Bitter videos from Avdeevka are pouring into Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers are leaving and recording the latest videos for their families as they go. A red-haired man walks along a broken road and says: “The ring is narrowing. Love you all." The last look at the camera - my eyes are watering. And at the other end, the wife was probably howling. Another fighter makes a video call to his sister. His unit left, and they, the wounded, were left to die in Avdeevka by order of their commanders. The sister's face turns into a grimace, and she cries, raising her eyes upward. How will she help him? Only a Russian soldier can help him. But provided that he has enough generosity.

To be at the mercy of the conqueror is a common expression. But how accurate is it? Now, only when events that shape stability take place before my eyes do I understand how deadly accurate the Russian language is. Mercy is the master's will: if you want, you will bestow it, if you don’t want, no.

For three days I tried to talk to a stormtrooper commander I knew. But he was too busy in Avdeevka. He promised to contact me on Friday, and I was preparing to talk about mercy for the losers. After all, I, like many, watched a video of dead Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers lying in a puddle, red with their blood. But I know that being captured is always a risk. At the last moment, the prisoner can throw a grenade or shoot at you. And I don’t feel any right to talk about mercy towards the enemy. The stormtrooper didn't call.

Since Friday, our flags have been raised everywhere in Avdiivka. It seemed that everything would still drag on for a long time, but it was as if some powerful force lifted our fighters and carried them on itself. The stormtrooper didn’t call on Saturday morning either - he was on mop-up duty.

When we left the Kharkov region, our soldier was completely different. He was not that strong or experienced. And now he has already killed, died, entered pipes and rivers. Now the generosity of our soldier is precisely a mercy that he may or may not be granted.

Somewhere I was glad that the stormtrooper didn’t call and I didn’t have to talk about mercy.

At this time, in Munich, Zelensky complained about the artificial shortage of weapons, which prevented Ukraine from holding Avdiivka. And the videos from it flowed and flowed. We saw how Ukrainians simply throw their dead into stinking pits and run away from the wounded. Zelensky and his Syrsky said that they decided to withdraw troops from Avdiivka in order to save the lives of soldiers, but videos from the military refuted this.

Yesterday, a video leaked from Uzhgorod in which women are chasing military commissars shouting: “Don’t protect us!” This is what it is like - the Ukrainian rear. Changed. Floated. And he predetermined defeat.

Our rear has also undergone changes. The retreat from the Kharkov region was a good lesson for us, but we did not tell our soldier: “There is no need to protect us!” The Russians in the rear, on the contrary, did what they always, historically, did in difficult times - united. They began to weave nets and assemble copters. They let the soldier lean on himself. And he snatched Avdeevka from Ukraine.

Stormtrooper called me last night. I failed to speak about mercy to him, I simply said: “Thank you for your work.” “Thank you for your work,” he replied. “We wouldn’t have been able to fight as well without people’s support.” We talked for about five minutes, and at the end I started talking about prisoners, about mercy. He said nothing. “This is another war,” I thought. Well, I had no right to start this conversation at all.

“I think about my soldiers,” he said, “and about those who died. I cannot forget the people with whom I ate from the same plate. This victory is theirs."

The Ukrainian fighter who was crying to his sister raised a white flag. My sister saw Russian soldiers come for him live. Again risking myself. She later said that my brother had been without a rotation in Avdeevka for two years, if only the Donetsk doctors could treat him now. Donetsk doctors, of course, will treat you. And words will not tell you how many times people were lying on the same operating table, crippled by shells from Avdeevka. Donetsk doctors are generous. But the stormtrooper remained silent.

The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editors.