their ground even in situations where their adjacent units could not stand it and withdrew. Without warning, exposing their flank. This happened too. We had to withdraw from Voronovo under such conditions.

We planned to go out at night when there was minimal surveillance, but we had to go out in the most unfavourable situation. Simply because at seven in the morning we found out that our adjacent units had withdrawn and left our flank uncovered, and the enemy could enter at any time. So we went out under mortar fire with intervals of 10-30 seconds, in small groups, when the drone is hovering over you and it controls you: as soon as it detects any movement, they starts to fire more targetedly. And I had these withdrawals clearly scheduled: 9.20, 9.30, 9.40, we took turns to withdraw. This is another stage of military endurance of the guys who managed to do it, did not panic, everything was clear and well-coordinated. I am proud of them. We came out with almost no losses. Only one fighter, call sign Eternal, did not reach the assembly point, and his fate is still unknown. I regret that I found out about it too late. If I had known that he was missing, we would have stayed, we would have searched the entire area with the signalmen or other guys. But I found out about it after we had left the position.

- It was very supportive for the guys - that you were with them.

And this is very important - teaching by own example. I am often told that a company commander should not do this, he should give instructions. But I can't do that. Even earlier, when I was a battalion commander, I showed a lot of things by my own example: how to do it and why it should be done that way. In war, this is the easiest way to teach something.

-We were lucky that there were many tourists and climbers among the fighters, i.e. people with experience in the forest.

- Yes, I have understood this since 2014. I understand that we are not able to recruit enough professional military personnel, so we are trying to use the skills that people already have as much as possible. And knowing that we have professional climbers, we sent them to make the river crossing site. We knew they were passionate and would do everything at the highest level. Moreover, before that, friends and volunteers had managed to send them professional climbing equipment. And this is right, it should be so. But, unfortunately, there are also commanders who have climbers digging trenches and drivers driving cars.

-Do you have a lot of help from volunteers?

-A lot of people. Most often they are just friends. Because some people think that a volunteer is someone who has a lot of money and can buy everything. In fact, it is my friends who help me a lot: my student, my classmate one, my classmate two, my relatives, all my friends who know me, who support me and my unit. They are always ready to support you in the most difficult moments, and that's what keeps everything going.

What do you remember most?

-Second birthday. Let's just say we were lucky. Before one of the reconnaissance missions, the guys started complaining that the positions were very long and it was hard to walk in the sand, and they had to do a lot. They asked me to take a car. I said okay, but what about the road? They said it was fine, it was checked, no mines, APCs had been there. That was good. We loaded into the Peugeot and started driving. We reach a certain place. I said, "Stop, I know this place, it's definitely mined. We get out of the car and walk a few metres. I show them: look, there's one mine, there's another. The guys are silent. But we have to get out somehow. I left them in the woods, got behind the wheel and slowly started to drive out the back, trying to keep to the track we had come on. But somewhere along the way, I moved, probably by a few centimetres, and caught my mine.

My first thought was that it was the end. I knew it was an anti-tank mine, I knew how it worked. Then I saw the smoke settling, and I felt as if I was alive. I looked through the smoke at my hands: oh, my arms are still there, my legs are still there. I try to move them - they move, it's great. The car fell on its side. I went for the door - it opened. And that was a miracle too, because the doors often get jammed, and when the car is on fire, you have to leave it as soon as possible because it can explode. And so I open the door, get out of the car in my bulletproof vest, and see the surprised faces of the guys who did not expect me to survive. I get out of the car, approach them and hear: "Stilly, you are immortal".

-What's next?

-And what`s next? We returned to the base, I was examined, small splinters of wood that had stuck into my skin were removed, and the wounds were debrided. And three hours after the explosion, we went on another reconnaissance mission. However, we had to walk, because the car was left in the woods - it was beyond repair. It was a pity. It was a good car, a volunteer vehicle.

-What helps people without combat experience to survive? Most of those who are with you, in addition to a month in the territorial defence in Obolon, someone was in Irpin, someone went to Brovary, a week was at the training ground, and have nothing else behind them.

-"Of course, it's a pity that we didn't have more training. But the people who are here are strongly motivated and eager to learn and master military specialities. Having previously been civilians: teachers, drivers, bartenders, many of them came from abroad to defend their country. Yes, sometimes you have to do something, to get over yourself,  sometimes you are scared. Everyone is scared. But this powerful motivation is the main factor in the formation of a defender. I know this from 2014 and now. I am proud of the guys, that I have such colleagues. And I know that our brotherhood will remain for life.

-But not everyone went on to fight, many returned home.

-And that's normal. I am in no way condemning those guys who have returned to civilian life. Everyone has their own limit of capabilities. Someone will go all the way, someone will get out of the race. I know that after the first battles, after the first losses, there are always moral and psychological losses. And if someone feels that they cannot withstand this load, it is better for them to stay at home. And this is typical for any army. We can take the best special forces, whether NATO or Russian, where guys serve for ten years and get into real combat situations that you can't do on any training ground, and there is a washout of those who are not mentally and psychologically ready for combat. That's why combat units that have already gone through this washout process are so valuable. We've had it too, and it's normal and natural.

