They left their rifle nearby. Turned their backs. They thought he was no longer a threat. But they made a fatal mistake. The 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, has shared a remarkable story of Ukrainian infantry soldier Serhii.
The 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, a key formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, was established in 2015 amid the war in Donbas. The brigade has played a prominent role in Ukraine’s defense, notably in intense battles across eastern Ukraine, including the fierce fighting around Bakhmut and Donetsk.
In August 2023, in the village of Urozhaine in Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian call sign Kosyi (The Crooked), found himself trapped: severely wounded and abandoned in a basement after a Russian assault.
That day, the Russian military relentlessly attacked Ukrainian positions—first with infantry, then with bombs and gas. In the evening, two Russian soldiers broke into the shelter and threw grenades inside. The explosion tore Serhii’s Achilles tendon. He was left alone, wounded, unarmed, and unable to walk.
But those same two Russian soldiers entered the basement. Carelessly, they left a rifle nearby, began barricading the door, and turned their backs on the wounded man. That was all Serhii needed.
“Pure luck, really. They came in without grenades, tossed their rifles down, and started barricading the door with their backs to me. While they were busy barricading, I ’emptied into their backs’,” Serhii recalls.
Then he lay for almost a full day under constant shelling in the ruins of the house, just 20 meters from the epicenter of the battle. Russian forces tried to retake the shelter, but Ukrainian drones, artillery, and mortars held them off.
He heard wounded Russian soldiers screaming. It seemed their own comrades finished them off with grenades to leave no witnesses, the Ukrainian soldier says.
The next day, when bad weather complicated further attacks, Serhii was evacuated. His bravery didn’t go unnoticed: for this fight and exemplary service, he was awarded the Cross of Military Merit and the Order for Courage, 3rd Class.
Still, the soldier believes the highest reward is not medals, but life itself.
“The most important medal is staying alive. I always tell my comrades: never give up. Fight to the end—that is the only way to win,” says Kosyi.