Face To Face With Your Enemy

Ukrainian soldiers on their positions in the frontline near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 2023. Image/LIBKOS/AP

“Ivan”

He almost walked right into the three Russian soldiers. They were halfway through bites, eating a meal in a scantly fortified position when Ivan approached them underneath the cover of some trees on the frontline of battle in Ukraine. Food still raised to their mouths, the Russians had been completely surprised by this Ukrainian sergeant, his rifle raised and pointed directly at them.

A few weeks ago, I sat down with three Ukrainian soldiers who were receiving training abroad. There are thousands of Ukrainian troops receiving specialized training by foreign governments. In February of 2023, ten thousand soldiers had completed training in England alone. Many other countries have invited Ukraine’s military for instruction to increase their combat readiness abilities as well.

Ivan (not his real name) is one of these men. In his mid thirties, he is a big bear of a man, calm and confident. He has had more wartime experience since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 than most professional soldiers would have in a lifetime.

Britain's King Charles III meets with Ukrainian recruits being trained by British and international partner forces in south-west England on February 20, 2023. Image/AFP/Chris Jackson/POOL

In the 21st century, it has become common for professional soldiers to go to foreign countries to fight. But Ivan is one of the millions of Ukrainians who have lived in two concurrent realities since 2014: fighting with Russia on one side of his own country and relative peace on the other. In February of 2022, these two realities collided during Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces attacked from three sides in their failed mad dash to encircle the capital, Kyiv, and take the country.

Ivan talked about close combat with invading Russian troops with the same straight forward, matter of fact attitude as someone describing getting a tire changed. He had a mixture of humor and deadly seriousness in his manner.

In mid 2022, he had been traversing the grey zone between Ukrainian and Russian positions on the frontline in the rural countryside. He had been moving through the trees just ahead of his squad; they had seen Russians in the distance and were trying to stay undetected.

Ivan described walking right into a group of three Russian soldiers who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“At first I just saw two of these Russian soldiers standing and eating together, and then I noticed a third sitting behind some makeshift cover. He had his hand on a rifle. It was laying across his lap.”

“I immediately raised my rifle, and they looked up surprised.”

He spoke to them quietly in Russian.

“Don’t move. You don’t need to die here. I can take you prisoner.”

Ivan was in a difficult situation. He was in eye sight of the Russian positions further away, but his men, who were some ways behind him, had not seen these three soldiers he had stumbled on. If he did not act quickly and quietly, it was over. Taking these men prisoner meant information on Russian troops and positions, and if the soldiers surrendered, he could withdraw without incurring enemy fire.

He had barely gotten the words out when the Russian sitting down flipped the safety off on his assault rifle, “I heard that ‘click’ sound. He was getting ready to shoot.

Ivan opened fire, and in seconds, he shot and killed the three soldiers. At the same time, he was hit multiple times by incoming bullets.

The Russians he had seen in the distance must have been watching him approach the three soldiers, and they started shooting at the exact moment he did. His squad was on the scene within moments and helped him withdraw. Most of the incoming rounds had stuck in his ballistic vest, but one hit him in his side and went clean through below his protective gear.

At this point in his story, Ivan raised his shirt and showed me the large entry and exit wound scar on his side. He and the other men with us had a good laugh, pointing out that his body armor was too small for him at the time, creating a larger unprotected area.

He spent three months in a medical facility recovering from his wounds before being ready for combat again.

His friend showed me pictures of their buddies who had been killed in combat by Russians while serving with him in the Ukrainian army. He was proud but not braggadocios. He became teary eyed talking about his love for his wife and children, his fallen comrades, and his country.

The camaraderie and friendship between Ivan and the men who were with us was forged through years of serving alongside each other. I was shown pictures of close friends and fellow soldiers they had walked with for more than half a decade who were then killed by Russian troops just a few months ago. They told me they stay in contact with the wives and children of these men.

Ivan was very clear in what he expressed to me.

“It’s not complicated. Russians are in my country, killing my people; this ends when they are stopped in their tracks. If Russian troops would have stayed out of Ukraine, I would have no problem with them, but so long as Russia wages war on us, they can expect only one thing in this country: death.”

This has been reiterated again and again to me by other Ukrainian soldiers I have spoken with.

This account is one moment in Ivan’s extensive story, but illustrative of his experience and the experiences of tens of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians. This is real every day life for those in Ukraine in 2023.