Of course, if there was more time and more comfortable conditions, people could be trained by gradually dosing these psycho-emotional stresses and combat actions. At first, patrolling, night patrolling, small arms combat, adaptation to shelling, gradual bringing military professional skills to a high level. Unfortunately, we did not have such opportunities. We had to mobilise as quickly as possible and gather all the people we had. And all those who mobilised at this critical moment are heroes. Because, of course, it's great to sit on the couch with your wife and children or go somewhere in Zakarpattia, away from danger. Or you can leave everything behind: family, home, career, good job, and go to defend the country, risking death every moment. As practice has shown, this is real, your life can end at any second. That is why all the guys who decided to fight the enemy are heroes. There are no other heroes in our country. They are the heroes, those who stopped the enemy as best they could. Whether in Kyiv, in Chernihiv or here. I am proud to be here with these guys.

-Well, they are proud to have a professional among them. By the way, as a psychologist, how can you assess this phenomenon of volunteering? What makes people who are far from the war drop everything and risk their lives?

-It must be deep in our genes somewhere. In every century, Ukrainians have had moments when they left everything behind, abandoned their families and farms and stood up to defend their land. This happened in the nineteenth century and in the twentieth. We'll leave this phenomenon to deeper researchers, but there is something to it. Perhaps, the blood of my ancestors from the Smolensk principality is still alive in me.

I am actually a deeply peaceful person, war does not attract me. As soon as the tension subsides, I return to a peaceful life, to my children and family. There are just moments when you need to defend what you have, to protect your country. And every time you hope it won't last long. In 2014, I also thought that we would end the war in a few months, and I had such hopes before Ilovaisk. I thought that we would quickly restore order and on 1 September we would take our children to school, and I would also take them to training, art school, and so on. Unfortunately, it prolonged.

-And now it's being prolonged again. Don't you have that feeling?

-I would not like to make any predictions. I am just doing my job, which is primarily to save the lives of our personnel and destroy theirs. There is a great desire to protect our own, to prevent the war from continuing. We have already seen what was happening in the occupied territories back then. And now we see what they have turned Sieverodonetsk into, what Voronovo has become, and many other places that no one will restore. At least in the near future. We can see what kind of people are waiting for the Russians, and I can already predict how they will live. But we don't want to allow all this to spread to our territory. We saw what they did in Bucha, Irpin, Kyiv region, what horrors were going on there. Therefore, the primary task is to prevent this horde from entering other territories so that 1917-1933 does not happen again. Because we still have to leave this country to our children. If we hide out or go somewhere else, I don't even want to think about what it could turn into. 70 years of Soviet occupation have already shown us this. Our main task today is to keep this war going as long as possible. 

- Nevertheless. Analysts are now predicting three scenarios. One is a repeat attack from Belarus and possibly Zakarpattia as well; the second is that after losing Kyiv and northern Ukraine, they will collapse under our pressure (and we see that high-precision weapons have already begun to arrive and we have begun to hit their ammunition depots one by one) and we will be able to push them. And the third, most lousy option is that they will offer peace talks in exchange for the seized territories and we will eventually get the Second Chechen War or another ATO for an indefinite period of time. In your opinion, which scenario is the most realistic?

- You know, I stopped worrying about various forecasts and listening to various analysts like Arestovich and the like a long time ago. I don't worry about things that don't really depend on me. We are doing our job here and now: we are stopping the enemy as far as we can, and eliminating as much of it as possible. That is our contribution to victory. The more we eliminate them, the closer we bring this victory. I know that now we have to defend as much as possible, and how it goes...

There can be many scenarios, but one thing is clear: the Russians will stop where we stop them, where we give them a tough fight. That is why our task is to restrain them to the maximum, not to allow them to do anything in our country and to constantly come up with new opportunities to kill them and drive them out. This is my field task - to destroy the enemy here and now. This is what we are working on.

-Has the war changed you?

-War changes many people. I remember how, before the war, we had a doctor in our headquarters who was from Zolochiv. And I was completely Russian-speaking at the time and liked to address my colleagues very often: "Gentlemen officers". And he was always telling me that I shouldn't do that, that I shouldn't be like the Muscovites. And then he told me what the Muscovites did in 1939, when the Second World War started with the Germans. He said that when they came, they burned all the literature, deported and killed everyone who was for Ukraine, and then sent their teacher to teach children in Russian. And the UIA killed that teacher. It was wild for me at the time. How could they kill a teacher? And he said: "How else? They killed our teachers, and they send their own to teach us? What will they teach us?"

And then, after 2014, after Ilovaisk, we met again. And he said to me: "Well, Grigoriy, I didn't expect you, such a Russian speaker, to stand up for the defence of our mother Ukraine." And I replied: "You know, doc, I now know why you killed Russians."

And indeed, now we probably have no other option but to destroy them on our land, to eliminate and  put pressure on them. Because this is our land.

A petition has been registered on the website of the President of Ukraine to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Andrii Hryhorovych Bakhtov. Please support the petition. He deserves it more than anyone.

Natalka Pozniak-Khomenko