Volunteer fighters on Ukraine front recall moment life changed a year ago

By Yiming Woo

NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) – Yuri, a Ukrainian gun commander on the frontline near the key battlefield of Bakhmut, was enjoying retired life in Estonia when war broke out in his homeland. Just over two weeks later, he was back, fighting the Russians.

He and thousands of other volunteers are far from home as Ukraine marks the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. War is the new normal for the 52-year-old, whose unit was firing Howitzer cannons some 3 km from the front on Friday.

“On February 24 (2022), I was in (the Estonian capital) Tallinn, because this is the day of Estonia’s independence,” he told Reuters. Like other Ukrainians engaging the Russians, he asked that only his first name be used to protect his identity.

“I came out to celebrate and saw soldiers wearing blue and yellow ribbons,” he added, referring to the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

“I found out that the war had begun. So, on March 12, in two weeks, I was already in Ukraine to defend my country.”

Wearing white camouflage to blend in with the snowy landscape, he and others in his unit are close to one of the hottest battles of the war.

Both sides have engaged in fierce clashes in and around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine for months, and losses on both sides have been heavy. Reuters correspondents heard loud explosions from incoming ordnance during a visit.

“The worst experience for me was around two weeks ago,” said Yuri, who was visibly shaken as he spoke. “Petro Sahadiuk from my division was killed. He would have been 39 the day before yesterday. And he was killed.”

Ivan, a 31-year-old radio operator from the Lviv region in western Ukraine, rushed back from Poland, where he had been working in a factory, in February last year.

“When war began, I took my things and went back to enlist as fast as I could to defend my homeland,” he said in a dingy bunker, where soldiers lit a wooden stove for warmth on a cold winter’s day.

“I’ve been fighting for Bakhmut for around one month … We don’t give up, we’ll be here for as long as needed, as long as we can.”

On a brick wall above ground, fighters scratched the word “LOVE” into a cement wall, along with an expletive aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the same bunker, Pavlo, 26, commander of an artillery battalion, has been in the Bakhmut area for about a month. A professional soldier, he and others had no special plans for the first anniversary of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had a packed programme of events in Kyiv through the day, while allies around the world expressed solidarity with his nation.

“We don’t mark this day,” Pavlo said. “It’s a sad date for the whole country. We fight, we do what we have to. That’s it.”

(Additional reporting by Stefaniia Bern; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Andrew Heavens)