(translation via DeepL)

The interviewee’s answers (call sign “Fritz”) are in italics. My additions to clarify some stuff are between [square brackets].

The lawyer, who has been volunteering in Avdiivka since 2014, joined the 47th Brigade in 2022 and lost his leg during the first assault on the unit in the Zaporizhzhia sector in June 2023.

Only a month ago, Mykola stood up again on his now only leg. The 38-year-old man had been blown up three times and suffered severe injuries. Not only his right leg was blown off, but his left leg was also torn off, and both his arms and face were burned. That is why his treatment was quite lengthy, until the Kyivan [from Kyiv] was finally able to move around in a wheelchair, and then start walking with the help of a walker. Mykola dreams of a prosthesis, but his stump needs to heal and form well… And his right foot needs to be restored - rehabilitation specialists at the NextStepUkraine center are currently working with it. And this means pain and constant medical “findings” - either the wounds become inflamed or the nerve needs to be stitched… And there is no end in sight.

At the beginning of the full-scale offensive, you were…

… a commander of a rifle platoon. We were defending Kyiv. In June 2022, my platoon became an anti-aircraft missile platoon. By the way, we had good success, even shooting down operational and tactical UAVs. But then the commander of the 47th Regiment, Vanya Shalamaha, invited me to the position of company commander. I accepted the position.

Did you know each other before that?

We had mutual friends, let’s say, along nationalist lines. His father is a nationalist. I try to put myself in this category, although nowadays it is sometimes discredited. Vanya saw me as a prospect. In fact, during the defense of Kyiv, I hope I proved myself to be a good soldier, just like our platoon.

Until 2022, you were always with volunteers, traveling to the war. What is your military experience and with whom did you cooperate?

I cooperated with the 1st Assault Company [part of “DUK Pravyj Sektor”, now the 67th Mechanized Brigade]. As I cooperated, I was a subordinate. I would come and join the ranks, perform the tasks I was given. If I had to wash the floor, I did it, if I had to carry mines, I carried them, if I had to do something else, I did it. I did not challenge not only one order, but not a single wish, neither of Tengiz, nor of Da Vinci [commanders from DUK PS], nor of my other commanders. Because, frankly, I was not in a very high position in this hierarchy, but it suited me, because I: a) believed that I was defending Ukraine; b) helped my friends - wow. And it was the right thing to do. It was this experience that helped me to quickly assemble a platoon when we had to defend Kyiv. I knew what to do, I knew what war was, I understood the challenges. And, in principle, he understood what to do with the soldiers so that they would not simply run away. We all remember what a mess it was in the first days of the defense of Kyiv, how, excuse me, some rifle platoons, even companies, simply ran away from their positions. Why? Because the euphoria ends the moment you are given a rifle and told: “Go there, defend the sector”. We also had different situations. But we carried out any order. In the battalion we were in, our platoon was considered one of the best.

How did you start in the 47th Brigade? I understand that you were trained with them abroad.

When I was called to the 47th, they said it would be a new company that I could create myself. But in the end I came to an already established company. It had even been trained in western Ukraine. I came and was told: “Here are 110 people, take them”. I asked: “How? I was told to create a company”. The reply: “It’s already been created, catch it”. I accepted the offer.

Who was there, what professions? Was there anyone with military experience?

There were a few so-called “atovtsy” [veterans of the ATO, i.e. the Donbas War 2014-2022], but among them there were completely different people. There were those who had just spent some time in dugouts. These people were not going to storm anything at all. Their main task, as I saw it, was to get laid. We parted ways with them later. But there were people who really went through the ATO. For example, Petya Kolodiy became a company technician. First of all, he was in his place, secondly, he was brave, and thirdly, you realize that he had fought and knew what to do. This was a man who could understand any engine, get the parts. And when we were hit, he covered me, shouted: “Commander, I’m here!” I made him move back and jump into the trench. But he was really brave, I respect him. In general, the contingent was very diverse. There was a man who frankly said: “I have many children. I won’t go to combat. And in general, I have enuresis - here is a certificate”. What can you do? There were those who did not always understand where they were going. They were simply mobilized, brought in, and left, and they also did not understand what was happening. But most of them were highly motivated. People came from big businesses. I asked them questions: “Why? You were doing well”. “I think it’s right to defend Ukraine”. I tried to rely on people with high motivation.

