Shreds of War by Ildi Eperjesi and Oleksandr Kachura (chapter 36)

Ildi Eperjesi & Oleksandr Kachura

Shreds of War

Fates from the Donbas Frontline 2014-2019

With a foreword by Olexiy Haran

UKRAINIAN VOICES

Collected by Andreas Umland

23 Dmytro Stus

Vasyl Stus: Life in Creativity

Translated from the Ukrainian by Ludmila Bachurina ISBN 978-3-8382-1631-7

24 Vitalii Ogiienko (ed.)

The Holodomor and the Origins of the Soviet Man

Reading the Testimony of Anastasia Lysyvets With forewords by Natalka Bilotserkivets and Serhy Yekelchyk

Translated from the Ukrainian by Alla Parkhomenko and Alexander J. Motyl ISBN 978-3-8382-1616-4

25 Vladislav Davidzon

Jewish-Ukrainian Relations and the Birth of a Political Nation

Selected Writings 2013-2021 With a foreword by Bernard-Henri Lévy ISBN 978-3-8382-1509-9

26

Serhy Yekelchyk

The Ukrainian Historical Profession in Independent Ukraine and the Diaspora ISBN 978-3-8382-1695-9

The book series “Ukrainian Voices” publishes English- and German-language monographs, edited volumes, document collections, and anthologies of articles authored and composed by Ukrainian politicians, intellectuals, activists, officials, researchers, and diplomats. The series’ aim is to introduce Western and other audiences to Ukrainian explorations, deliberations and interpretations of historic and current, domestic, and international affairs. The purpose of these books is to make non-Ukrainian readers familiar with how some prominent Ukrainians approach, view and assess their country’s development and position in the world. The series was founded, and the volumes are collected by Andreas Umland, Dr. phil. (FU Berlin), Ph. D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor of Politics at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and an Analyst in the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Ildi Eperjesi & Oleksandr Kachura

SHREDS OF WAR

FATES FROM THE DONBAS FRONTLINE 2014-2019

With a foreword by Olexiy Haran

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

ISBN-13: 978-3-8382-1680-5

© ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2022

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13 Nine Myths about Shirokino Ranging from Ghostlike Local Residents to the “Objective” Observers of the OSCE ........................................................................................... 103 14 A Militant of “DPR”: The Ukrainians Are Worse than the Chechens and the Taliban! They Pray to Their Bandera Portrait and Push Us to Moscow ............................................. 111 15 “Ravlik” Bogdan Chaban: The Terrorists Do Everything So That the Residents of Donetsk Become Partisans ............ 117 16 “I Am Not Sorry about the Civilians as They Are Guilty Themselves.” A “Militiaman” Told Us about the Hazing, and the Desire to Give Up ........................................................ 123 17 “I Presented the War in Its Reality” ........................................ 129 18 Paramedic “Spring”: It Is Not Scary to Save People under Fire. It Is Scary to Sit at Home and Watch the News ............ 139 19 “The Moscow Patriarchate Is Convinced That Ukrainian Priests Are Schimsmatic” ......................................................... 147 20 “We Do Not Need Peace on Russian Terms” ........................ 157 21 “It Is the Personal War of Putin and Russia Doesn’t Need It” ................................................................................................. 167 22 “I’m Often Threatened Because I Am Ukrainian.” ............... 185 23 “The Local Residents Were Sitting in the Cellar. They Were Afraid That We Would Eat Them.” .............................. 193 24 “There Are So Many Shattered Human Lives in the Donbas”....................................................................................... 203 25 “Just for Spite—This Is the Mentality of the Residents of Transcarpathia. It Is Helpful in the Fights in the Donbas” .. 211 26 “My Helmet Caught the Bullet Meant for Me. It Remained in the Kevlar” ............................................................................. 221 27 “Although War Is War, Ethnic Hungarian Soldiers Slaughtered a Pig on the Frontline” ........................................ 229 28 “History Taught Us That You Just Cannot Get Separated from Russia Peacefully. Russia Is Russia”.............................. 239

