02 July 2023 at 05:00
Ukrainian soldier Andriy Siromakha (22) was seriously injured in the battle against the Russians. In his temporary home in Utrecht, the passionate young man tells how he bluffed his way into a combat unit, defended his country and paid a high price for it.
“I immediately understood that a new era had arrived,” says Andriy. “No time for talking or thinking. Time for action, to defend our country.”
As a student, he had never before considered enlistment. He did two studies, international relations and public administration, worked as an activist and wanted to help his country move forward. But not necessarily with a weapon in his hands. “Then I would lose a few years of my life.”
After the Russian invasion, that changed. Andriy nevertheless entered the army, paying a high price for the defense of Ukraine. He lost his right arm and leg and his spine broke in two places. “That can happen when you’re a soldier,” he says dryly.
My hand was gone and my arm looked like a sausage, but I tried to give him a thumbs up anyway.
The young officer ended up in a rehabilitation clinic in Utrecht almost a year ago. This was done through a European system for injured Ukrainian soldiers who could not be treated in their own country. He then moved into a room in a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in the same city. He shares it with his mother and his eight-year-old brother.
His father, an older brother (26) and a younger brother (12) and sister (6) are still in Ukraine. Their hometown, Bila Tserkva, is located in Kyiv province, 80 kilometers south of the capital, and has a population of about 200,000.
Hours after invasion in line for the army
Andriy will be coming home on February 23, 2022 after a scientific conference in Odesa. He is exhausted, but he is not allowed a long night’s sleep. In the early morning of the next day, Bila Tserkva is startled awake by a huge explosion. The Russian invasion has begun.
A few hours later, then 21-year-old Andriy is standing in line at an army recruiting station. He’s not the only one: it takes five hours before it’s his turn.
His parents know nothing. Andriy has told them that he has left his identity papers with a friend and needs to get them. “If they call, just say I’m sleeping or in the bathroom,” he tells his friend.
“I knew what would happen if I said I was going into the army.” Andriy puts on a high, tearful voice. “‘Why? Please, please, stop! Don’t go!'” He laughs. Dan, deadly serious: “I didn’t need any advice on this one.”
Not even from older men in line, who try to send Andriy and his peers away. “‘They said, ‘You are so young, go home! We have enough men to defend the country. You are our future!'”
No cook or recruiter
Once Andriy sits across from the head of the recruiting office, he seems to share the same opinion. After a short conversation about his background, he is given two options: become a chef or go to the human resources department, as an assistant to the recruiter.
“Nobody should be forced to eat anything I’ve cooked,” says Andriy. So option two. He is ordered to go get a service weapon and report back.
He doesn’t do the latter. He recognizes a number of men from the line posted to a combat unit. Andriy simply follows them into a bus.
Matthijs le Loux is a foreign reporter for NU.nl
Matthijs follows the war in Ukraine, among other things.
Fake it until you make it
Once at the unit in question, Andriy is painfully aware that he doesn’t belong there; after all, he has been appointed to a different place. But in the busy, chaotic environment, his focus and organizational talent shine through. He explores the headquarters, finds out who is doing what and helps to process crates of weapons and ammunition.
That night an opportunity presents itself. “Someone I knew from the station was a platoon commander. The battalion commander was looking for him. He was furious. ‘Where is he? Why didn’t he relieve the platoons on patrol?'”
Andriy seeks out his knowledge. He says he has to pick up new recruits, but has not heard anything about who or where they are exactly.
“If you appoint me as your co-commander, I’ll take care of it for you,” says Andriy. He manages to track down the missing recruits. For two days he provides them with instructions and organizes patrols.
From soldier to officer
On the third day, the battalion is ordered to go into battle. Andriy goes to the battalion commander and confesses that he should be in the administration. “After those three days he knew who I was, what I had done and what my skills were.” The commander orders him to collect other soldiers who also want to join a combat unit.
“I asked everyone if they were afraid to give their lives for Ukraine. In the end, 28 men came with me,” says Andriy. “The battalion commander said, ‘From this moment on you are third platoon and this young man’ – pointing to me – ‘is your leader.'”
Private Siromakha was promoted after three days and is in command of a forty-strong platoon. That fights against the Russian advance in the north, as scouts. Andriy does not want to give more details. He does not want to divulge classified information.
“They were incredibly brave people,” he says of his men. “They all had their reasons to fight. Things to live for. They had a wife or a husband, children, brothers and sisters. We were motivated to defend our loved ones and our country.”
Life-threatening injuries
A flash and an explosion. That’s all Andriy remembers. Artillery, he now thinks. A month after his entry into the army, at the end of March, he was seriously injured.
A few days earlier he had discussed first aid training for his platoon with a military nurse. “That was still in my head. I thought that training had now started and I was the volunteer who got involved.”
The war shows what really matters: the future of Ukraine.
He doesn’t feel pain, but pretends to, to make the exercise more realistic. To his surprise, his men’s reassurances also sound true to life. “‘They can act well,’ I thought.”
Finally it dawns on him: he is seriously injured. “Our sniper, a friend of mine, said, ‘If you live, I promise I’ll always carry your ammunition from now on.’ He never lies and always does what he promises. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a big promise! Suddenly my memories came flooding back and I understood what had happened.’
In a coma for three days
Andriy is taken to a safe zone in a car. “My commander, leader of all the scouts of the brigade, looked at me and said very sadly, ‘O Andriy, I couldn’t save you.’ He was crying softly. My hand was gone and my arm looked like a sausage, but I tried to give him a thumbs up anyway. ‘It’s going to be okay, Sergey,’ I said.”
Doctors fight for a month to save Andriy’s life. He spends the first three days in a coma. His right arm cannot be saved and after he develops gangrene, his right leg must also be amputated. Due to the injuries to his spine, he will never be able to walk again, not even with a prosthesis.
‘I want to go down in the history books’
Andriy doesn’t let that stop him. He’s always had a master plan for his life, and that hasn’t really changed. “I’m very ambitious,” he says. “I want to go down in the history books as someone who has meant a lot to the development of his country and the whole world.”
One step towards that goal: becoming president of Ukraine. “In the morning when I wake up, I think about what I can’t do yet. What kind of experience should I have and what would I need to know if I were to become president now?”
He hopes to return to Ukraine this summer. He can also make himself useful at his unit’s headquarters from a wheelchair, Andriy thinks.
“First we have to solve our current problem and make our country much stronger. Then we can apply that mindset to any other problem. It may sound cynical, but I think the war also brings good things. He shows what is really important is: the future of Ukraine.”
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2023-07-02 03:00:04
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