Tell us about the training, because your brigade has been preparing for the longest time, and has undergone various coordination exercises. In your opinion, have people been taught how to fight?

The training was long, because at first, as I remember, it was a reconnaissance battalion. Then it became an assault regiment, and later a mechanized brigade. The tactics of an assault regiment and a mechanized brigade are completely different. That is why people had to be retrained. Was the training too long? Yes, it was. But are people to blame for this? No. The soldier is not to blame for the fact that the command is constantly changing plans.

Well, it’s just as well that the training took a long time, people learned…

You see, most people were “burning out”, and you just made them find the fire in themselves again. Constant communication, constant explanations of why this is happening. Understand: at first you are an assault regiment and learn to storm houses. Then they say you are a mechanized brigade and give you MaxxPros, which you see for the first time in your life. They give you grenade launchers, I think MK-13, and you don’t understand how to put them on. And then they take everything away from you and give you Bradleys, but you also have to go to school to learn how to use them. In other words, three learning processes actually took place, and people went through three training courses. Of course, they were burned out. And I am very happy that people in my company did not lose this fire, and when they had to perform tasks, they did. I will say that a great deal of responsibility was borne by the platoon commanders, who understood my logic in some places, and came to conclusions themselves in others. And when I said, for example: “You will assault at night”, people quite deliberately trained at night, put marks on themselves and learned to walk in trenches at night. Even after the training in Germany, we continued to study. We did not let the soldiers relax.

Good, but what about you? You knew that your friends were fighting while you were studying. How did you motivate yourself that the day would come when you would be useful?

It was hard to realize that my friends were fighting, and you… But you understand what responsibility you have. You’re a company commander, you have 119 men. If you start whining now, that’s it, the company will fall apart. It’s difficult. But okay. Take the ball and play…

Is Bradley really a reliable machine? What impression did it make on you?

The Americans have a completely different approach to training, not the Soviet one. How does the Ukrainian Army train on BMPs? “Kids, here’s an infantry fighting vehicle, but we’re not going to start it because there’s no diesel. And here is a gun, but we won’t shoot it because there are no bullets. And in general, don’t touch anything with your hands, because it will fall apart. We’d better practice the landing, and that’s it”. That is, in fact, the soldier knows how to land from an “infantry war grave” (because BMP-2 is a war grave). That’s how the training process works in our army. And in the American Army: “Here’s a Bradley. And we never run out of diesel fuel or ammunition”. We fired 74 shots a day, and we covered normal kilometers. The Americans were not afraid. On the first day, they explained everything, and on the second day we got on the Bradley. And each of the crews (infantry and crews were trained separately) rode five to ten kilometers. On the first day of driving, I was already doing the backup at night, refueling the vehicles. After any training, the vehicles must be thoroughly washed - the Americans themselves do it and demanded it from our soldiers.

Listen, I had this feeling: “Oh, this is a cool vehicle! We’re going to win with it!”

Yes, there was a feeling that it was a cool machine. And there was a sense of confidence. You learned so much from it, you understood what was what, what breakdowns could and how to fix them. Again, how are the company tactical training? On the first day, you learn what is required of you, but here is a huge field - a huge field, here’s a Bradley, learn how to maneuver. And you learn to maneuver platoons, companies, and you communicate with each vehicle commander. There were those who worked on Bechas [BMPs/BTRs], and they said: “Oh, it’s a rocket bomb!" [Part 1/3]

Did you already know then that you were being trained to carry out a powerful assault in a certain direction, that a lot of emphasis was placed on you?

