Thirst for life. Story of a special ops soldier who fell from a boat and spent 14 hours floating in the open sea

"He is already a legend, not only in our unit but throughout the Special Operations Forces." 

In his interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Major Viktor Torkotiuk, commander of the Artan special unit in Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (DIU), described his soldier who goes by the alias Conan. He also briefly described the reason why Conan has become a legend. 

During an operation in the Black Sea, a Special Operations Forces soldier fell overboard. He had been alone in the open sea for 14 hours, under the noses of the Russians, with no idea where to go or when help would arrive. 

Ukrainska Pravda found Conan to learn about this incident firsthand. And Conan recounted an incredible story about the readiness for self-sacrifice, the power of military brotherhood and, above all, the strength of the human spirit.

This is a story that teaches everyone not to give up under any circumstances.

So, Conan recollects what happened in August this year in the waters of the Black Sea.

A person who loves life

I am a simple guy who grew up in the countryside. I am a serviceman who loves his job. And, as it turned out, I am a person who loves life very much.

Before I joined the DIU’s Artan battalion, I was constantly dealing with weapons: I worked in the police, personal security, was in the resistance movement, and now I am in the army. Although I am a fitness trainer by profession. When the full-scale invasion began, I joined the Armed Forces on 26 February. I came [to enlist – ed.] on my own initiative.

In mid-August, we were conducting a special operation in the Black Sea. 

It was about 08:30 in the evening when a Russian Su [Su-24 bomber] started firing at our boat. These aircraft were constantly circling the sea, patrolling from morning to evening.

We started to manoeuvre. And during one of the manoeuvres, one of our soldiers used a Stinger MANPADS and damaged the aircraft. It left us and headed for the nearest airfield.

Night was falling as we reached the target and started working.

When we were coming back, it was already 05:00. About 30 kilometres from the place of the first battle, we received the alert "Aircraft!". Again, the enemy aircraft found out our whereabouts and started firing at us with an automatic machine gun using 30-calibre ammunition. 

Usually, a Su would fire a few rounds, turn around and go for a new pass until it had fired its entire ammunition package. And then a new one would appear. I also know that the pilot made a request to his command to hit us with a guided missile. But, thank God, he was not allowed to do so. Otherwise, no one would be talking to you now.

We fired back. But our guys had used up their ammunition for the MANPADS the previous evening when they managed to shoot down an enemy Su.

We were lucky that we had a very good skipper who did not get confused and began to take us out of the attack zone. 

And in one of the manoeuvres, when our boat was getting away from enemy fire, I fell overboard.

I weigh 120 kilograms without equipment, and I would have been somewhat around 150 with equipment. But 20 minutes before I fell out, I felt uneasy for some reason. So I took off everything: my helmet, body armour and webbing. And I put away my weapon. I was wearing a diving suit and put on a life jacket. Somehow it came to me that I had to do this.

And 20 minutes later, I ended up in the water.

At that moment, it was about 130 kilometres from the shore.

"I was swimming against the current all the time"

What was my first emotion? Panic, of course. It was very far from the shore, and there was a lot of water under me.

My mates wanted to take me out of the water, but the enemy aircraft kept shooting at us. And then I started waving and shouting at them to get away from me. Because I knew perfectly well that the boat crew, 13 people, was more precious than me alone. And with my life jacket, I could stay on the water for a while.

Later I found out that our boat was damaged. And that was one of the reasons why we decided to retreat: the boat was punctured, and this threatened the lives of the guys.

I didn't know what would happen next, but I had the only reference point – one of the gas production rigs, which was constantly lit up. It was very clearly visible both day and night. Later, my mates told me that it was about 20 kilometres from where I had fallen to the rig.

I realised that I needed to get myself together and tune in to the fact that no one would come for me in an hour, because the aircraft kept flying overhead. For them, I was a very small target, but they did not allow the boat to approach me.

So I swam to the lit-up tower.

There were no waves, but the current was very strong. It was constantly carrying me backward, then to the left, then to the right. It turns out that I was swimming against the current all this time. I didn't stop for a minute, because if I had, it would have carried me further and further away from my landmark.

I had to be constantly in motion.

I was swimming.

"There was a constant struggle in my mind: to give up or not to give up?"

I learnt to swim when I was six years old in a pond in the village, where I went with my friends, sneaking away from my parents. I remember how I started to sink. There was no one to help me, so I started swimming to the shore myself.

My zodiac sign is Pisces, so water is my element. And this story of mine is proof of this. However, swimming has never been my strong point: after swimming a hundred metres from the shore, I would already feel tired and short of breath. It's not easy to swim or run when you weigh 120 kilograms. Muscles are constantly in need of oxygen.

Previously, when I was just swimming in the sea or in a river and didn't feel the bottom, I felt insecure. But now there were hundreds of metres of water below me, and I tried not to think about it.

You gather your strength and make another push. Because you really want to live, you know?

I had different thoughts, to be honest. I thought maybe no one was looking for me because I didn't see anyone at the landmark. Or maybe they were looking for me, but couldn't find me. There was a constant struggle in my mind: to give up or not to give up?

But common sense told me to keep going. I still hoped that my guys were looking for me, and I knew that my commander Viktor Viktorovych [Torkotiuk] would do everything to get me out. And I was right, he is a man with a capital M.

Just one more push, you say to yourself. And you think about life, about your family. It was very difficult to think that my son would turn one in a month, and I didn’t know if I would survive or see him again.

