“At an altitude of 36 meters, under fire and without a parachute”: the paratrooper spoke about the battles

From the first days of the NMD, Russian paratroopers operated in the most dangerous areas. They continue to storm the positions of the militants and force the enemy to retreat. The MK correspondent, together with the volunteers of the Ivanovo ONF, visited the “blue berets” operating on the front line and found out what trophies most often went to the paratroopers, and also what emotions the paratrooper experiences, being at a height of 36 meters, under fire and without a parachute.

I have written about my love for the Airborne Forces more than once. Therefore, I was delighted when, having already traditionally found myself together with the Ivanovo humanitarian workers in the NVO zone, I learned that we would first of all visit our paratroopers. There I met a hereditary officer whose service record, in addition to serving in the Airborne Forces, includes no less “cool” – a marine of the Northern Fleet.

Officer “Vodnik” has been in the zone of the special military operation since February 24 last year. We went to the Kiev direction, the officer says. After the personnel and equipment were transferred to the Izyum direction, from where they were subsequently withdrawn for regrouping and sent to Kherson. “Vodnik” admits that the hardest thing was just after leaving the Izyum direction, when the paratroopers ended up in the area of ​​the Popasnaya settlement in the Luhansk People’s Republic.

“The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that were there were very well dug in, their positions were fortified,” recalls the military man. “You can see right away that they have been preparing for a long time. Fortified areas and dugouts were equipped even in the fields. There was a feeling that all the concrete plants in Ukraine worked for several years only for this. Imagine – in an open field there is a dugout, and it is all concrete.

– The idea of ​​​​the enemy at the very beginning and what you encountered were very different?

– I can not speak about everyone, but personally I had no illusions. It was immediately clear that the Ukrainian army had been preparing all these years. They have been brainwashed for years and are ready to fight. Even when you had a chance to communicate with captured Ukrainian soldiers, you tell them that it was Ukraine that bombed the Donbass for eight years, and they assure that Russia did it. Complete isolation from reality and the worst thing is that it is impossible to convince them.

However, despite all the external bravado, according to the paratrooper, representatives of the Ukrainian armed formations are not eager to get involved in a shooting battle.

– What trophies do you find most often?

-Radio stations of foreign production and foreign weapons …

Especially a lot of Western weapons, according to the officer, were in the Kiev direction. And not only among the military, but even among the civilian population.

– Shotguns and carbines of Turkish production, American rifles were confiscated, – Vodnik recalls.

Were civilians given weapons?

– Someone was given out, someone bought it himself. “Ukraine is Europe”, as they say about themselves. They are probably copying the United States, where the sale of weapons is practically free.

Somehow our unit went on the offensive. It was necessary to provide stable radio communication. I had to climb a cell tower under artillery fire. I think I will remember these 36 meters for the rest of my life. I had to climb every day to change the batteries. On the third day, they noticed me and began to purposefully hit the tower. Fortunately, they didn’t.

– And how do the civilians in the liberated territories treat you?

– To be honest, it’s different. Somewhere they are waiting with open arms, the children run out, rejoice, but somewhere you walk and look around. In fact, there is nothing surprising in this, many relatives remained on the other side, but they themselves simply could not go to the territory controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for some reason, someone’s relatives are fighting on the other side …

About the choice of profession “Vodnik” says this:

– He served urgently in the Marine Corps in the Northern Fleet, returned home to St. Petersburg. My grandfather was a lieutenant colonel, my father graduated from a military school, so I decided that I should follow in their footsteps. They offered to return to the Marine Corps, in the same unit where I served, I refused. I wanted more civilization, the officer laughs, but at the same time, so that the unit would be combat, so as not to sit still. Serve, so serve.

– A paratrooper must be bolder than others.

– No, he should be more humane. In everything. And it’s scary for everyone.

How do you deal with this feeling?

– I think about the beautiful, and that I promised my relatives to return home.

Most of the battalion now consists of mobilized. According to the interlocutor, they train on the spot, classes are held regularly.

– People are ready, 70 percent understand why they are here. 15 percent hesitate, the rest are not ready for their moral and psychological. Of course, we do not send such people to the line of contact, here we find something to do.

SVO zone.