I realized this during company exercises, and I was convinced of it during battalion tactical exercises. Because what we stormed during company and battalion tactical exercises reflected both the Kherson region’s terrain and the “dragon’s teeth”. The Americans went to the trouble of doing everything we needed to storm. The only thing that was not foreseen was mined landings. During company and battalion tactical exercises, we constantly used this, entering the rear through the landings (the Americans played the role of the Russians). I was proud of my guys, who actually walked six to eight kilometers through the forest, exposing enemy observation posts. It was very interesting. Each company commander had an American company commander next to him, and you had to ask him questions. If you were not shy, everything was explained to you. I was always asking questions. My “Capt. Jack”… He even twitched his eye, but until I fully understood the task, I did not leave him. We often spent the night on those towers, and he was explaining to me for the twentieth time how to use the Bradley correctly. Again, there were people who had fought in the Gulf, and they explained how they countered tanks there. It was all very interesting. Basically, I tortured everyone very hard. I had Chris next to me, who is now dead… He spoke very good English, and the two of us were constantly beating the Americans to understand everything. I think the problem with several companies of the brigade, the officers of the brigade, was that instead of kicking their instructors' asses, they went to bed. This is my opinion.

When did you arrive in the area of responsibility and receive your assignment? When did you get the order to go on the assault?

At first, we were redeployed to Zaporizhzhia region, to the south, in mid-May. There was already a corps planning meeting, and all company commanders were invited to attend. There, they began to explain to us what would happen next. That is, in May, I understood perfectly well what I had to do, I understood the task of my company. I gathered platoon commanders and section commanders and began to explain their actions to everyone. We were even able to model the positions we had to storm, and every night we practiced, practiced, practiced… We strained all our financial resources, bought night vision devices, because we lacked them, even though we were better equipped than other brigades. There was a very strong kinship. Each soldier understood his task, each could clearly say what he was doing at each stage.

And the burden of responsibility, that the whole country was watching you, that you would reach Mariupol and we would win… Didn’t it put pressure on you?

Listen, I’ve been in this life for a long time… I understand what a pretentious choss is. And I understand that what is planned can go wrong. And I told my soldiers a simple thing: it will be difficult, and then you will not fight for Ukraine - you will fight for each other, for the one on the right, on the left, behind, in front. And I will fight for you as long as I am able. And I explained quite calmly: after me, my friend Lys (Yevtushenko Dmitry Sanych) is in charge, the best officer I have ever seen. Honestly, I think he has very great prospects. Dmytro Sanych falls out - his friend Chris (Rest in Peace) follows him, Chris falls out - the Professor (Rest in Peace), he falls out - another commander… Everyone in the company understood the transfer of control of platoons, everyone understood the transfer of control of squads. Yes, this was due to a certain misunderstanding on the part of the soldiers: what else do you want from us? We’ve been studying for nine months, we’ve been winding turnstiles with our eyes closed… What else do you want?

When was the first assault you went on? What was your first experience?

The first experience was that we were late for the assault… According to the plan, we were supposed to assault right after the 3rd Battalion. But because of the failures in planning, we were, to put it mildly, three hours late, so, of course, we could not help. It was already morning, and it was very difficult to fight the Russians during the day because of their superiority in artillery, aviation, and UAVs. So we started to clarify the tasks before landing. They were adjusted based on the experience of the 3rd Battalion. Now we had to walk not 12 kilometers, but only 6. But from what we had already heard from the 3rd Battalion and others… You know, the Army is a big collective farm, everyone started asking each other: what, how, where? When I heard what happened, I explained to the platoon and section commanders their tasks and promised the barrier units that we would cover them as long as the Bushmasters were firing. And so it happened. We covered them, they did their job, and we still managed to capture certain positions, repel counterattacks and, in principle, prepare for defense. The Russians were not able to knock us out with counterattacks.

