“Paratroopers don’t abandon their own”

— How did you end up in the Northern Military District zone and what were you doing before the outbreak of hostilities?

— I worked in an electrical company as a middle manager - manager. On September 21, 2022, the President announced that partial mobilization had begun. I learned about this from news on Telegram. On September 28, I received a summons and was already at the training camp on the 30th. 

In 2009-2010, I did my military service in an air assault regiment, trained as a BMD-2 gunner-operator, and was a squad commander. And it so happened that at the military registration and enlistment office of the Petrodvortsovy district of St. Petersburg, after looking at my specialty, they sent me to the same regiment where I served. He was appointed platoon commander.

We had quite a long training period, from September 30 to November 30, 2022. We arrived in the NVO zone on December 4th. And 24 days later, a KamAZ truck with my deputy and close friend Kirill Vasilyevich Beznegaev exploded before my eyes. He participated in the evacuation of wounded soldiers from a neighboring company. I had to drive this KamAZ, since I knew the map and the area. But Vasilich said: “No, you are the platoon commander, stay here, and I’ll move out,” and jumped into the cockpit. Together with the doctors, they drove literally 150 meters from our position and exploded. Kirill burned alive. That's when we all realized that this was war.

  • Fidel with his platoon before being sent to the Northern Military District zone.

  • © From personal archive

— Why did you receive the first Order of Courage?

— In January 2023, after the New Year holidays, we received the task of changing positions. The deputy battalion commander for airborne training, Major Nikolai Mikhailovich Vasiliev, came in the morning and said: “Fidel, gather a group of ten people, let’s go forward.” The company and battalion remained in their positions, and we were ambushed. A circular shooting battle ensued. The order came to retreat. Major Vasiliev and two more soldiers remained to provide cover. And I received an order to take the others out. I brought the guys out, but they said on the radio: “Vasiliev is dead.” Without thinking twice, I grabbed my good friend (call sign Mityai), and the two of us went along other paths to look for the major. They walked in the hope that he was wounded. He had documents that should not have gotten to the enemy - maps of the defense of the entire direction. When we found him, he was already dead.

Together with Mityai, we dragged the body of Zvezda (this was the major’s call sign) on ourselves. But the Wehrmacht soldiers burned us down. We fought off the group that was pursuing us. They pointed a tank at us - we also had to run away from the tank together with Major Vasilyev: one is dragging, the other is fighting. Let's pull it away and change places. It took us five hours to get out of this encirclement. But they didn’t leave Zvezda, and they didn’t allow the enemy to take possession of valuable documents, walkie-talkies, and tablets. 

Paratroopers do not abandon their own. Major Vasiliev received the star of Hero of Russia posthumously. And I am the Order of Courage.

- And the second order? 

— It was April last year. Our platoon was the first among those mobilized in our regiment to be allowed to rest. Upon returning from vacation, eight of us were placed on a separate line to cover the passage between two companies. And we held a strong point there, through which the enemy tried to break through three times. Three attempts to attack - and three times the eight of us repelled the attacks.

When they ask me how it was, I say: “Like in the film “28 Panfilov’s Men.” When the rod is pointed at you, you shoot, you see how your own shells fly over your head and explode 100 meters away, preventing the enemy group from passing.”

During the third attack (it was at night), my friend Mityai, with whom we pulled out the Star, died.

  • Mityai

  • © From personal archive

“Hold on until the main forces approach”


— How and where were you wounded?

— I was wounded at the end of July 2023. Our regiment was given the task of capturing the command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the Seversky Donets River. We had to break through to him using equipment, encircle him and hold on until the main forces arrived, not allowing anyone to get out. But the operation was canceled because a day before the start the enemy found out about our offensive and met us. The start of the operation was moved, and another plan was developed - a breakthrough along the flanks.

We took the strong point and were there in a semicircle for four hours. Tanks were working on us, we were engaged in a shooting battle with the enemy, who was 70 meters away from us. There, a shell fell next to me and hit the sand that covered me from the trench. I started to dig myself out, and in the sand there was another shell - as the sappers told me, a “petal” or an anti-personnel “frog”. It fell on me along with the sand. I touched this mine with my hand when I was digging myself out, and it went off. This was the most offensive thing for me. 

For being wounded in that battle I was given a medal “For Courage”.

  • Fidel and his awards

  • © From personal archive

— What is the current condition of the hand and what are the prognosis for recovery?

— I have already undergone four operations under general anesthesia, the last one was on February 13: they inserted tendons into me, which evaporated somewhere at the moment of the explosion. Now the fingers are still developing, but the hand does not rotate. At the moment I am in a military unit, serving and at the same time waiting for a military medical commission. Even if I am given category B, I still intend to find a job that will be beneficial until the end of the SVO. As the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said, the assigned tasks must be completed to the end. 

  • Paratroopers capture Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers. September 10, 2023 https://t.me/komdiv_76

— A few months ago, a video went viral on all Telegram channels, where four paratroopers captured an outnumbered number of Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters. As far as I know, these were soldiers from your platoon. Could you share the details of this story?