29 “Unless Ukraine and Georgia Combine Forces, It Is Unlikely We Can Win This War” ............................................ 251 30 “If the Russians Occupy Ukraine, Then the Next Countries to Be Occupied Will Be Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic” .................................................................................... 261 31 “People Have Discovered the Donbas for Themselves Anew” ......................................................................................... 269 32 “Children Were Born Even during the World War” ............ 277 33 “I Buried My Whole Family” ................................................... 285 34 Why Do Hungarians Fight in the Donbas? ............................ 289 35 “Russia Has Forsaken Us. Nobody Needs Us” ..................... 297 36 The Grenade Exploded at Eye Level. The Time of the Explosion Was Written with My Blood .................................. 309 37 “In Donetsk, Everyone Knows Where the Russian Military Intelligence Lives and Where the FSB, the Federal Security Service Is” ................................................................................... 321 38 “We See How People May Change When They Are United. We Understand Now That We Can Assert Our Rights and Our Human Dignity.” ............................................................... 333

36 “The Grenade Exploded at Eye Level. The Time of the Explosion Was Written with My Blood”

Much has been said and written about how heroically the Ukrainian fighters defended Donetsk Airport. After a series of unsuccessful attacks, the enemy called the defenders “cyborgs.” Throughout his 47 years, Oleksandr Tereshchenko achieved a lot. At some point, however, he was no longer able to watch the war on TV. He became a volunteer. Trying to save his comrades in the terminal building, Oleksandr sacrificed himself. He was critically injured and lost both of his hands. At 16:30 on October 15 of 2014, the “cyborg” began a new life.

As far as I know, before the war, you worked as a cameraman for a television station. How did you end up in the army?

The events taking place in Maidan made a strong impression on me. I went to Kyiv from the southern part of Ukraine, where I lived. I supported the demonstrations on Maidan. However, when

the bloody executions began, fear overwhelmed me and I could not overcome it. I sat in front of the TV watching the events. I was worried that everything was falling apart. Then, when the Maidan revolution won, I traveled again to Kyiv. I walked along the avenue, where there were photos of those killed during the demonstration. I looked at the photos of the Heavenly Hundred. The young men were the same age as my son. Then Crimea was annexed by the Russians and later on, fights broke out in Donetsk. I just thought to myself that if I sit back in front of the TV again, I will cease to respect myself. It was April. I went to the draft board. I told them I was ready to serve. But since I did the military service in the Soviet times in construction troops, and in addition, I was 47 years old, they told me to wait. “We'll keep you in mind, and we’ll call someday,” they said. Month after month passed, so I relaxed. However, they called me at the end of July. “Pack up and come. We will send you somewhere,” they said. So I got to the site of the Shiroky Lan training ground near Mykolaiv, I was trained to be a grenade launcher. I was drafted to the 128th Mountain Brigade.

Oleksandr Tereshchenko in the Ukrainian army Deputy director of the academy of patrol police in Kyiv Oleksandr Tereshchenko

My friend, who worked for the draft board, said that they didn’t know where to transfer me. “We then remembered that you were a cameraman so the idea was for you to become a grenade launcher. You also need to hold the grenade launcher on your shoulder,” he said.

At the training ground, it seemed that we were going to play war games and everything would end quickly. On August 20, 2014, however, at the evening inspection, the battalion commander said that 26 volunteers are needed to be sent to the ATO the next day. It was evening, almost night. I was overwhelmed by fear and numbness. My body lost strength. My friend, however, suddenly stepped forward and I felt obliged to follow him. This is how we got into the 79th airborne brigade, which is based in Mykolaiv.

They suffered heavy losses when they tried to close the border. Serving in an elite unit flattered my vanity. Since the Soviet era, I had been agonizing about the fact that I served in a construction battalion. I didn’t even know how I ended up there. And suddenly a door of opportunity opened up for me to become a career paratrooper. We were sent to the Donbas just four days after the Independence Day of Ukraine and just after the Ilovaisk massacre.

What happened in Ilovaisk in your estimation?

