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Jul 4, 2025  |  
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Olena Mukhina


Ukrainian soldier reveals what it’s like to face Russian convicts from Butyrka prison in battle

Fighter Anton Shket endured 17 days of assaults by Russian “zeks” and foreign troops.
Anton, a Ukrainian soldier from Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi. Credit: The brigade
Ukrainian soldier reveals what it’s like to face Russian convicts from Butyrka prison in battle

Anton, a fighter from Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi, known as Shket, has spent a year holding the line on some of the fiercest frontlines in Donetsk Oblast.

Throughout 2024, Russia captured key towns of Avdiivka, Vuhledar, and villages near Pokrovsk, pushing Ukrainian forces back from Donetsk Oblast. The fighting was intense, with Russia expanding control over eastern and southern parts of the region. By mid-2025, Russian forces made incursions near strategic towns like Pokrovsk and Velyka Novosilka and targeted Ukrainian supply routes with small assault groups and light vehicles.

Over the last 12 months, he’s faced a wide range of Russian occupiers, from mobilized conscripts to convicts, Yakuts, and even Koreans.

“It was hell,” the soldier recalls.

The toughest position he held was a half-destroyed customs checkpoint that came under daily assaults, twice a day for 17 days straight, by Russian assault groups, including a unit made up of former inmates.

“When we checked their documents, it was clear — they were convicts recruited in Butyrka prison. They were given the cheapest body armor. Their commander didn’t even have a helmet. Command sent them straight to die,” Shket says. 

Shket explains that each Russian group has its own characteristics.

“Yakuts are a bit more stubborn, but they charge in just the same, without thinking. The Koreans, though — they’re young, resilient, and actually well-trained. But we can and must destroy them. It’s either us or them. There’s no third option,” the Ukrainian soldiers reveal. 

Despite his injuries, Anton remains resolute.

“I’m always ready to return as soon as I can. We should take example not from those who talk, but from those who act, even when it’s terrifying,” he adds. 

Currently undergoing treatment in a military hospital, first for a severe concussion and more recently for a new injury, Shket was wounded again after stepping on a Russian explosive device while returning to the front to relieve his comrades after heavy rotations.