— After August, our regiment was transferred to Zaporozhye, where contact battles are taking place, where 30 meters is already a decent distance to the enemy. The guys told how it happened: “We look at the instruments, we see the signatures that are next to us. We go out on the radio: ours - not ours. They say on the radio that this is our evacuation group. But it’s somehow strange: the group is too large. They calmed down a little, but still something was gurgling inside.”

They started going out on the radio again. They say our evacuation team has already left. And there are people in front of us. We contacted the company commander, he said: “Check.” We came closer to the support tower where this group was located and started a normal conversation: “Guys, where are you from?” Those, not suspecting that these could be Russian soldiers, began to answer with a Ukrainian accent: “We are from the 117th brigade, we are a little lost. Guys, where to go? They decided it was not: “Guys, you are surrounded. Surrender, lay down your weapons and get out." To which they almost immediately said: “Don’t shoot at us, we will surrender since we are surrounded.” But, naturally, there was no encirclement, they took it lightly.” 

There were four of our guys, and they did not expect that there were 14 Ukrainians. But in the end they took this group of prisoners.

  • Fidel, Czech and Jack the Dog

  • © From personal archive

“The battalion commander gave the go-ahead”

— How did your platoon get a dog?

— It was in winter near Svatovo. We took a settlement. The task was to check the houses. In one of the houses I see a dog sitting in the corner, grinning a little, not understanding who we are and what is happening. In the process, it turned out that a colonel, a major of the Ukrainian police, lived in the house where we found him. He had certificates and award badges from Poroshenko. And the dog, as I understood, was a hunting dog. There were guns, skins, and hunting equipment. 

It was about nine in the evening, already dark, and I told the guys: “We are staying in this house for the night, set up posts.”

And I go into the room where the dog was (and it was winter), and I lie down right next to him. And he sits so calmly. I unbutton my winter jacket and cover him and myself. And we slept under the same jacket until the morning. And in the morning he was already Jack and never left my side.

I approached the battalion commander and requested permission for the dog to move with my unit. The battalion commander gave the go-ahead. And for the next five months he moved as part of our unit. The dog served faithfully. He knew basic commands: “take”, “bring”, “sit” and the like. There were cases on the front line when he saw better than the thermal imager and began to growl in one direction. You look - and there is the enemy. 

  • Jack the Dog

  • © From personal archive

And then our friend’s brother came to us, brought us humanitarian aid, and I told him: “Listen, take the dog to my home, in St. Petersburg.” He put Jack in the back seat of the car and brought him to my house, where his wife met him. And Jack became not a dog of war, but a dog of love. He is fine. The dog won his way. 

- The dog won back, and you want to return?

“If we all sit back, then we won’t win.” It's my opinion. I am for a peaceful sky above my head. Shooting people is a dubious pleasure. I just understand that this needs to end with a victory.

— How did you find out that your enemy had announced a reward for you?

“We stood very close to them then, exactly in those positions, after holding which I was given the second Order of Courage.” There was too much active combat activity there. In front of us was a position, the so-called zebra - such a long, long trench. We watched with little birds as the enemy entered this zebra crossing and divided into groups in different directions. There was a kind of crossroads next to us. 

  • Fidel with his comrades

  • © From personal archive

And every time we figured out that a group was moving, we called in large artillery fire on it plus small arms battles.

On the radio they constantly heard: “I am Fidel, I am calling fire there,” “I am Fidel, they have taken prisoners”... There was too much Fidel on the air. And already when we took turns, the guys were resting, and I arrived at the front line as a guide, our regimental scouts came running and said: “Fidel, we intercepted radio communications: there is a reward for your call sign in this direction, so be careful.”

Because of this interception, the command did not allow me to go to the front line for a long time. The platoon was able to rest.

— Did they offer you to change your call sign?

“There was even a proposal to put on a whole performance about my death (all radio conversations are intercepted) and after the next shelling, have the guys go on air with the words: “Fidel - 200, evacuation is needed.” But then the call sign will need to be changed. I said I won't. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to fear. I will not refuse the call sign Fidel. 

All this time I had with me a photograph of a guy who died long before the start of the SVO, but back in 2017 he was very worried about what was happening in Donbass and wanted to go there to see everything with his own eyes. I learned about this from his mother during mobilization. We promised her that we would take him into our platoon and he would visit the Donbass.

  • Fidel with fighters

  • © From personal archive

I always had a photo of him in my backpack. He was with us on all combat missions. And when we were engaged in defensive rather than assault actions, I posted his photo. At first they asked me who it was. I said: “This is a very good guy, his name was Max, and he really wanted to visit Donbass. And if he were alive, he would be here with us anyway.” And the guys already perceived him as a supernumerary comrade. So Max saw it all.

And even when I was wounded, the guys sent my backpack here along with his photo. He also came on vacation.