On March 10, a dreadful news from front broke the Internet. Two missiles of enemy PTRK (anti-tank missile system) hit a truck, where were Ukrainian defenders. Unfortunately, not all survived...

Killed reconnaissance men were recommended for order "For Courage" 3rd degree.

News about the death of three reconnaissance men on the same day was a real shock for the sworn brothers. Nevertheless the fact that the battalion have performed difficult tasks in hottest spots of Donbas, it had not permanent losses since 2018 until the 10th March 2020...

The same day, three junior commanders passed away... Andrii Vedeshyn was killed from first shooting from the PTRK. Viktor Soltys died on halfway to hospital. The same evening, a unit lost one more sworn brother - Illia Perezhohin, a sniper bullet left him no a chance.

- I say banal thing, but it's true. Andrii, Viktor and Illia were true heroes, cheerful and courage men. You don't hear any bad words about them from colleagues, Oleksandr, the sworn brother of the killed servicemen said. - We are currently preparing a recommendation for the order "For Courage" 3rd degree, and everyone rather deserves this state award.

Sworn brothers are able to tell about the perished reconnaissance men for hours. But not for camera... Certainly! Reconnaissance! All their work is classified as "top secret".

– Thirty-two-year-old Illia Perezhohin from Odesa came to serve from mechanized infantry brigade. He had had a considerable combat experience – had been fighting on front line. He signed one-year contract with our unit on March 12 last year... Viktor Soltys was from Kirovohrad region; our reconnaissance battalion was his first place of service for him. He left daughter. He was only twenty-six years old... Andrii Vedeshyn, originated by Vinnitsia region, served in our battalion almost for three years. A little daughter did not wait for him... He was thirty-two years old...

LIVES OF SIX SERVICEMEN ARE STILL IN ENDANGER

Anatolii, who has been serving this reconnaissance battalion for more than one year, is the father of one of the wounded reconnaissance men.

– That morning, I was at the battalion and heard morning news, read by a soldier. I was busy but heard by chance: two shots from the PTRK... there were killed and eight wounded servicemen. For one second, it occurs on me "Zhenia is there! Today he has come off duty!" Hundreds of calls... And only in the evening I found out that my son had been there at that truck...

Twenty-three-year-old Yevhen wanted to go to front from the first day of war, but the father constantly persuaded him to firstly get education.

– In April of 2015, I went to war, so my arguments became weaker every time. During one of rotations, my son with volunteers came to our positions. He was there two days, survived shooting attack, tasted soldier dishes. He had a burning desire. I reminded him one thing - to receive a higher education, and then to come to fight.

And soon the son already educated in Starychy. Since then "family rotations" in the family of reconnaissance men have begun.

– I was the deputy platoon commander of the reconnaissance battalion till September 2019. There was the first rotation to the war when I didn't go. During the previous two rotations, my son and I were fighting together. I can't express my feeling of regret that at the moment of shooting I wasn't next to Yevhen. My son received numerous fragment wounds of face, head, right shoulder and left hand. Several more eyes operations ahead. It was good that he had armour vest and helmet.

Along with Yevhen - five more combat sworn brothers, all of them are from the same platoon. They have almost identical, mine-blast wounds, only degree of complexity is various.

– Vasyl was the most severe wounded, he is also from Vinnytsia region, countryman. The guy recovered consciousness before surgery. He was cut off his leg; doctors are currently saving his arm. To date, he is still in coma, with painkillers, on artificial lung ventilation apparatus. Ivan, who has recently transferred into our battalion, is still in coma, on artificial lung ventilation apparatus, and he has problem with his eyes, lungs... And Dima, in addition to damaging his eyes, frontal bone was injured by fragment, as a result, titanium sheet will be put...

The combat sworn brothers decided to support comrades, because a lot of surgeries and long-lasting rehabilitation in the future. Not only countrymen and combat sworn brothers responded to the request but also people are transferring funds from abroad.

– Our joint decision is to divide money between all soldiers in accordance with degree of complexity because everyone needs support. Most likely, the war for my son and his sworn brothers is over. But they had luck to survive. Neither Andrew, nor Viktor, nor Illia had the chance to survive.

In view of the large number of severely wounded soldiers, there an urgent need for donated blood is in the hospital. Therefore, all non-indifferent citizens are asked to support servicemen and to come to blood donor center.

P.S. The reconnaissance battalion sustained irreparable losses... The very next day, our defenders destroyed the enemy PTRK combat crew, from which two death-dealing missiles were fired.

Anastasiia Olekhnovych

Yaroslava Zorina

Vladyslav Demianenko