While the advance of the Russians is stopped around Bakhmout, life resumes its course behind the front. When they return on leave the soldiers must manage this return to “the life before”.
In Bakhmut, in the Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, the Russians are no longer advancing according to the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian armies, Valéri Zaloujny. The region has been on fire and bloodshed for several months now: artillery fire is incessant, with infantry battles in the towns, trenches, mud, dead… But in the rear, life resumes despite everything. Spring is coming, shops, cinemas, restaurants are open. For soldiers on leave, it’s time to rest. But it is also necessary to psychologically manage this passage from the war to the life before.
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Two days before returning on furlough to kyiv for a few days, Serhy was in the midst of fighting in Donbass. “What do you want me to tell you? release the soldier. It’s war, it’s difficult. The hardest part is in your head when you see your friends die. War changes people. Today, this former lieutenant, now a volunteer in the army, strolls around Maidan Square in the heart of the Ukrainian capital. There is music, parents walk their children, the McDonald’s is open: nothing suggests that the country is at war.
“At the beginning, it was difficult to adapt. When you see people who don’t understand what is happening 800 kilometers from kyiv”, develops Serhy. But little by little, you get to know yourself, you change your perspective, so you go to the cinema, you read books, you play sports”.
Tenth return to kyiv
This is the tenth time that Serhy has returned to kyiv after complicated missions. He fought in particular Sievierodonetsk, then to Soledar and Barmukht. On each leave, he has been going to Marina, his girlfriend, for a few months. When asked what is the first thing he does when he returns to kyiv, his answer is clear: “When your girlfriend is waiting for you, the first things you do are hugs and kisses”.
Throughout the interview, the lovers did not let go. A difficult daily life for Marina: “It’s very difficult all these nights without sleep. Frankly, for me, it’s complicated. I am a very sentimental person, very emotional. We are going through a really difficult time. But what do you want me to do? ? It’s like that.”
In fifteen days, Serhy will leave for an 11ᵉ mission on the front. But he doesn’t want to say more, “Top secret”, he said. Not even Marina knows.
War in Ukraine: Serhy’s testimony at the microphone of Thibault Lefèvre
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