The two Ukrainian squaddies had been trapped. After repelling waves of Russian makes an attempt to hurricane their small bunker in a cellar close to an deserted space, the enemy was once on most sensible of them.
“They surrounded us and started throwing grenades,” stated Pvt. Vladyslav Molodykh, 39, whose name signal is Hammer. “They were shouting, ‘Surrender and you’ll live.’ There was no point in surrendering because they would have torn me apart.”
It was once round 10 a.m. on Dec. 14.
Private Molodykh would emerge from the freezing, cramped cellar 41 harrowing days later — on my own however alive.
The fight for the bunker in Avdiivka, in jap Ukraine, was once just a small a part of certainly one of dozens of clashes raging alongside a 600-mile entrance. But it highlights how arduous it’s to each shield and assault in a warfare more and more fought in bloody, close-quarter fight, with Ukrainian forces working low on shells and Russia looking for to barrel ahead with brute pressure.
A member of the 71st Jager Brigade, Private Molodykh recounted his tale from a health center mattress the place he was once improving from frostbite and different accidents. His account was once supported via his commander, the warriors who rescued him, medics who handled him and unedited drone photos considered via The New York Times.
The Attack
Private Molodykh, a divorced father of 2, joined the military as a volunteer six months sooner than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By the time he was once deployed overdue ultimate yr to Avdiivka, the scene of months of fierce combating, he was once no stranger to the “zero line,” the place the enemy can also be fewer than 100 toes away and drones are a relentless risk.
On Dec. 13, Private Molodykh and 3 different squaddies had been deployed to a place at an deserted space within the south of Avdiivka that had a close-by root cellar, in most cases used for retaining greens and different meals within the iciness. It was once in that cellar, a two-room house with out home windows and with get entry to to the home simplest by way of a slim tunnel, the place the warriors would have interaction in a determined battle for survival.
Taking a bunker — even one this is simplest minimally fortified, just like the cellar — is bloody paintings. While Russia has stepped up aerial bombing to ravage Ukrainian fortifications, it wishes the infantry to hurricane positions like bunkers, the place defenders have the merit.
The space the place Private Molodykh was once stationed was once being utilized by Ukrainian forces as an commentary publish, and so they had established fortified firing positions there to focus on Russian forces transferring of their path. They additionally had firing positions within the bunker.
But when Private Molodykh and his unit arrived on the web site, the world have been blanketed with a thick fog for days, permitting Russian forces to method undetected.
They attacked the morning after.
“We repelled the first assault immediately,” Private Molodykh stated.
Thinking they’d time to leisure, one of the crucial squaddies, Pvt. Ihor Tretiak, 38, whose name signal is Terminator, went to the bunker to heat his toes and Private Molodykh joined him to make tea. The two different individuals of the workforce, who stayed out of doors, raised the alarm.
The snow-covered streets round the home erupted in a hurricane of bullets and grenades. The two privates stated that they’d been pinned down within the bunker, firing again at about 15 to twenty Russian attackers. One Russian soldier who charged the bunker was once shot useless via Private Molodykh, and he tumbled down into the tunnel front, they stated.
The two males within the bunker stated they heard certainly one of their comrades out of doors begging for his lifestyles after he have been captured via Russian squaddies.
“‘Don’t shoot. I want to live,’” Private Tretiak, talking in any other health center, the place he was once convalescing, stated he heard the Ukrainian soldier announcing. “But they just shot him, and I understood that I wouldn’t surrender.”
Both squaddies out of doors the bunker had been killed within the combating on Dec. 14, and for the following 3 days, Private Molodykh and Private Tretiak held off the attackers. Private Tretiak, with shrapnel wounds in each legs from grenade explosions and his proper hand ripped aside via a bullet, reloaded magazines for his comrade.
On the fourth day, the deserted space was once blown up, blockading the doorway to the cellar and trapping the 2 Ukrainian squaddies.
