"Great, old stump! What the fuck are you doing here? Bashka is old!" the tall red-haired bearded man exclaims in surprise, slapping the back of a stocky man in camouflage and a black hat. And later jokingly scolds: "Not so - so differently you climbed here!"

Bearded man is a 40-year-old fighter Sergei Pavlov with the call sign Leshy. The "old stump" is his 63-year-old father Dmitry from the village of Mezhevoy, Chelyabinsk Region. They met on February 11 near Svatov in the LPR, five months after Sergei was drafted as part of a partial mobilization. Dmitry wanted to go with his son to the SVO zone as a volunteer, but did not pass the age.

"He was all over the doorsteps, I was like, 'Where are you going? There is a place for the young!" — told RT Dmitry's wife Zoya. "In the end, I decided: no matter what the child was doing, as long as she did not cry – and wrote to our local volunteers, offered to meet and help."

Sergey's parents joined the group "Help to the military at the SVO "Together" Kopeysk South Ural". Zoya and Dmitry help to collect parcels for fighters: volunteers use the funds sent to buy thermal imagers, radios, sights and quadcopters. Leshego's mother makes camouflage nets, and his father carries humanitarian aid.

  • Video of the meeting of father and son

On his first trip, Dmitry was able to see his son. And until the last moment it was unclear whether the meeting would take place: the connection is bad, and looking for a place where catching well is at least unsafe. In addition, there was simply no time for this: the cargo must be delivered before the curfew - 23:00.

"On the way to Makiivka, they see the Ural, from there our military children pour out like peas," Zoya Pavlova recounts those events. - We saw the numbers of the 74th region, and they themselves are many from Chelyabinsk, Yuzhnouralsk. They were so glad they didn't want to let go! That's where my husband literally saw his son for ten minutes: Sergey and his colleagues had just arrived to get ammunition."

The video of the meeting between father and son was shot by the second driver, with whom Dmitry drove the cargo: the men replaced each other and slept in turns, stopped only at gas stations. The recording was uploaded to the network by volunteers, the video instantly became viral.

"He hasn't gotten home yet, and he's already an Internet star! Dmitry's wife laughs. "My husband is now recognized even on the streets. I went to buy a router for the fighters - the seller gave it away for free, because I saw it in that video. "

"They didn't know that their son was wounded"

40-year-old Sergei Pavlov was mobilized at the end of September - before that, the man worked as a mechanic at one of the local enterprises, repaired truck cranes. In early October, he flew to Luhansk and got into the assault brigade. Only during a meeting with his father, Leshy said that he had survived the wound. Dmitry Pavlov suggested: in order not to worry loved ones.

"We didn't know my son was injured. He, when he calls, always says that everything is fine with him, "says the father of the fighter. - His face was cut from cheek to chin by a fragment of a mine, so he has now grown a beard - he had not worn it before. Five months under bullets walks, just imagine! The shelling doesn't stop there."

After being wounded, Leshy received the medal "For Courage". He gave the box with the award to his father during that meeting. Pride in his son and joy from the opportunity to see him are mixed with concern for his life, shares Dmitry. He says, "There are so many losses in our family."

  • Sergey Pavlov Medal
  • © Photo from the personal archive of Zoya Pavlova

Zoe and Dmitry had four children: two sons and two daughters. Sergey's brother died two years ago – at work, a man was crushed by the collapsed wall of the building. A year ago, in March 2022, the Pavlovs' 23-year-old grandson Mikhail, with whom his grandparents were very close, died at the SVO. The young tankman was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.

"Misha lived with us while he went to kindergarten, and as soon as he went to the first grade, his father took him away. Misha's mother, Dmitry's daughter from his first marriage, died when our grandson was still a schoolboy," explains Zoya Pavlova.

  • Dmitry Pavlov's grandson Mikhail Pavlov, who died at the SVO
  • © Photo from the personal archive of Zoya Pavlova

In early March, Dmitry Pavlov returned from another trip to the SVO - then Niva and KamAZ reached the fighters with parcels and letters. Now the car of volunteers is under repair, but at the end of March, when everything is ready, the South Ural resident plans to go on a humanitarian flight for the fourth time. This time, Pavlov will be lucky, including satellite dishes for communication - they were purchased by the plant where his son worked before the start of a special military operation: "I will go to Sergei again. Maybe we'll see you again in Svatov."