“For eight days I did not sleep and hardly ate anything. She couldn’t close her eyes for five seconds because the sniper could have shot at her,” recalls Lilia, her mother.
He has reason to call Bakhmut “hell”. This is the city where he lost his son and left another badly wounded.
His only weak consolation is that one brother died trying to save the life of another.
Maxim and Ivan volunteered to fight when Russia decided to invade Ukraine in early 2022.
At that time, Maxim was 22 years old, and Ivan was 18.
Ivan, whose wounds are still visible, notes that they were inseparable.
“He was always with me, and I with him. He was the person I loved more than anything in the world.”
Ivan shows several photos and videos of the two of them: in a trench, in a military vehicle, in the middle of a breakthrough.
As the photos move forward in time, you can see the changes in both young people. As if the war had gradually robbed her of her innocence.
Their last days together were spent locked in a brutal house fight To house in Bakhmut.
“It was impossible to sleep. They attacked us every day, at any time of the day. Without rest, ”says Ivan.
Ivan and Maxim’s detachment is stuck in a windowless room.
“I’m Going To Die”
The brothers and other soldiers had to punch holes in the walls with their fists in order to be able to shoot from the inside.
It was then that they received the order to retreat.
Ivan remembers exactly the moment he was wounded.
“I remember trying to reload the gun and it was like a flash, then I felt paralyzed and fell down,” he says.
He felt the warmth of blood flowing from the wounds and flooding his face. He never believed that he would survive.
“I thought, ‘This is it. I will bleed and I will die.”
But Maxim came to his aid, loaded him up and carried him back to the house where they had been shortly before.
“He brought me back to life. He pulled out a broken tooth and began to give me first aid.
lhis brother’s help was to make it hole around his neck to keep him from drowning.
Ivan kept a video of his brother cleaning up the blood shortly after the explosion.
Another video that has gone viral online shows Ivan walking with great difficulty and with a head injury, but with a Ukrainian flag in his hand, which was a symbol of bravery and resilience in the Battle of Bakhmut.
Ivan is clear that he would have died if his brother had not come to his aid. “My brother didn’t let me die. He saved me.”
Maxim urgently called for help on the radio.
But doctors trying to reach them were killed after the car they were traveling in was hit by a Russian missile.
The wait for help to arrive took nine hours.
But instead of going with his brother, Maxim voluntarily decided to stay in order to lead his detachment in the battle of Bakhmut.
Max died a week later. To Russian sniper shot.
farewell to the hero
These days in Ukraine, the funerals of soldiers are as numerous as the roar of artillery on the front lines.
But not everyone is like Maxim. All the inhabitants of Tomakovka, the town where both brothers lived, went to say goodbye to their hero, except for his family.
Many of them knelt as the procession made its way to the cemetery. Others threw flowers and Ukrainian flags into the coffin.
Somehow, the parents of Ivan and Maxim indirectly survived the war waged by their sons.
Lilia and Sergey did not sleep for whole nights, waiting for news about themselves.
Often they received a text message from someone: “We’re fine, mom.”
But then the bad news came.
Lilia weeps over Maxim’s coffin before he is finally lowered underground as a farewell salute is fired.
“We still can’t believe it. My soul is broken,” he says after the funeral.
she adds that his only reason for continuing to live is his youngest son.
He says that Maxim had a chance to return to Ivan, but he never intended to abandon his younger and less experienced comrades.
“He is a hero. Is an angel. This is sunlight. He will never leave his brother, although he knew that he himself would die.
Ukraine may not say how many lives were lost in this war.
But one has only to look around the cemetery to understand that the whole country You are paying an extremely high price.
In this little cemetery, in this little town, there are rows and rows of recent graves surrounded by flowers.
Maxim’s funeral was one of three soldier funerals held this week by the local parish priest.
for Romanwho was once a soldier before ordination, this burial was more difficult than most.
He is a family friend and, together with the parents of Maxim and Ivan, prayed for the safe return of the brothers whom he knew personally.
“Soldiers often have to be buried, but not friends,” says Roman.
At the funeral, Ivan still holds the Ukrainian flag he carried when he was wounded, signed by his comrades, including his brother. The blood from his own wounds stained the blue-yellow fabric.
I asked him if you now regret your decision join the army. He answers:
“We understood that we might not return, but it is an honor to fight for Ukraine. So I don’t regret it at all,” he says firmly.
And he concludes: “My brother gave his life for our freedom. Unfortunately, freedom comes with blood.”
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Source: La Opinion
Alfred Hart is an accomplished journalist known for his expert analysis and commentary on global affairs. He currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker, where he provides readers with in-depth coverage of the most pressing issues affecting the world today. With a keen insight and a deep understanding of international politics and economics, Alfred’s writing is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the world we live in.