"We are a family, we are brothers": String, Rokot, Highlander and other heroes of the special operation

In the very first months of the special operation, netizens especially remember the hero of reports about the battle for Mariupol - a 24-year-old marine with a red backpack on his back.

The commander of the platoon of the 810th marine brigade with the call sign Struna, with his unit, was one of the first to enter Mariupol and fought, among other things, with the nationalist battalion "Azov" *.

A recognizable figure with a red backpack often flashed in the reports of RT war correspondent Andrei Filatov.

• String

In an interview with RT, Struna said that in Mariupol he and his comrades had to not only fight the enemy, but also save civilians at the same time.

“We tried to liberate buildings, structures, residential buildings without being affected by fire damage.

And every time we came across civilians, we understood from their words that they were driven into the basement by force.

The main task was to get civilians out of those houses and basements where they had already spent more than one day.

They took them out in droves, with babies, with older children.

We tried to free everyone as much as possible, ”said the marine.

The famous red backpack came to him by accident - once his colleagues brought him when they noticed that their commander had nowhere to put additional things, such as a spare battery for the radio station.

Struna takes his unexpected popularity calmly and never reveals his identity: he gives all interviews in a balaclava, does not give his name.

“I want this call sign and, in principle, the image of this red backpack, this commander of the Marine Corps, to be preserved precisely in this perspective, as denoting all the commanders of the Marine Corps - in principle, any commander,” he explained in an interview with RT.

In June of this year, 24-year-old Struna was seriously injured: while performing a combat mission, he blew up on a mine.

As a result, doctors had to amputate his foot.

Now the marine is undergoing rehabilitation, after which he plans to return to duty.

In October, the President of Russia awarded the commander the title of Hero of Russia.

"Save the lives of subordinates"

When Struna was wounded, he was assisted by his colleague with the call sign Rokot.

He also gained fame by accident - thanks to reports from Mariupol - and became a symbol of the liberation of the city.

• Rokot

In contrast to the laconic Struna, Rokot recalls in detail the day when they both received serious injuries.

“When an injury occurs, in principle, you don’t understand anything.

First, Strune's leg was torn off.

I told him: “Why are you lying down ?!”

He looks at me, says: “What are you, a fool?!

I don't have a leg."

I look - he really has no legs, ”Rokot said in an interview with RT.

The fighter ran to the armored personnel carrier, in order to then load the wounded comrade into the car and take him to the hospital.

According to him, after about seven meters he "stepped on" his "mine.

“I don’t understand why I fell ... I’m lying on the ground, looking at my leg and thinking: “Well, fuck it ...” And at that moment String yells at me: “What, didn’t you run?”

Rokot laughs.

Like Struna, he had to have his leg amputated, but Rokot says that this will not prevent him from being useful in the army further.

According to him, several months of fighting for Mariupol taught that he "must save the lives of his subordinates at any cost."

“Because to every dead soldier… Then I will look into his mother’s eyes and tell how her son died,” Rokot added.

"For a friend or for an idea"

The commander of the assault platoon with the call sign Topal, at the age of 19, received not at all youthful experience: he had ten months in a hot spot and two bullet wounds.

When his mother died and his father went to the front in 2014, the boy was forced to live in shelters and boarding schools.

“Childhood, one might say, was, but not - I went to shelters and boarding schools.

It was such a bright childhood, ”Topal smiled embarrassedly when he talked with an RT correspondent on the front line.

• Topal

He got into the army at the beginning of a special operation and now commands attack aircraft as part of the 6th Cossack regiment - together with his subordinates, he is one of the first to enter settlements to knock out the enemy.

The fighter has already passed Popasnaya, Kamyshevakha and Novoaleksandrovka.

Topal received both wounds when he tried to save a comrade or as a commander walked ahead of his subordinates.

In one of the battles, an attack aircraft ran under bullets to save a tanker whose car was hit.

“He got out of the tank and lay down under the fence: a machine gun was working on him, they (APU. -

) did not let him approach him.

I run up to him, fall on my knee and feel a burning sensation in my chest - the bullet hit, ”despite the wound, Topal was able to pull the tanker out of the fire.

Another time, an attack aircraft led a group through the private sector of a settlement that had not yet been liberated.

Topal went first to check one of the houses, and at that moment the UAF sniper tried to shoot him.

The bullet traveled tangentially to the head and grazed the ear.

“When you are in battle, your self-preservation mode is turned off, you somehow devalue your life.

Because he is ready to sacrifice himself for a comrade or for the sake of an idea,” said the 19-year-old commander.

“You realize that you can be killed at any moment and either you die usefully or you become a burden.”

