Ukraine war: Comraded Commemorate Bakhmut’s Defender
The last soldier still capable of fighting took up position at the machine gun: senior lieutenant Pavel Kuzin. The rest of his troop was either dead or wounded.
The 37-year-old fired at the waves of Russian forces attempting to attack his position while suffering from shell shock and having one arm bandaged. They simply walked toward him across the wide field, making no attempt to hide.
Pavel needed to buy some time for a rescue team to show up even though it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to maintain the position for very long. His last move was to see that his injured teammates were taken to safety.
According to the Ukrainian military, there have been numerous “unprecedentedly bloody” engagements in Bakhmut, and they now have to fend off up to 50 attacks on their positions each day. Russia has committed a significant amount of force in this region, and their ruthless tactic of launching human wave attacks aids in their slow-moving but extremely costly offensive.
Six Ukrainian soldiers made up the forward observation group that Pavel oversaw. They were heavily attacked on February 17 just as their watch began. A tank started pounding on their position.
The tank’s aiming was terrifyingly precise, in contrast to the constant mortar fire. A few meters away from their trenches, shells began landing. Pavel instructed the two wounded troops to enter a dugout. To attend to their wounds and get them ready for an evacuation, a combat medic went down. A shell struck the wooden shelter squarely a little while later.
One of the injured soldiers with the callsign Tsygan told the BBC that “there was a bright flash.” I was nearly crushed when I was hurled upon the logs with such force. I was unsure of my state—either I was dead or living. It seemed like someone was shouting from 100 meters away.