Our troops entered Ilovaisk to clear the town. Everything went down easily. And when they were already in Ilovaisk, Russia openly sent its troops. They occupied the heights and in fact, our soldiers were surrounded. When an agreement was reached and the “green corridor” was opened so that Ukrainians could leave, the Russians opened fire on them. They shot at point-blank range. We went to the Donbas with a sense of urgency for revenge.

How did you get into Donetsk Airport?

Upon arrival in the Donbas, we were stationed in Kramatorsk at the airport, where there was the headquarters of the ATO. We were sent on one combat trip only, and then came a truce. We

mainly trained. At the end of September, they let us go home for a week.

On the way to Mykolaiv, I found out that our guys had gone to Donetsk Airport (DAP). In order to replace the 3rd Special Forces Regiment.

I don’t know if it was due to a misunderstanding that our two armored personnel carriers rolled right onto an enemy tank. The enemy shot them at point-blank. They killed seven Ukrainian soldiers and injured about nine. There was a feeling that they were specifically tricked

A week later, I became very ill in Kramatorsk. My wife persuaded me to stay in hospital. “If I don’t go, they will consider me a coward,” I thought, so I went to join my comrades. We were gathered by the company commander. He said that we need to replace the 1st battalion at the airport terminal and volunteers are needed. Almost all of us stepped forward.

Then the guys themselves chose those who had many children or who were living with their mothers. These were not sent to the airport. About 50 people went to replace the Ukrainian soldiers at Donetsk Airport. The group was headed by Evgen Zhukov with the call sign Marshal. He was a well-known scout. So I got to the airport.

During the fight, you lost both hands and in addition, your eye was injured. How did it happen?

I had been at the airport for a week. It was shocking for me as I had never been involved in such fierce attacks. I was in the new terminal in the position called “wicket” between the new and the old. When I was going to the airport, I called two of my friends. I didn’t reveal where I was to my family so that they wouldn’t worry. I, however, informed my friends so that they knew where to look for me.

One reassured me. “There are cellars at the airport that can withstand even a nuclear strike. Our soldiers are just sitting there and shooting,” he told me so I calmed down.

Later on, however, I saw the room, whose windows were all broken. The wall was made of plasterboard and there were concrete floors. Our cover consisted of trolleys taken from the garage, a desk, and doors. Each time when they were shooting us mainly from the hotel with grenade launchers, the fragments flew everywhere. And basically, our mortar battery fired around the perimeter of the airport so that the separatists could not come close. You could hear the whistling all night long. The projectiles seemed to hit you. I had already got used to it.

We did not completely control the terminal. The basement was mined. Separatists often penetrated there. They removed our mines and set their own. Right next to me was the exit from the basement. But one couldn’t see it at night if one of us went to the toilet or the enemy made their way in.

It was our last day when our shift was about to arrive. They usually arrived on armored personnel carriers, quickly unloaded, and departed to a neighboring village.

Usually, the convoy came in the evenings when it was dark. The entry and exit were dangerous. This time, however, they arrived at lunchtime and a strong shelling began.

For the first time, a large-caliber machine gun was working in the terminal. Before us stood a burned KAMAZ, where apparently the separatists were hiding. Our position was vulnerable as there was a balcony on top, and we could not control it.

During the shelling, two young lads fell. I and an experienced guy began to return the fire. We were throwing grenades. In the heat of the battle, I looked at the sleeping bag where we were sitting. There was a grenade already without a pin. I realized straight away that it had been thrown by the separatists and there was nowhere to hide. The ammunition lay behind me, three or four comrades were nearby.

I took the grenade in my hands and tried to throw it away. At the level of my eyes, it exploded. I fell. I didn’t feel much pain. I was in shock. It seemed that my hands were melted. I couldn’t move them and it felt as if there was something in my eye. The guys started screaming “a heavy 300th (injured)”.

A cameraman recorded how they took me out. It was seen in a documentary. The soldiers carried me into another room under fire. My right hand hung on by the tendons, and my left hand had been torn off completely. The commander reassured that the right hand would be sewn back. “Do not worry,” he said. I lost a lot of blood. I was about to lose consciousness. Fortunately, one of the armored personnel carriers was about to leave. They could hardly put me into it as I am tall. My right hand was constantly falling off. So I was taken to a neighboring village and there I was transferred to an ambulance and taken to the hospital in Pokrovsk. By that time, a helicopter flew in. It rarely happened as the aircraft were often shot down. There were a lot of difficulties with the evacuation of the wounded.

