From the front: diary of a Ukrainian fighter of a week in war

Andriy Kononenko is a former assistant of the Telegraph reporter in Ukraine, who gave up his job as head of a language center in Kiev to voluntarily report as a reservist in the Ukrainian army.

Monday: A thorough shave with sabooturs

My greatest fear when I decided to voluntarily report as a soldier was that I might have to kill someone. My nightmare almost came true less than 48 hours after registration.

on Saturday evening after I received my weapon and uniform, I was confronted with other volunteers to a checkpoint outside of Browary on the northeastern outskirts of Kiev. The Russian army tries to penetrate from Tschernihiw on this street, a city 120 km north, which was heavily bombed.

The majority of the Russian army remains at a distance, but our immediate threat, apart from the risk of attack from the air, are hidden Russian agents who have been put from the air into the forests here nearby to carry out sabotage, assassination and information. On our first night at the control point we received the news that seven such saboteurs were near us. However, we did not meet them. Although we heard many bombing, nothing was in our immediate vicinity.

Things changed in the early morning. One of our tasks was to stop all cars on this street and check the inmates. Some of our boys get a bit nervous because they don't know whether a friend or an enemy is looking for them. The Ukrainians know that you stop at a control point, switch off the headlights, put your hands on the steering wheel and wait for instructions.

The van, who came through at 2 a.m., did nothing of all of this. The occupants, a driver and a man, let their warning indicators flash and screamed that they were in the back of the Ukrainian army with a wounded soldier. But we had not received a message that we would expect such a car, and in addition, Ukrainian soldiers would still stop every rank.

I was during a break, so luckily I was not involved in what happened next. Our boys shot in the air and saw one of them how the passenger lifted a gun. Our unit then opened the fire and killed both.

They wore uniforms of the Ukrainian army, and since then I have been afraid that this was a friends of friends. However, it is hours later and despite long investigations by the police, they could not identify the people we shot. No unit nearby reports to have lost someone. There was also no wounded soldier in the back, so the reason was why they didn't stop, a lie.

I'm back home now after I have been sent to sleep for a few hours.

Tuesday: under rocket fire at our checkpoint

Shortly after my return around 6 p.m. we were attacked at our checkpoint of rockets. The basis in which we are stationed was hit last week, with eight soldiers being killed. But we thought we were safer outside. After all, we are a fairly insignificant goal - a colorful group of men standing on a street and guarding one of thousands of similar control points on streets all over Ukraine.

I don't know why they attacked us. Perhaps it was revenge for what happened to the two alleged saboters. I drove back from the house a little late because I had forgotten my fleece blanket and was 200 meters from the checkpoint when a huge flash of lightning shone in front of me, followed by another a few seconds later. I could feel the heat wave and immediately the smell of explosives filled the air.

Our unit was on the one hand on the street and another unit on the other. They were those who got the blow. I was told that they were shot at by an SU-25 fighter plane. I don't know because I didn't see the plane because it was cloudy, but what else could it have been? I drove forward. The car in front of me was badly damaged, but mine was ok.

Six men in the other group were injured, one of them life -threatening. Since then I have heard that he died, even though I don't know exactly. Despite the chaos, it took less than a minute to bring all wounded to cars and take them to the hospital. Then we let other volunteers run to us who were convinced that we would get under small gun fire. But nothing else happened.

We were sent home to relax. We are all in shock. I needed some time out. All dresses smell of explosion of explosive residues. We don't give up, but I need a few hours to get over what happened.

Wednesday: Evacuation of our desperate compatriots

Our unit was temporarily put out of action. The commanders want to configure the way we do things. We should be a territorial provisional unit, and it is not really in our competence to absorb direct attacks by the enemy, at least not yet - everything can come later, but we have to act strategically.

Then I got a call from an American acquaintance who helped to bring charainian women and children across the border. He told me that families near the Russian front were stranded beyond Browary, and asked if I knew volunteers who were willing to go into and evacuate them.

I volunteered, as others did in my unity. I think it is better to overcome the shock by being on the way than sitting at home, and it is better than nothing to do. So we will do it for the next few days.

Thursday: A call to the weapons

I drove past my old control point and then on country roads through the villages. It was an extraordinary sight. Many people are not on the run. Instead, they arm themselves with hunting rifles, Kalashnikovs, weapons that they have stowed away since World War II. They felled trees to block the streets and built fastenings in every village. These people may be inferior in weapons, but they won't make life very difficult for the Russians.

I was asked to save a woman named Julia, her nine -year -old twin daughters Polina and Milana and her grandmother Swetlana. They became quite anxious when the Russians Rozhny, the village in which they live, came closer and closer.
I have now picked them up and we drive to the Slovak border. Fuel will probably be our biggest challenge.

Friday: Trauma on the border

After many delays at control points and the search for fuel, we ended the 830 km long trip to Uschhorod on the Slovak border. Here it is pretty chaotic.

There are long snakes of people who try to get across the border, of course, all women and children, since Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 65 are not allowed to leave. People have to be pending for a long time. The food is distributed by volunteers and it is pretty good - warm soup, apples, bread. The temperatures are around freezing, but it's not too cold. One of the main problems is that there is no easy way to use the toilet, which is a problem, especially for those with young children. Lose your place in the queue and the people are not always ready to let you in again.

The other problem is that the queues are managed by volunteers who do not know how to deal sensitively with stressed and traumatized people. Non-ukrainians who are often black or Asian have to act separately, presumably because of different document tests. However, the visa status should hardly count as a refugee. Because women and children are often allowed to go first, the queue for non-Ukrainians is slower, which leads to trouble.

Yulia and her family manage to get through in about four hours, which is much better than I feared.

Saturday: Hopelessly hope for a brave girl

It is now Saturday evening. We have just completed another 24-hour trip back to Kyiv. The street in front of my house is covered with sandbags and fastenings. Our unit still has to receive our commands, so I decided to run to the border again. I was wondering if there was someone in my closest circle of friends to whom I could help, and I immediately thought of one of my favorite and most dynamic colleagues in the language school that I own.

She has a five -year -old child. It also has cancer, the Hodgkin lymphoma. She is 33. She had chemo for 12 months, but it didn't work. We have collected donations for you.

The second round of chemotherapy seems to work and today it should have a bone marrow car transplant, in which its bone marrow would be removed, treated and then replaced. But the war started and she was asked to leave the hospital so that the process does not take place.

However, we have found a treatment point in Lithuania about a friend of a freelance journalist. Therefore, it should now be brought to Lemberg, where she will bring a bus to the Polish border with access to the green corridor and then continue to drive to life -saving treatment. As soon as we have done that, we will see what happens next and what small role I can play to defend my country.