He says the war in Ukraine in its brutality is unlike any international mission carried out before, but we cannot turn a blind eye to it. At least not here in Estonia.
How honestly can you talk about what is really happening on the front?
We do not mention the names of the commanders or closest comrades in arms at the front. But we can talk about something else.
How are foreigners distributed in the Ukrainian army? There is no foreign legionary unit?
The Foreign Legion consists of four battalions in which foreigners serve, and among them there are people from all over the world, both women and men. Some legionnaires are directly subordinate to military intelligence and perform only special tasks.
Furthermore, there are units of different nationalities, such as Georgians and Armenians, who belong to the Ukrainian Defense League.
It is said that legionnaires receive a huge salary.
(He bursts out laughing.) Yes, yes, well! In fact, everyone has the same salary, the same bonuses, the same benefits. If someone dies, it doesn’t matter if Ukrainian or foreigner, the compensation is 35 thousand dollars for everyone. However, obtaining it is a rather complicated process, there are many documents that need to be filled out in order for the death to be properly certified.
It’s the same when you get hurt. There are different amounts for different injuries, but I, for example, never started claiming it. I was in the hospital for two weeks, I saw that I was getting better and so on.
How injured were you?
It wasn’t that bad… The shrapnel flew from his helmet to his shoulder. In Ukraine, this is a fairly common situation, where the greatest damage is caused by shrapnel. Sometimes they whistle so loudly that clothes tear after cleaning. Look at my gloves! (Shows thick black leather winter gloves.) Only one day I noticed that they were falling apart, everything was in tatters.
If you’re in battle and don’t get hit directly, you don’t even notice.
What situation did you find yourself in?
It was under Bahmut. Our platoon leader had been wounded in the battle and there were other wounded who had to be taken away. With ten men we went from our position about 500 meters to the trench where the men were, and there we had to move another 200 meters into the trench which had been taken from the Russian side. Well, it was full of dead bodies somewhere so much. (Shows from floor to hip.) We couldn’t stand with the stretcher, we had to somehow crouch there…
2024-01-04 02:21:00
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