Kyivites bid farewell lately to soldiers of the Sich and OUN battalions as they left for the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area. The reconnaissance company of the Donbas battalion departed for the frontlines on March 17. These men were training at the National Guard base in Novi Petrivtsi, while some of them took courses at the junior sergeant school in Zolochiv.
Former commander of the Donbas battalion, MP Semen Semenchenko remarked that the battalion had more professional soldiers entering its ranks now, and discipline was improving as well. The MP handed to the soldiers a drone donated by Chicago Ukrainians and a charger for electronic devices donated by Ukrainian scientists.
Schoolkids from the city of Boiarka, located in the vicinity of Kyiv, recited poems for the Donbas soldiers and presented pictures to them. Activists chanted: “Glory to Ukraine! We are looking forward to your victorious return!” “We arrived here accompanied by elementary school students. Children seriously prepared for the event. We keep writing letters and drawing pictures for soldiers, send them chocolates and medicines, while our fourth graders purchased body armor for them,” Boiarka school teacher Olena Lazebnyk told us. “Out of my third-graders’ parents, two are ATO veterans. Many of our alumni are fighting in the east of the country. Therefore, our students understand what is happening in Ukraine, and they do not have to be persuaded to help the soldiers.”
The medic rifleman who goes by callsign Poliak was leaving for the east again, as he has served with the Donbas battalion since May 2014. Born in Donetsk, the soldier was a social worker there before the war. “The enemy has come to my home. I have to drive them out,” Poliak said. “There are fewer of us Easterners in this batch compared to the battalion of the first formation, but we still have men from Luhansk joining, for instance. Over the year, the battalion had many soldiers wounded, but young men are still joining us. I left Ilovaisk just before the city was encircled. I cared about our battalion’s wounded then. I have definitely saved two of them, one of them I evacuated under fire together with my mate. When saving a man, correct situation assessment is all-important.”
People called on veterans to protect less experienced men. “My unit’s youngest soldier was born in 1996,” Donbas battalion volunteer Ruslan said. “I admit that sometimes we have to shout at the younger men, but we never slap them, we do not do any hazing here. Sometimes younger men advise their seniors as well.” Ruslan comes from Kirovohrad, where he worked in various fields, including trading and paving sidewalks. “I do not like our government, but do not want the ‘Russian World’ to come to Ukraine either. Thus, I have joined defenders of the homeland,” the soldier said.
The 12-year-old Anton, wrapped in blue-and-yellow flag, waved his farewell to the soldiers as well. The boy arrived from Moscow recently, where he took part in a table hockey competition. He said that Russians treated his team well, and added: “I am very worried for our soldiers. I wish for them all to come back alive with no one hurt. This war should stop.”