Later, an adviser to the Ministry of Defense Yuri Biryukov told me, they had asked for a helicopter from the airport. Otherwise, they could not have taken me to the hospital.

16:30 was the time of my being injured. They wrote it on the tourniquets with my blood.

At 18:30 I was already on the operating table in Dniepro. Doctors said that had I been taken half an hour later, they would not have saved me. My hemoglobin was at level 40, which means there was critical blood loss. Although the deputy governor asked the doctors to save my hands, I woke up in the morning in the ward with bloodied bandages instead of my hands.

You saved the life of the guys.

I won’t say that I did it consciously. My hands reached out reflexively for the grenade. It’s hard to say whether I did the right thing or not. We don’t know if the ammunition would have detonated at the back or not.

During the battle for DAP, the militants established their checkpoint. The cyborgs were forced to go through it. The pro-Russia separatists had circled the airport but the Ukrainians didn’t want to break through them because of the Minsk agreement. The separatists still let the injured or a couple of Ukrainian soldiers go. Did you ever go through it?

No, it was later. Unfortunately, I spent only a week at the airport terminal. I still talked to the guys who went through this checkpoint. Everyone was outraged, it was so humiliating. We were at war with them and yet we were obliged to show how many magazines we had. I understand the command to some extent as it was very risky to enter the airport. The convoy was often burned. It killed our morale.

Why did the militants manage to block Donetsk Airport? Who fought you in fact?

I did not see them. I only heard the cries of “Allahu akbar!” There were quite a lot of attacks. We basically used artillery. We killed a lot of separatists.

Oleksandr Tereshchenko participating in a parade

Does that mean they were Muslims?

Yes, apparently there were the men of the Chechen president Kadyrov. As for the Russians, I can’t say for sure but I still think there were some of them also. I talked to the guys who stood near the border and saw with their own eyes how shelling was conducted from the territory of Russia. They captured Russian military personnel. For me there was no question, I clearly knew that they were there.

What is the reason why the cyborg squad managed to survive and hold the airport?

It’s hard for me to say why the airport was blocked as I’m just a soldier. I do not like it when soldiers talk like marshals. The airport was deep in their position line and it was a good springboard for an attack on Donetsk. According to the Minsk agreements, this was our territory and we held it. Although it no longer carried strategic value, Donetsk Airport became a symbol. It was believed that it could take planes from Russia. In fact, it was impossible to do this on the demarcation line, especially with a damaged runway and broken navigation systems.

Our artillery worked well. We just did not let them get close. We were rarely involved in close combat. There were no more than 100 people at all three sites. Thanks to coordinated actions with the artillery, we were able to defend the new and old terminals.

You said some consider Donetsk Airport a springboard for the liberation of Donetsk. Do you agree with it?

If you look at the map, then it is easy to agree. It is necessary to protect every inch of our land, this is my opinion. And when we make superhuman efforts in order to do this, people begin to be proud of our army. And it is very important for the whole country.

How did the fighters leave Donetsk Airport? Is it true that they abandoned the wounded?

I was not there at that time but I know a guy who left the airport in the last few days. It was a very difficult situation. The floor was blown up, and many were stuck under the rubble. I would not say that they abandoned the place. It was simply not possible to keep it. That guy said that he left together with another person and went to seek help to take out the wounded. Later on, he returned on an MTLB multipurpose tracked armored vehicle, which was immediately burned. Some Ukrainian guys left on their own, whereas others stayed there to guard the wounded and they were captured by the pro-Russia fighters.

Some people claim that each Ukrainian unit on any part of the frontline had its own cyborgs.

It is unfair that they called us cyborgs exclusively. We went to Donetsk Airport without knowing what was there going on. If I returned there, later on, I could be considered a cyborg. Many guys showed heroism, but it was less in the spotlight for various reasons. Therefore, I never boast that I fought at Donetsk Airport and I don’t consider myself a hero. It was an ordinary combat situation. I don’t see anything special about it.

