Marian is 29 years old, but he has retained the features of an adolescent face. With his military cap on his head, he gives an appointment near the swings of a kindergarten in Lviv. Marian is a Ukrainian soldier, he is on “rehabilitation” leave: he was injured a month ago near Kherson and he still limps a little.
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He says that a shrapnel of rocket crossed his thigh, so in recent weeks he has chained passages in military hospitals, twice in Mykolaiv, once near Odessa and a last in Lviv. His statement is harsh,them hospitals are overwhelmed“, he says.
“I see everyone rejoicing at the counter-offensive, but the losses are heavy. Our command must be more serious, more professional.”
Marian is a sergeant in the motorized infantry. The latest victories in the Donbass and the recapture of several towns in the East are obviously motivating the troops. “I would like to tell them ‘well done guys!’“, but he immediately qualified the progress of this counter-offensive: “At what price ?“
What Marian has been through on the front since July really scares him, he says “the dead everywhere“: “Sometimes you see an arm, a foot, a skull lying on the ground“, he describes. He goes on to explain that there are not many guys left in his unit. Too many of them “are dead“wounded like him, or missing. So he dreams of a more efficient Ukrainian army, with fewer human losses and at the same time, more ambition.
“Ukraine is our land! Personally, I want to go so far as to take back Crimea”
Around him, life goes on. In this playground, among the women and their children having fun, Marian smiles: “It’s quite normal that life goes on, here, in town“, he said. “I’m rather angry with the ‘sons of’, the privileged, who have money but do nothing. And then against those in power“, he explains. He wants to continue to learn and train better.
On his patched-up cellphone, which he takes out of his pocket, smiling, his soldier’s name is scribbled: “Super Mario”, “like the hero of video games“, confirms Marian, singing the music of the famous game. Her leave should last a few more weeks, maybe a month.”There is never a specific return date.“, he explains. While waiting to return to the front, he makes contact with volunteers and tries to make himself useful on his own scale, like a simple citizen.