After the outbreak of armed conflict in Donbass, the village of Trudovskaya mine found itself on the demarcation lines with Ukrainian combat units. It turns out that on this day, firefighters fought fire at a distance of 200-300 meters from the APU dugouts.
EMERCOM employees managed to eliminate the fire in the first house and entered the second. At that moment, a grenade exploded at the feet of the head of the guard, Valery Vdovichenko.
“He became a human shield for us, closed it from splinters,” recalls Viktor Bliznyuk, the commander of the third fire and rescue unit of the DPR Ministry of Emergency Situations. “Together with the driver, we carried Valera out into the street.”
The guard commander died on the way to the hospital.
“In addition, one fireman and the squad leader were injured,” says Vladimir Zaitsev, head of the Donetsk state fire and rescue squad.
Subsequently, it became known that the shelling of the village was carried out from the AGS automatic grenade launcher from the position of the nationalist battalion Donbass-Ukraine. OSCE observers intended to travel to the scene of the tragedy, but due to continued fire for security reasons, the inspection was postponed.
Captain Valery Vdovichenko gave 28 years to work in the Ministry of Emergencies. The guard commander always drove with his comrades to call, even despite the possibility of shelling. A few dozen people came to say goodbye to him.