What date did this happen?

June 9. We seized the positions, repelled the first counterattack, and began to dig in. I was wounded, and my friend Lys took over the command, and he continued to lead the company, and he led it quite well. We accomplished our task with minimal losses. When other companies already had “two hundredths” [KIAs], most of the equipment was damaged, I had only ten “three hundredths” [WIAs]. The dead came after I had fallen. But there were objective reasons for that, because the Russian artillery simply mixed our positions with the black soil.

How did you get blown up, what was it like?

How… We called the Bradley, which was supposed to evacuate the first wounded. I saw that it was about to drive across the minefield, jumped out of the landing and started waving my hands where to go. I heard shots, saw my leg fly off, was surprised… Most likely, it was a large-caliber machine gun, because there were tanks on the enemy’s “Real Madrid” position, and they were working. I started jumping on my left leg, stepped on an anti-personnel mine, and fell on my back. Apparently, the “petal” [PFM-1 mine] worked, because during the period when we captured and repelled the first attack, there was a massive remote mining. Every ten meters in the sky there was an explosion, explosion, explosion… The sky turned pitch-black, I’ve never seen anything like it in movies. The detonation went off, and I turned over on my stomach. Something also went off under my chest, and I was thrown again. I have good armor, so the blast wave went through my arms. After all these explosions, I fell down, lying down and looking around: my hands were burned. I realize that I can’t do anything for myself now. But my friend Piro was next to me, and I called out, “Piro, help!” Piro ran across the minefield to save me. And he did. In a minute or two, he put four tourniquets on me, somehow tied my leg with paracord and pulled me out.

Was the leg there? I mean, did they try to save the severed leg?

It was hanging on to a piece of muscle, dangling. While this was happening, I was shouting at him to radio about the injury, to hand over control. I don’t know why I didn’t lose consciousness. Until I heard that everyone understood about the transfer of control, I didn’t calm down, I was beating him up. He was bandaging my leg on one side, and I was shouting at him on the other: “Hand over control!” During this time, Bradley saw where the minefield was and drove into the passage. This vehicle evacuated me. So they took me out quite quickly. Then our battalion medic, friend Kylym, worked well.

You said that two minutes before the explosion, your comrade advised you to fasten the collar of your body armor…

When we saw the powerful remote mining going on, friend Piro said: “Commander, let’s put your collar on after all”. My kevlar collar was rolled up, and they pulled it on for me in two or three minutes. During my explosions, it was torn to shreds. I kept it because there were shrapnel in it. They were even in the turnstiles that I had on my dodgers. They were everywhere. The Kevlar collar, the attacker, the armor saved me, I survived.

How long did the company remain in that position? What tasks did it continue to perform? And how successfully can you say?

I am very proud of my company and the soldiers. I am most satisfied with myself because I taught them how to fight properly. I am most satisfied with the fact that I realized who would be able to command the best after me. I made the managerial decisions that were required of me. And the soldiers did not just repel counterattacks at this position, being semi-surrounded. They kept storming it… They did not lose control, did not lose their combat capability. They then stormed Real Madrid, stormed Barcelona, Robotyne. That is, they continued fighting.

Why did you have such Spanish names for your positions - “Benfica”, “Real”?

I don’t know, maybe there was a football fan in the corps. But all the positions were named after football teams. My main task was, you know what? To capture Shakhtar and Dynamo by going through Real Madrid. If you’ve seen the video of the enemy company dying in four minutes, this is exactly the Dynamo position. So I’m very proud of my company, they are handsome. But a lot of losses could have been avoided if they had not formally followed orders. […] [Part 2/3]

[…] Now I don’t really want to criticize our government and our commanders, but sometimes it seemed that the soldiers were not being taken care of. There were times when we had to hit the positions, but they said no: “Paladin is an expensive shell”… People died because of this. Because they had to work with artillery, but they did not for some unknown reason. And because of that, my guys were dying.