How come were you rehabilitated in Hungary?

I came to Hungary by chance. Earlier, I met some volunteers who had already organized treatment in Hungary for the first group of wounded Ukrainian soldiers with the help of a Hungarian private entrepreneur. His father had been captured near Kyiv during World War II and the Ukrainian people provided him with food very generously. They did not consider him an enemy. That is why he now wanted to help the injured Ukrainian soldiers. I was also admitted to the group so I could participate in rehabilitation in the Hungarian resort town of Hajdúszoboszló for two years. The treatment was supported by the Hungarian government, too. The thermal water helped us a lot. We took baths and were massaged. In addition, we took part in art therapy. We drew sketches.

Psychological rehabilitation is sometimes more important than physical. There we got both.

Who helped you with the prosthetics?

I used to work for a television station. I still had many friends there, who raised money. This is how I purchased the first German mechanical prosthetics. They cost about $10,000. The second prosthetics were made in Germany at the expense of the Ukrainian state.

Your life has changed. Do you consider it merely a new stage or is it a completely new beginning?

It is difficult to say. It is probably a new stage, although it is completely different from the calm life that I had before. Now I am at a new level and, probably, I bring more benefits to people. In the terminal, I was afraid that I was going to die without having done anything good in my life. I promised myself that if I survive, I would do something good for people every day. So it began to take shape. After I had recovered, I began to engage in veteran work. I helped the wounded overcome post-traumatic syndrome. I worked for three years in this area. I even visited the USA to see what was going on there in terms of treating the injured soldiers.

Americans have a great deal of experience in caring for veterans. In the United States, I talked to a veteran of the Vietnam war of Ukrainian descent. He told me that at first, the situation was very much like ours now. They felt superfluous with many of them ending their lives by suicide.

I still wouldn’t claim that the Ukrainian state does nothing in terms of veterans. The problem of prosthetics is practically solved. Oddly enough, war is an impetus for the development of medicine and psychology. We hope that the government will set up a Ministry of Veterans.

Now you are appointed as deputy chief of the Academy of Patrol Police in Kyiv. I assume military experience comes in handy.

I was appointed by Evgen Zhukov “Marshal”, who is the leader of the patrol police. When he first called me he said that they were about to set up the academy according to American standards, and he wanted to appoint a guy who had taken part in the fights, who had lost hands or feet, to be the deputy for educational and patriotic work. He just wanted to make this person feel useful. For me, this was a serious decision as I had to move from Mykolaiv to Kyiv. I had to change my way of life. I have been working in this position for a year and have no regrets about it.

There is a bestseller by Sergey Loiko entitled Airport. What is your honest opinion on this book and the movie Cyborgs?

I have seen the film twice but I didn’t read the book although I have it. I can’t make up my mind. I’ll open it, and there everything is connected with those tragic events. For me, this is very painful. The guys who died there in the last days under the rubble seem to me somehow close. Although I know that the book is fiction to a larger extent. I still hope to read it soon.

Earlier you mentioned that you had had to overcome fear several times. How is it possible?

You conquer the territory of fear step by step. At the training ground, when my comrade stepped forward, I was ashamed to stay so I did the same. Although later on, he apologized, I am

Advertisement of the book show of Oleksandr Tereshchenko

grateful to him. Everyone feels fear. If you don’t overcome it then who will?

As far as I know, you are writing a book. What will it be about?

I began to write short stories on social media. I call them Maiachnya in Ukrainian and Bred in Russian, which means nonsense. The book begins with the grenade explosion. It contains everything I have told you and everything that I felt at that moment. That was the starting point. I did not want to write about the war as I had no real experience. I wanted to write about how I lived after that. I call it Life after 16:30. These are the numbers they wrote on a tourniquet with my blood at Donetsk Airport. I understand that I am not a writer. I still want to tell people like me that life goes on and everything can be overcome. I hope the book will be released before the New Year.

November 2018

An infantry fighting vehicle of Ukrainian paratroopers in the Donbas