In between flights, the guys make coffee and tell incredible war stories, remembering their life “before”. “Of course, we are fighting for our country, for our people, our loved ones and we are not going to back down. On the front lines, everyone understands: if not us, then who? We simply have no right to miss them here, because the fate of this country depends on the front, its density and coherence. Of course, each of us has our civilian life, there are loved ones who are waiting for us, but right now we have to be here. And by and large, the fate of the entire region is decided in the Avdiiv direction,” says Kep.
A quick smoke break and coordination of the work plan
photo: Oleksiy Muzhchyna
At the age of 26, Mamai is an experienced pro, he has already managed to visit the hottest spots: in February and March, he met the enemy near Kiev, then there were battles for the now occupied Rubizhne, then several months in Severodonetsk, the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast during the autumn counteroffensive – also in his frontline biography. His unit managed to capture a group of Russians. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion near Kyiv, his father, who was also a military man and covered the exit of his group at that time, died: “We were assigned a new PPD (point of permanent deployment – “Glavkom”), from which we went on combat missions to Irpin, Bucha, Moschun. He constantly maintained contact with his father, who at that time was defending Moschun with his brothers. And we performed tasks with UAVs – we adjusted the artillery against the enemy and the crossings that they wanted to restore for logistics. On the night of March 12, I spoke to my father for the last time, and in the morning I was woken up and told that he was gone. He and his siblings left the environment. Father ordered his boys to leave their positions, covering them last. At that moment, a shell flew in and mortally wounded him. Now there is no word “bye” in my life (only “see you”), but the call sign “Mommy” appeared and the mustache that I decided to wear since then is a memory of him. Another amulet is a ribbon near the heart, which was given to me by my girlfriend. These memories and the thought that our relatives are waiting for us do not allow me to stop.”
According to the military, Avdiivka is one of the scariest points on the map of this war. It was here that he understood what real fear is: “It’s not scary without light. It’s not scary without water. It’s not scary in a damp, cold, wet trench, even when your bones are breaking from the cold, and you can’t feel your fingers and toes. It’s not scary when the morning frost covers your whole face. But it’s still scary when your brother, with whom you stood side by side, dies from a wound. You try to save him and find yourself under heavy machine gun and artillery fire. At this moment, you realize that you can die together with your brothers who are trying to save the wounded…”, Mamai shares and goes to control the drone.
