Jamie Dettmer
His severe wounds will no doubt alter the course of his life, but the 19-year-old Ukrainian paratrooper has no regrets about the part he played in the surprise and dramatic cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region launched in mid-August.
Like his brothers in arms, he felt exhilarated when the order to attack came crackling along the radio airwaves as the sun rose. Here was the chance to hit back at Russia. “I felt myself a part of history, because it was the first time since the Second World War Russia’s been invaded,” Sergei, the flaxen-haired trooper, told POLITICO, who granted him permission to use a pseudonym as he is not allowed to speak to media.
“I had the most powerful feeling,” he said.
“And another important thing, we didn't feel the pain we do when fighting inside Ukraine and destroying buildings; then we feel we are damaging part of ourselves, but in Kursk we aren’t burdened with the weight of that sadness,” he said, wrestling to sip coffee with heavily bandaged hands.
Sergei also harbors no doubts about the logic and importance of the offensive, which remains ongoing with Russia mounting a counteroffensive to try to expel Ukrainian forces.
No comments:
Post a Comment