“The enemies were afraid of us”

The warrior with the callsign Sokil had served a full year in the 3rd Independent Tank Battalion “Deerslayer.” Before that, he had been fighting in the ranks of the National Guard for several months. Nowadays, the soldier still has a lot to do: meetings with his comrades-in-arms, communication with schoolchildren and kindergarten kids; however, he took the time to visit our office. “We have been anticipating the demobilization, the last days on the frontline were difficult. You know that you must be home, but you still serve. Nevertheless, we withstood, the Battalion’s casualties were minimal. Thanks to our officers and to the Battalion Commander, the Battalion survived and established itself. The enemies were afraid of us,” says Artur Stepanenko.

In Kyiv, Sokil and his comrades were received with a loud welcome. The trooper says: “When the train approached Kyiv, someone called and told us that volunteers, families, and TV were going to meet us. They asked not to get lost celebrating the demobilization. And everything was fine, we did not disappoint them. The emotions were fantastic!” An equally warmly welcome Artur has received in his native village of Kozhukhivka near Kyiv. Sokil was invited to his childhood school at once, and presented a banner from the battlefield to the children. A few days later Artur himself was welcoming a demobilized soldier from his platoon. The comrade barely recognized Sokil, who was dressed in civilian clothes.

Before demobilization, the Artur’s unit was located near Popasna, Luhansk oblast. “Our guys were shooting, repelling attacks, catching saboteurs,” says Sokil. “It became scarier when a week or two before the truce we were being shelled with self-propelled guns and the Grads. Before that we were complacent for a bit – and thus, received such a nasty surprise. And drones were circling over us constantly.”

On this year at the frontline, a friend’s death had struck Artur the deepest. The fallen had served in another division, and he was from the same area as Artur. “The friend was killed near Kramatorsk. He had needed just a month to serve before his demobilization. Before he died, we met in Kramatorsk, it was after May 9. It is very hard to recognize that I was, in fact, the last person to see him alive,” says Stepanenko. “In a couple of days the Kozhukhivka school, where he worked and studied, had opened a plaque in his honor. It is the second plaque of this kind; the first one is to a man who had been killed in Afghanistan.”

The soldiers of the Sokil’s unit have become true friends to each other during that year. According to Artur, there were some tension at first, but then everyone realized that they were living as a family, and so one must be responsible for the brothers, and respect them. One proof of the friendship was the fact that the soldiers stopped going to the dining room and prepared all the meals by themselves. By the way, the tank unit had no problems with food, and this was the merit of volunteers and battalion commanders. The state support has been unsteady for the past year, but the situation is gradually improving. “The duffel bags we received were old, and those for the recently mobilized are new and good. The equipment supply is much better now. Whereas previously we had been looking everywhere for what we needed, running through all the warehouses and still were not able to get it, now the problems are sorted in one telephone call. The technicians then come, take notes and deliver – everything as it should be,” says Stepanenko.

The village near Popasna, where Artur was located, is mostly inhabited by retired people. The military got acquainted with the locals and helped them. “We collect hay for a woman – she would bring us eggs. A water tap had gone out of order once – we repaired it. One local beekeeper had always brought us honey or other sweets,” reminisces Sokil. “People trusted the military, and we tried to help them. One time we had loaded our products into a car and transported it to distant schools around Popasna. Many residents of Donbas are now returning to their homes and rebuilding slowly – our guys help with the manual labor. We have our fun, the time passes more quickly, and the locals are happy.” Actually, the locals ensured Artur’s affection to Donbas. The soldier remembers returning from the National Guard – by that time he already missed Sloviansk. And now he wants to go to Artemivsk as a civilian. During the time spent at the frontline, Sokil has got a lot of friends in Artemivsk, Selidovo, and Popasna.

“Our crew was substituted with two men: one has three children, the other – two grandchildren,” Stepanenko says. Before their demobilization, the soldiers of Artur’s unit helped the recruits to get accustomed at the front. “We have more experience. The beginners had only served a month in Desna training center, but there is not much to learn there. Our comrades had the experience of shellings and no one explained them what that was. One has to learn for oneself,” Sokil explains. Artur’s tank is named “Angelina, The White Tiger,” and the successors promise not to rename it: the vehicle survived many battles under this name.

Artur was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant. Now he returned to his pre-war job of a reactor electrician at the Institute for Nuclear Research, but he plans to change it. “I was recommended to go to the police – and I think things are pretty good there. In a pinch, I have my military unit – I can enroll there for a contract. There are no prospects for me at my current job. Even my colleagues have advised me to change it, while there is still an opportunity to go further,” Sokil explains. The only thing Artur is sure is that he will soon start volunteering with his fellows in order to help comrades on the front. The soldier is also going to take part in the local elections. Fellow villagers asked him to go for the deputy in the village council. They are proud of Sokil, trust him, and believe that he knows the problems of native Kozhukhivka.

It is difficult to predict how the war in eastern Ukraine will end. Sokil does not want to engage in fortune-telling, but he noted that the terrorists do quarrel among themselves. “They provide no salary or supply anymore,” Artur describes DNR and LNR militants. “Russia has Syria now, it is no longer interested in them. When Russia became involved in the Syrian conflict, the Donbas became relatively quiet – a stray mortar shoots here and there, but there are almost no heavy weapons. Many mercenaries surrender, as they become disillusioned. People were promised one thing and then they saw that they were fooled. I think UN peacekeepers will help us. Even if they were just located in Donbas, it would be the first guarantee of compliance to the Minsk agreement. Were the terrorists attack the peacekeepers, the world would see that it’s not Ukraine that provokes aggression.”

In conclusion, we have presented the Catastrophe and Triumph. Histories of Ukrainian Heroes to Artur, a book which includes his own story. “These books are the modern history of Ukraine! Thanks to these stories there won’t be any distortion of the history in the future. A person is much more interested in reading a book than just hearing things at school, which they might not believe at all. Therefore, such books as the Catastrophe and Triumph should exist,” Stepanenko shared his impressions. His military Odyssey came to an end, but the fighter does not stop his struggle for the free and prosperous Ukraine, albeit not at the frontline. Thus, we will support our friendship with Sokil, who became our true comrade-in-arms over the past year.

The Day’s FACT FILE

The portrait of Artur Stepanenko Callsign Sokil was made by photographer Serhii Kharchenko past summer in Sloviansk. The photo had won Den’s Golden Award at the last year’s Den’s Photo Competition. Subsequently, the photo was purchased by Tetiana Yurkova, director of Aquavita, at a charity auction for 15,000 hryvnias. The funds were transferred to the needs of the Ukrainian military and to Artur directly.