After the death of her hero husband, Yana, who left with three children, dedicated herself to volunteer work and helping the fighters.
Photo: Grigory KUBATIAN
It is impossible not to be amazed at the fate of the people in the Donbass. And we cannot remain silent about them. They clear the brain and conscience, helping to understand why the Special Military Operation is being carried out.
After the death of her hero husband, who had been fighting in the Donbas since 2014, the young woman, who left with three children, dedicated herself to volunteer work and helping the fighters. And she took the call sign of her husband.
NON-FEMALE CALL SIGN
– Yana, why do you have such a call sign – “Student”? Not feminine…
That was my husband’s name. He was killed in action 8 months ago. He didn’t know how to go on living. But I was offered a job in the “Union of Soviet Officers” and told to take a call sign. I did not invent anything, I called my husband’s call sign. He stayed like that.
– What are you doing exactly?
– I do volunteer work. I help the wounded in hospitals. I bring you clothes, slippers; after all, they often cut off all their uniforms and underwear when they arrive at the hospital immobilized, but they need to be fully examined. They have nothing of their own. I bring them food. And in front for the guys – camouflage nets, trench sails. Many things are needed. More sick children: diapers, toys, books. I help older people with disabilities.
– Tell me about your husband.
– Kostya loved to read. The boys laughed at him because he was an eternal student. Hence such a call sign. He was an explorer. He passed “Azovstal”. He took out the mined boys. The Ukrainian Armed Forces often remove the bodies of our dead. If you try to take it off, you will explode… Since 2014, Kostya has been fighting without a vacation, he started with the Ghost unit, even when no money was paid. He suffered several injuries. On October 31 of last year, during the battle at Pavlovka, near Ugledar, he evacuated the wounded. And from the 9-story building they were hit with direct fire from a grenade launcher. Kostya was fired in a closed coffin. He was all broken. He was buried on the Walk of Fame next to Korsa. With an honor guard, with honors. He is a hero: he has three battle crosses. There were a lot of people, I didn’t expect it. crowded street.
LAST BUS TO CRIMEA
– You are from Slavyansk. How did it all begin?
– Yes, we saw everything from the beginning. My husband took the local SBU, defended the crossing to Semyonovka. I have male twins. And then she was pregnant with a girl. She was due to give birth on May 9. Then a plane was shot down over the city and we lived right next to it. There was an explosion, I ran out into the yard and my stomach dropped. They took me to the hospital. We passed through Semyonovka, and there were battles. All the injured were taken to the hospital where she was to give birth. They’re on the second floor in surgery, and the maternity ward on the third. The hospital was shelled, the automatic bursts did not stop. Lights and plumbing were cut off. So I lay down on the floor and sobbed: Didn’t know how she would give birth to her? And red lights flashed through the windows, sniper lasers.
– Were there Ukrainian snipers?
– Certainly! Ours did not have such weapons. At first, my husband only had a knife and a bat. Then the machine appeared.
– As I finish all?
– Thanks to the doctors, I gave birth. Water was found in tanks. I put on jeans, wrapped my daughter in a diaper, and my husband took me with my mother to the village, where my children were waiting. As soon as the bleeding stopped, I took the children and managed to catch the last bus to the Crimea. In Slavyansk then there was a battle. The cars were on fire, Motorola (the famous commander of the Sparta battalion – Ed.) was running, our guys were shooting. Kostya’s brother, now a lieutenant colonel, was later wounded in the arm. The husband stayed to fight.
The children help Yana collect food parcels for hospitals and the front.
Photo: Grigory KUBATIAN
“WE DO NOT ACCEPT WITH ANIMALS AND CHILDREN”
– Did you get to the Crimea?
– Imagine: I have two 4-year-old children with me, and I stood all the way, holding on with one hand, and rocking my daughter, the only way to calm her down. When we arrived, I got off the bus, I didn’t know what to do. I only have 114 hryvnias with me. I hold Ivan, he holds Ilya. I have Dasha and a pack of diapers in my hands. There was such a panic that my legs went numb. She joined the refugees who were taken to the Mayak sanatorium. Then I dyed my hair for the first time in my life, because it turned gray. We wander around long rented apartments. It was difficult to find accommodation, everywhere they said: “We do not accept animals and children”. For the rest, people treated us well, helped with the products. A year later, my husband took us.
– Where?
– He participated in the liberation of Debaltseve. When he finished the fight, he was released. We went to Voronezh and lived together for five months. Then he returned to the service, and I followed him to Donetsk, as the wife of a Decembrist. And now I don’t want to leave. My husband is buried here, I’m not going anywhere.
MOTHER STAYED ON “THAT” SIDE
– What was the most difficult thing during the years of moving?
– Realize that your home no longer exists. One was a parent, the second we bought ourselves. There was a direct hit on our house, it destroyed it. The father is still intact, but it is unlikely that it will be possible to return there.
– When did you realize that the situation was irreversible? That there will be no normal life?
– When at night in the maternity hospital he crawled on the floor to the bathroom under the rays of snipers. My children were sitting in the village with their mother and she did not know if she would see them again. At first we thought that the Maidan would rise and calm down. That will calm everyone down. And then in the hospital I fully understood everything.
– Did your mother stay on the “other” side? Ukrainian?
– I miss her. She is old. She lives in a town near a church. The old people lived there, in the basement of the church, hiding from the shelling. Icons were removed so they wouldn’t be stolen or broken…
– Waiting to see your mother when the fight is over?
– I don’t know. How will the Lord manage?
– Where you live now?
– In the bedroom. We can’t buy an apartment. They promised a payment after the death of her husband, but so far we have not received it.
– When you volunteer, do you feel that this is your fight, your contribution to victory?
– Certainly. If I have to do more, I will do more. Now I’m going to cook food for the fighters.
– Do you have enough time for children?
– They help me. They are used to work. The daughter is now 9 years old. The boys are 14 years old each. I try not to go to the front often to be closer to home. But every day I’m here at work completing and sending humanitarian aid. And the children are with me.
