"Mission of honour": Special Operation Forces recover body of fallen comrade from under enemy's nose
Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) have told the press about a mission during which they evacuated the body of a fallen comrade from the invaders' positions.
Source: An interview with a soldier of the 73rd Marine Centre of the Special Operations Forces named after Kosh Otaman Antin Holovatyi, posted by the press service of the Special Operations Forces
Details: While performing combat missions in Ukraine's south (as the press service of the Ukrainian Armed Forces specified to Ukrainska Pravda, it was the Zaporizhzhia front – ed.), operators from Ukraine's Armed Forces had to move to the specified area, perform assault operations, and, if possible, capture Russians.
According to a story told by one fighter, the operators boldly entered the trenches at the Russian position, where a battle commenced. The Special Forces managed to kill 9 occupants, but due to their own injuries, the SOF fighters had to retreat. In addition, one of the cameramen was killed. His wounded comrades made the difficult decision to leave his body behind during the retreat.
The Russians opened heavy artillery fire on the area, which did not stop for several days. They also deployed a TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system and used chemical weapons.
Despite the extreme danger, the Special Operations Forces operators went on an evacuation mission. The soldiers re-entered the trenches held by the Russians, inflicted more losses on them, reached their comrade and took his body.
Since there was a risk that the invaders could have booby-trapped the body of the fallen SOF soldier, two soldiers hooked the body with carabiners and at first gradually pulled it away from the Russian position. Once at a safe distance, the body was transferred to a stretcher and evacuated from the battlefield.
Quote: "It is an honour for us to pick up our fallen comrades. No one is left on the battlefield."
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