I didn't have a watch, so I could orient myself only by the sun. At some point, the hallucinations began: heat, dehydration, fatigue. I thought there was a boat ahead. And only over time did I realise that it was the same tower. And somewhere around 4-5 pm, I swam towards it.

I could not swim close to it because the heat was very strong. It burns gas, and the flame is very strong there. Even when you are 100 metres away from it, it feels like an enemy plane is flying over you - it is so loud. I was afraid that the vest would melt because of this temperature.

The current became even stronger, and I began to be carried backwards. This happened several times. I was carried about 400 metres back, and I again swam to the tower.

I thought: what’s 400 metres?! But when you have already been swimming for more than ten hours, and you feel that your strength is leaving you...

When I was carried back for the fourth time, I was worn out. I was very dehydrated because I had drunk a lot of salt water. There was constant heat. I really wanted to sleep.

And I turned on my back and fell asleep.

"I will live!"

When I woke up, the current had pushed me away from the tower, and I had to swim to it again.

My vest started to deflate - of course, it had been under the sun for so many hours!

In addition, I realised that it would soon be night, which meant that it was unlikely that the search party would be able to find me.

At some point, I felt something with claws on my leg. I turned around - and there was a seagull sitting on me, and a few more were circling above me. By the way, from the Bayraktar, which was brought in to search for me, they also saw the heat trace from the birds. That's how it was reported that there was an object swimming towards Odesa and "riding" seven seagulls.

And at some point, I noticed a ship.

It could have been my search party. But there was also the thought that it could be an enemy ship that, with cover from aircraft, had gone out into the open sea and was looking for us.

Then an enemy plane flew by and fired several times at the ship that was heading in my direction. So the ship was Ukrainian. But the ship turned around and went in another direction.

When I noticed that the ship was moving away from me, it gave me strength. I knew that there might be someone nearby, that they were looking for me, and I swam further.

I swam and swam and saw waves of water approaching. I thought it was the enemy. That this was a Russian landing party swimming towards me.

It was a small boat. And when I saw the flag of Ukraine on the boat, my joy knew no bounds. These are the guys, my guys, my mates, who came across my trail through Bayraktar!

That's it, I was found, I will live!

I think I swam about 20-25 kilometers. I wonder how far exactly.

I was lifted up onto the boat. Of course, I rushed to hug them all. Our doctor, a combat medic, said: "Everything must be according to the rules. There is no time to hug; you have to take off your vest, take off your wetsuit." Next - a thermal blanket and IV drips. My temperature was 35.5C, plus severe dehydration.

You always have confidence in your mates, from the beginning to the end of any operation because it is like one organism, one team.

Our battalion commander not only sent a search party into the open sea but also launched the Bayraktar in the air and involved a rescue ship. So this time, it was teamwork: both our unit, the Navy, and Timur's group.

Back on dry land

I was in the boat, but the operation was not yet complete. We had to successfully retreat to safe territory.

We swam towards the second tower, closer to the mainland. When we went behind it, an enemy plane appeared in the sky again. We kept our heads down. It fired a guided missile at Zmiinyi Island. When the sky became clear, we moved on.

Around midnight I finally set foot on dry land. I got off the boat alone, on my own.

After the drips, my strength returned. I felt good; I could walk, talk, and think clearly. Everything was already good. My temperature rose to normal: 36.2, and then, when I was lying in the ambulance, to 36.6.

On the doctor's advice, I drank water in small doses and small sips. I had no appetite even the next day - I only wanted apples and sweet water.

When I was swimming, I looked at that tower, and I wanted fruit and Pepsi so much! By now, I've probably already drunk twenty litres of Pepsi.

The first thing I did, feeling the solid ground under my feet, was write a message to my wife because I had not been in touch for a long time. I wrote that everything was fine; I was alive and well and returned from the task.

But I still haven't told her about what happened. I would beat around the bush and ask: "Have you ever heard such a story? How do you think he was able to swim, what was going through his head at that time?". His wife replied: "I guess he really wanted to live."

And I told her: "Yes, he really wanted to live."

The real Conan

I already told you how much I weigh. I was never a small boy. And so it happened when something difficult had to be done, they would say: "Come on, Conan!". That's how this nickname stuck. But now the guys say: "You are real Conan, not the one in the movie (Conan the Barbarian, the 1982 movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger - UP)." But I am not a barbarian because I am not cruel.

I am always doing sports. Even now, when there is an opportunity to work out in the gym or run, I always use it. My physical form and the ability to set myself up psychologically helped me a lot.

In general, most of the fighters in Artan are athletes. Among them are champions of Ukraine and even world champions in various types of martial arts.

I myself am a master of sports in pankration (a martial art that originates from Ancient Greece, a mixture of wrestling and fist fighting - UP) and powerlifting (power triathlon - squatting with a barbell, bench press, deadlift - UP). I won championships. I also engaged in Strongman Competitions (or power extreme, as it is also called) - and here, I won prizes in competitions.

I thank God for giving me strength! I am a religious person. Prayer and the power of prayer are important to me. You see, I swam for 14 hours, and I had no muscle soreness. That is, I was not tormented by cramps; it was easy for me to swim. I just got tired over time.

And on the second day, when I woke up in the hospital, I did not feel any pain in my muscles, ligaments, or anything.

I am happy that now I can tell you all this. About myself, about my mates, about the battalion, about the commander. I am very grateful to all of them.

And now, as much as I can, I will try to tell my story to other people.

To what end? So that they don't give up.

Rustem Khalilov, Roksana Kasumova, Ukrainska Pravda

Translation: Myroslava Zavadska, Yelyzaveta Khodatska

Editing: Susan McDonald