He survived encirclement and injury, and went back to the front. Story of a National Guard of Ukraine trainee
Serhii Piatenko studies logistics at the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine. He survived an encirclement and an injury and went back to the front.
The National Guard has recently shared his story.
Piatenko is from Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast. He attended a technical college after graduating from high school, training to become a tractor driver.
His military career started in 2019, when he completed mandatory military service in a mortar battery in Kharkiv Oblast. He signed a three-year contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces after serving for just four months.
Piatenko was often deployed in the Joint Forces Operation area, guarding checkpoints. [The Joint Forces Operation, or JFO, is a term used from 2018 onwards by the media, the Ukrainian government and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.] The beginning of the full-scale invasion found him in Stanytsia Luhanska in eastern Ukraine. He says that he and his brothers-in-arms could see Russian drones hover over them as early as 22 and 23 February 2022.
Russian artillery started shelling his unit on the night of 23-24 February, before the national alarm was issued on the 24th. Soldiers at the neighbouring checkpoint spent a week in Russian encirclement before being taken prisoner.
Piatenko’s unit was ordered to retreat – it turned out it was half-encircled. They retreated to Sievierodonetsk. Piatenko says that was the most frightening time.
"Later we took up defensive positions in Rubizhne. We’d go, carry out specific operations, then go back to our positions. One day [on our way to the area where we were supposed to work that day], we were driving some 20 metres behind a Gazel truck. We saw it get hit by a projectile. We tried to back up, but the reverse gear didn’t work. We were scared big time," Piatenko says.
Piatenko later fought in Varvarivka and Kreminna. He was injured in the town of Zolote, Luhansk Oblast, where he served as an infantryman; his task was to use an assault rifle to fire at Russian positions from no more than 100 metres away.
When Piatenko started his shift, a Russian tank started firing on his positions; the radio communications were cut off when he ran for cover. He couldn’t ask his brothers in arms to fire back.
By the time Piatenko reached some of his fellow soldiers in a dug-out, it was too late.
"When I reached them, I saw the soldier with the call-sign Simka lying on the ground. I ran towards him, bent down, and wanted to help him get up, but he was beyond saving. That was the moment I was injured: a fragment of tank ammunition injured my leg. I hollered to another fellow soldier to run for cover, and started to slowly make my way there myself. I was given first aid and then hospitalised after the medics were able to reach us," Piatenko recalls.
After rehabilitation, Piatenko joined a mortar battery, which fought near Kharkiv. Though the fighting was hard there, Ukrainian troops ultimately prevailed.
"I’ll tell you more. At the time we were the first unit to reach the Russian border not far from Kozacha Lopan, liberating some of our positions. We were in touch with our headquarters, which tapped into Russian radio communications, telephones, and telegrams. We’d be warned about possible shelling when we were carrying out our operations. Shelling would begin as soon as we’d taken cover," Piatenko says.
In November 2022, he and his brigade were deployed to Toretsk, and later to Bakhmut, where the Guards used mortars to help Ukrainian infantry hold their positions.
Piatenko says his girlfriend, parents, and grandparents supported him a lot. His parents ended up living under Russian occupation. After Kupiansk was liberated, he went to pick them up.
"The most amazing thing in all this horror for me is when you drive into a liberated city or village and realise that you are welcome there. People are waving, children are running around. It’s impossible to describe this," Piatenko says.
He plans to stay in the military, so he enrolled in a military academy to improve his skills.
"I’m very proud of people who voluntarily go to defend Ukraine. I have friends who have been abroad and returned to defend the country. I keep in touch with my brothers-in-arms. Unfortunately, many of them have been killed. But they all fought for our land and the future of our children. And we must remember them," Piatenko concludes.
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