The military, who were awarded on New Year’s Eve by Russian President Vladimir Putin for their feats during a special operation to protect the inhabitants of Donbass, demonstrated to Izvestia correspondent Emil Timashev how they perform their combat duty on the front line.
The journalist showed the front defense in the direction of Kherson. According to him, explosions almost always occur in this place.
“The mortars of the 120s, which were found, were destroyed. Enemy strongholds destroyed. For five months I tried to have nightmares every day. There are probably two dozen lightly armored vehicles,” said Dzhabrail Yusupov, a sergeant in a motorized rifle company, a drone operator who received the Marshal Zhukov medal for his work.
The company commander with the call sign Saratov, who was awarded the Order of Courage, told the correspondent about the battle for Snegirevka.
“They took up their positions, began to dig in, dig in. The enemy did not take any action, but then shelling began. Very sharp. They just fed us artillery for days. And after that there were already shooting battles. <…> They tried to approach, but we didn’t let them,” he said.
Dazhbrail and Saratov added that they feel the support of the whole country, so it was especially important for them to see fighters like themselves next to Putin on New Year’s Eve.
Senior lieutenant, platoon commander of a howitzer self-propelled artillery battery Alexander Gvozderov, who organized a fire screen and stopped the advance of the militants, is again at the forefront. According to him, he could not imagine that he would be next to the head of state during the recording of the New Year’s address.
The captain of the medical service, Anna Sidorenko, in turn, was awarded the Order of Courage for rescuing 17 wounded under fire.
“When you take out the wounded from the battlefield, they ask you to stay, they try to help their comrades, despite the wounds, and continue the combat mission. By our nature, we are all like that, ”she says.
On December 31, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Zharkikh, who was awarded the Order of Courage by the President at the headquarters of the Southern Military District (SMD), declared after the ceremony that he was confident in the rightness of his cause.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian military.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