How long did you fight for Robotyne? I think you’ve been following this closely.

Wait a minute: the task of taking Robotyne was set on the first day. That is, the fighting for Robotyne lasted from June 8 until it was taken.

Your guys went there too.

Of course they did. They went in, made ambushes, and practiced very well. Our 4th Company, despite everything, kept moving forward with clenched teeth. Despite the losses and wounded. Many of my fighters have five concussions. My friend Fayer was wounded numerous times during this offensive and kept coming back. Well, now he is unwound normally, he will rest for a long time. Three injuries in the battle for Robotyne alone… And so many others.

Obviously, the Russians were preparing for assaults in this area. They were not afraid of the Leopards and did not run away as expected.

The whole plan of the great counteroffensive was based on simple things: a Muscovite sees a Bradley, a Leopard, and runs away. That was it. “Guys, you’re going to unwind them there!” But the Bradley has no active defense! “Don’t piss off! It’s good enough as it is.” And the tankers had never fired from the Leopard! “Don’t piss me off, they worked on T-72s!” Despite the fact that all the guys were awesome, I just fell in love with our tankers.

Some tanker accidentally stuck to you…

It was a rocket bomb! The T-64 on the trawls [with mine plow] had to work with another company. But then there was a certain managerial mess. I was given a T-64, and I worked with it, got into the swing of things. When it comes to storming, they take it away from me and give me other guys who I see for the first time in my life and who do not understand the task, they are just furious that they are here. And they were “triggered”, it seems, in the first minutes of the battle from the ATGM. We continue to fight, roll back, roll up, continue to maneuver. And then I get a call on the radio: “Friend Fritz, what should I do?” I said: “Who is this?” - “I’m so-and-so,” - I realize that this is a tanker who should be with another unit. “So you’re supposed to be…” - “No way, I’m with you, I’m tailing you…” - “My baby!” - I was happy. - “Well, now we’re going to get things going! There’s the first platoon, go around, get ready”. Certain elements of randomness, which were related to the fact that some decisions of senior commanders were not logical in this particular situation, only confused. But thanks to this confusion, I ended up with another Teshka [T-64?] on the trawl, which paved the way for me to get to the Benfica position. And why did they do that - because, in principle, the UR [demining] team had worked on this position before, in the first minutes of the battle. We managed to do it, and we just needed a tank to pass through and make another passage so that the infantry would not be blown up. It was like a TV series.

Is war always chaos?

Controlled chaos! The main thing here is, firstly, not to go crazy, and secondly, to understand your position in this chaos. And to try to subordinate it to a common goal and purpose in one way or another. Yes, it was chaos. Because of this chaos, some companies ran out of supplies in 15 minutes, others - in 30 minutes, other brigades even set “records”. My company did not run out, we had minimal losses. Yes, there were vehicles hit. I was the first to be hit, the 152mm hit me…

And the Bradley…

… The Bradley withstood everything. The shell hit the starboard side, and the track was damaged. The armor withstood the debris, but the shock wave tore the wiring in the vehicle… The only time the Bradley failed to withstand the attack was when helicopters were working, a week later. A Ka-52 hit the vehicles, and one Bradley detonated. But there are cases when they did not detonate, when they withstood such strikes. In principle, this is a very reliable vehicle. This is not a BMP-2, where the entire crew dies, no. The Bradley can be hit, but the crew survives. And the engine is always running. The mechanic-driver wakes up from the concussion, the engine is still running, and we continue driving. Yes, it is chaos. In this chaos, it is important not to lose contact with the senior commander. Because you need artillery, you need current orders. And when this stops happening, when the battalion sergeant passes on the commander’s orders to you, it’s not good. Because you did not hear the order to transfer control to the sergeant. And you can definitely hear in the radio that it is not your commander speaking. Again, it is very important that senior commanders understand what is happening on the battlefield. You know, the command and control system in the 47th was so good that I could see where each of my vehicles was on my tablet. This helped in management, you understood who was where. The brigadier understood who was where, and the commander understood. The only thing they did not understand was what was really happening on the battlefield. And the situation was quite simple: ATGMs in every position. The Russians knew our routes of advance, and everything was flying along these routes - 152s, 120s, and Grads… And here you are, and where are you going to maneuver? Only back and forth, because everything else is mined. And we are the ones who did it.

