7:55 Uhr; Am 1053. Tag der groß angelegten Invasion geht die Sonne über Kiew auf. „Jedes Mal dachte ich: Ich werde kein Glück mehr haben.“ Die Geschichte von Oleksandr, einem Pionier der 95. Brigade, in den Kommentaren.

“Every time I thought: I won’t be lucky again.”

Oleksandr is a sapper with the 95th Brigade of Ukrainian Forces, still in his early twenties, but has already survived three injuries. The dangers he faces extend far beyond mines and other explosives: sappers are targeted by artillery, drones, and can stumble upon enemy forces during engineering reconnaissance. Before his first injury, he experienced no fear — only excitement—but now it is different, “My eyesight is getting worse, and physically I can’t carry four anti-tank mines for five kilometres like I used to.”

He spent a long time training to become a sapper: before the full-scale war, he was a conscript and later signed a contract. “In offensive operations, we are at the front; in defensive operations, we are still at the front. Why? We set up a position and to prevent a tank from smashing the position close, we have to go 100 metres ahead of the position, set up anti-tank and anti-personnel [mines]. So it retreats. Yes, we don’t always sit in trenches, but we have to move between the observation posts and areas ahead of our positions.”

24 February 2022 Oleksandr met in Toretsk. He also served in Izium and Kamianka, and our team spoke with him in Dovhenke near the frontline. “This village was mined three times over. There are thousands of mines here. Thousands, really.” The first months of the invasion were extremely difficult, says the sapper, “We didn’t even have time to take off our gear before heading out again. And again. And again. Until May, we had five or six missions a day, and then it got slightly easier.”

His anger keeps him going: he wants revenge for his friends, and he comes from a village in the south that was occupied, where his house was damaged by the Russian shelling.

Despite his youth, injuries, and exhaustion, Oleksandr remains in the ranks and rarely contemplates the future,

# “I love history. Perhaps I’d like to be a history teacher. I’m not sure; I haven’t really thought about it yet. We just need to survive to see the end of the war.”

Photographer: Herman Krieger

Oleksandr, you’re a hero to your country.