“The Russians completely buried it to prevent us from getting out,” Private Molodykh stated.
An Escape
Inside the cramped bunker — one of the crucial rooms was once about 12 toes via 12 toes and the opposite was once smaller — the Ukrainian privates quickly ran low on meals and had no way of speaking with the out of doors global.
“We ate once a day,” Private Molodykh stated. “Half a can of canned meat or some porridge.”
After two weeks, Private Tretiak determined that if he didn’t make a run for it, he would die from his wounds.
“I made a decision for myself: Either I leave now, or we both die,” he stated. “I even thought that if I came out and they shot me there, at least it would be quick rather than dying of hunger or thirst.”
Private Molodykh determined to stick.
Private Tretiak discovered a vulnerable spot amongst some collapsed ceiling beams. He driven them apart, cleared the soil and climbed out.
Soon after, Private Molodykh heard “several bursts of automatic fire” and feared the worst.
“I thought he was killed,” he stated. He would no longer know that his comrade had survived till greater than 3 weeks later, when he left the bunker.
As Private Tretiak emerged into the daylight, he stated he felt a temporary second of euphoria, respiring recent air for the primary time in weeks. Then he heard gunfire. He dashed for a close-by quarry, dislocating his shoulder as he dove for protection.
He wandered during the devastated streets of Avdiivka, hoping to seek out Ukrainian squaddies sooner than Russian troops discovered him. He recalled how he had performed useless when a drone rotated overhead. The drone swept in shut, however he stated he didn’t recoil.
When the whir of the drone light, he stored strolling, scavenging for meals and water in deserted houses.
On the second one day, he noticed a soldier drawing near. “In the first seconds, I didn’t understand who it was,” he stated. “I thought it was a Russian and it was the end.”
But it was once a Ukrainian from a special outfit. Private Tretiak was once protected.
Alone within the Darkness
In the bunker, Private Molodykh huddled at midnight after his comrade left because the earth round him shook with near-constant explosions.
One night time, he heard Russian forces discussing his destiny. They may set fireplace to the placement, he stated he heard them say. And they weighed the hazards of digging him out to kill just one individual.
Private Molodykh ultimately ran out of meals, after which had to achieve his emaciated arm out of the outlet Private Tretiak used to flee to assemble snow for water. He ready to die.
“There was darkness in front of my eyes,” he stated. “I almost lost consciousness.”
Then issues were given eerily quiet. For two days, he didn’t listen the Russians. The explosions out of doors subsided.
At 8 a.m. on Jan. 23, he heard anyone calling his identify.
The Rescue
A 21-year-old Ukrainian non-public, who requested to be recognized via simplest his name signal, Gerych, based on army protocol, stated the Russians have been driven from the world after a brutal battle. The Ukrainian squaddies have been advised that certainly one of their comrades would possibly were alive on the place, however it have been weeks since Private Tretiak’s break out.
When his unit reached the bunker, he referred to as out: “Hammer, Hammer, this is Gerych. Are you there?”
“Yes, it’s me,” got here a vulnerable voice from underneath the particles.
Sergeant Anatolii, 37, a medic who handled Private Molodykh, stated the person who emerged was once simply flesh and bones, mentally exhausted and infrequently alive.
“How much can one person endure?” the sergeant puzzled.
But, Gerych stated, “His eyes were shining with happiness that he had finally reunited with his own people.”
Private Molodykh attempted to make sense of what he noticed round him. When he went into the bunker, there had nonetheless been an area above flooring.
“Now, there was only one house left at the end of the street,” he stated. Russian corpses had been all over the place, he added.
The battle for Avdiivka was once intensifying. Soon after Private Molodykh was once rescued, the protection of town collapsed and Russia captured the ruins of the bunker the place he and Private Tretiak had holed up. Both squaddies stated they anticipated to go back to the battle.
“If we don’t hold them,” Private Molodykh stated, “they’ll be everywhere.”
Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting from throughout Ukraine.