You’ve been undergoing treatment for five months now, and you’re recovering. What’s the situation with your left leg - is it also very seriously injured?

Yes, it is. The “anti-personnel” worked. Unfortunately, due to the fact that my wounds were not treated well enough in Zaporizhzhia, the process of festering began, and I had to cut off half of my foot, although it basically held up. There were numerous fractures of the metatarsals, but I still have a foot… Due to the large influx of wounded, doctors simply did not have enough time to clean the wounds properly. I was cleaned for the first time in Dnipro, two days later, when the process of festering began and the issue of amputation of my left leg was raised. But I did not let it happen, and the doctors, thank God, helped me. My leg was saved, but not in full. Well, it’s okay, I’m training.

It took a long time for your arms to recover, so you could not transplant yourself…

I could not do anything with them. My arms were torn by the blast wave, but they stitched them up here and stitched them up there, so I’m fine… I can already grab the bar to do pull-ups. We have good surgeons, they do a good job of assembling everything. So now everything is fine. But in the first days it was, of course, hard. You’re lying there, tied up, your hands are burned, a tube in your mouth, and you have only one thought: whether your balls have been blown off or not… (laughs.) Thank God, I checked with the nurses, and they said everything was fine.

Not so long ago, you stood on your leg for the first time. How did it feel? How much did it hurt?

It hurts a lot! Because I had a muscle transplant on my foot, and they have not healed enough yet. But in general, everything is fine, I just need a little more time. I’m lucky because here at the clinic, I have a trainer who is very pitiful. I tell him: “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!” and he’s a handsome man: “Here’s a trapeze, here’s a boot to make it easier to walk - let’s go!” It hurt, but I went. This is a very significant milestone for me. I had several of them. The first stage is when you can go to the toilet by yourself. This is very important, by the way. The second stage is that you can stand up. I stood up on August 17. And in September, I started walking on one leg with crutches. This is already not bad. I still have several surgeries to undergo: to repair my nerves and remove contractures. I have a long way to go in treatment. But I know I will go. I know that I will have a cool prosthesis, I will be a Terminator man. And everything will be fine. Once an officer I knew called me and said: “Well, you go ahead and recover. There will be a counteroffensive next year, too”. And I told him: “I don’t have enough legs for the next counteroffensive”. - “We have to reach Crimea!” - “I don’t mind, but I really don’t have enough limbs…” It’s not a good idea to storm the Russians' prepared positions once again. I really hope that after what happened, they drew conclusions… An offensive always means losses. Still, I would like to see better interaction between the branches of the armed forces, to have aviation, to not be afraid of helicopters, to have the means to counter them. I really wish there were personnel conclusions.

Do you still want to return to the Army? What do you think about it?

I don’t think there is a single person who wants to go back to the Army. But… We all want to continue to defend Ukraine. Are you asking if I want to go back to the Army? No, I don’t. Not at all. I don’t get enough sleep there. Will I return to defend Ukraine? Yes, I will. In what condition, in what position - I’m not ready to answer. Because I probably won’t be able to storm the landings.

Why do you have the call sign Fritz?

Oh… My friend Halychanyn first called me Fritz in 2016. And it stuck. I have never hidden the fact that I am half German. You know, I have a family of “anti-Soviet” people: some were in the Hitler Youth, others in the UPA. And they all met in Siberia, and my mother was born from this love. That’s how it happened. In principle, I am quite boring and methodical when it comes to doing something. I think I live up to my nickname somewhere. [Part 3/3]