"The people of Russia are my fraternal"

Another hero of the special operation was an Abkhazian volunteer with the call sign Highlander.

The 36-year-old man refused to leave his native assault squad as part of the Pyatnashka battalion, even after he lost his leg.

The fighter came to Donbass from Sukhum, where he left behind a wife and three children.

According to the man, he was often asked why he left a peaceful life and came to a special operation.

“I am an Abkhaz, but the people of Russia are my fraternal people.

We are connected by a common history, a common culture, common values, the Soviet past.

My grandfather reached Berlin during the Great Patriotic War,” he said.

• Highlander

A fighter of the 15th International Battalion recalled how, during the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s, volunteers from Donbass came to his native country to help defend independence.

“A sense of duty, gratitude directly to the people of Donbass, the people of Russia.

The people of Abkhazia were threatened with total genocide... Volunteers began to come from all over the former Soviet Union.

Those who had never even been to Abkhazia simply knew that there are such a small people, including guys from Donbass, ”Highlander said.

The man added that Ukrainian nationalist battalions also fought against the Abkhaz people then.

According to him, during his participation in the special operation, he repeatedly met with the manifestation of cruelty towards civilians by the enemy:

“We drove them (APU. -

) from their positions, they fired at the nearest residential sector at night.

They beat purposefully on nine-story buildings, in gardens and schools.

They call Donetsk their city, so why do they do this to their, as they think, fellow citizens?”

During the fighting near Avdiivka, Gorets was blown up by a Ukrainian anti-personnel mine.

At the same time, Ukraine has signed an international convention banning such explosive devices.

According to him, during the retreat, the enemy mines the entire territory very densely, so even sappers cannot always neutralize absolutely all the mines.

Now the Abkhazian volunteer is undergoing rehabilitation after losing his leg.

Despite being wounded, Highlander continues to command his squad remotely and even comes to the location of his comrades.

“The emotions that the guys give me are better than any therapy.

I'm constantly on the radio, I'm working.

I participate in all operations, albeit remotely, ”said the Abkhaz volunteer.

According to him, a real “cult of the family” has formed in the detachment.

"We are Family.

We are brothers.

There is no nationality here, no differences in religion, political preferences... We are united by one idea - we are fighting Nazism.

We are for each other,” the commander said.

"Everyone Walks Near Death"

Among the heroes of the SVO, who became famous throughout the country in the past year, there are those who fought for Donbass for more than one year.

The real legend of the DPR was Olga Kachura with the call sign Korsa.

In 2014, she created a rocket artillery unit within the armed forces of the republic, which she commanded for the next eight years.

During this time, the colonel trained hundreds of gunners.

In late July, Korsa died when her car came under fire from Ukrainian artillery.

They tried to save the woman, but she died on the way to the hospital in Yasinovataya.

• Corsa

At that time, Korsa had 140 fighters under his command.

All of them noted that the commander was always demanding, but at the same time she cared a lot about her subordinates.

“When I was assigned to the division, the older guys said that I was very lucky.

They said about Korsa that she is a smart, powerful tactician - she doesn’t come across to the enemy, ”18-year-old Frol Artamonov told RT.

The Korsa fighters also noted that the colonel never abandoned her subordinates.

Before the battery left for new firing positions, Kachura always carried out reconnaissance and chose the most advantageous places with the battalion commanders. 

Korsa herself said that in war there is no particular division between a colonel and a private: everyone eats at the same table and lives in the same conditions - and everyone walks close to death.

“And this war still had to start, a year earlier or a year later.

For us, this is an event that will allow us to become recognized, join Russia as a subject or autonomy, ”Kachura said in her last interview with RT a month before her death.

The colonel added that in recent months, her and her subordinates' hatred of the enemy has only intensified.

“All these eight years they have been shooting at our cities, villages, but this was episodic.

And when this happens every day, with each such arrival, hatred for the enemy becomes stronger, ”she said.

On the day of farewell to the colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the center of Donetsk was shelled, including the theater, where the solemn ceremony was to be held.

Then, as a result of the shelling, five people were killed, including civilians, and six more were injured.

Tatyana Butrina, the chief humanitarian aid coordinator of the People's Militia of the DPR, then told RT that shelling from the Ukrainian troops was to be expected.

“I was at a farewell.

Such a person would simply not be let go by the “dill”, even to say goodbye.

There was no such shelling with a single dead commander as today,” Butrina said.

The President of Russia awarded Olga Kachura the title of Hero of Russia posthumously.

In October, he personally handed over this award to the colonel's daughter.

* "Azov" - the organization was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 08/02/2022.