The Russian bullet struck the sergeant just above the ear. With the Ukrainian commander down, headquarters radioed a battlefield promotion to the private who had called him ‘brother’ — a man known as Courier.
every five days. That gives Russian forces time to dig in and especially to mine territory as they pull back.
Andriivka was their goal, as important as any strip of land in Ukraine. And on Sept. 6, the day Courier left his commander’s body behind, he and his men took over a trash-strewn trench in the middle of the forest and held it for four full days. On either side of them were mined fields that once grew wheat and now sprout only craters.“I’ve been at war for four weeks already and I miss my mom,” Courier read.
Courier would go to western Ukraine and represent the platoon at Gagarin’s funeral. Gagarin, ironically named for the Russian cosmonaut who was the first human in space, was buried in his hometown of Polonne, a 550-mile drive from the battlefield. “I feel like there is a gap between civilians and us now,” he said. “When the war is over, I will probably just leave to fight elsewhere.”
On the day of the funeral, Sept. 13, any man whole enough to fight was in the forest, including another sergeant in the platoon, Fedya. On Sept. 5, Fedya had been lightly, and the injury may have saved his life. Gagarin took his place in the assault, and that was the day he died. The day was a blur. The Ukrainians pummeled the tiny village with artillery and then threw a smokescreen into its main street. Russian artillery hit retreating and surrendering Russian soldiers, whose bodies lay face down or curled on their sides. The last hundred meters was a mix of blood, metal, trash, spent cartridges and shredded armor.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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