– It is not more than three weeks since we took control of this village, says Vasyl Kholma. He is a small, densely populated man who has taken news on a short trip along the main road north from Kharkiv, in the direction of the Russian border. We drive into the village of Ruska Luzova, which was once a sleepy mix of peasant village and resort for the inhabitants of Kharkiv. That was before. Now there are not many houses left intact, after months of fighting between the invading Russian forces and the Ukrainian defenders. Vasyl Kholma and his battalion 228 took part in the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive in early May. Then the Russian forces were driven away from the immediate vicinity of Kharkiv. But that does not mean the war is over in the area. Suddenly we hear a loud bang a little behind the car we are driving in. And then another. Vasyl Kholma has made it clear from the very beginning that this is a trip at your own risk. – If we drive a kilometer further ahead, that’s where the Russian positions are. Vasyl Kholma usually works as a lawyer and businessman. Now he is fighting at Ukraine’s front line. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – Now we turn right here, says Khoma, who together with a man who presents himself as Volodymyr, gives this little taste of what the war in Ukraine is about. – You can go out and film quickly, and then we go again. Former soldier Vasyl Khoma says that war is something he is not completely unfamiliar with. – I served as an intelligence soldier in the Soviet army in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1987. Later I trained as a lawyer, and have worked as a lawyer and businessman, he says to news. In Pitomnik, the devastation is enormous. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – But when Russia intervened in the conflict in Ukraine in 2014, I joined the army to take back what was lost in the Donbas, Khoma says. He was also in no doubt about signing up when Russia attacked its home country on February 24, 2022. And now it is Major Khoma who will show news and the rest of the world what the war in Ukraine is really about. A battle of life and death along a hundreds of kilometers, often confusing, front line. – It is simply animalistic We arrive at the village of Pitomnik. A human does not live here, and it is not difficult to understand why. While in the neighboring village of Ruska Luzova there were at least some habitable houses, it is not easy to find any in Pitomnik. – Now the whole world can see what it’s about. What Russia is talking about – that they are coming to “liberate us”, says Vasyl Khoma bitterly. There are several destroyed houses in the village of Pitomnik. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – People lived and lived here, they raised their children here. They cultivated the land. They had plans for the future. All this was destroyed in an instant, says Major Khoma. – This is not human, it is simply animal. Just look at how everything here is ruined. But we will win this war – without a doubt, says Vasyl Khoma, while Volodymyr chases us back to the car. On the way back we heard shooting quite close to us several times. Our hosts say that it is mostly about outgoing fire from the Ukrainian forces. Vasyl Kholma is sure that Ukraine will win the war against Russia. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – This is what is called an artillery duel, says Vasyl Khoma. He wants us to meet some of those he calls the greatest heroes of the Ukrainian army now. Affects very young people Svetlana Snetklo is a paramedic in battalion 228, and meets us a few kilometers behind the front line itself. There she prepares the green-painted ambulance that is her permanent workplace. – I’ve seen a lot of death. There have been moments where I have had to collect dead body parts. What is special now is that it affects many very young people. Sanitary soldier Svetlana Snetklo has seen a lot of deaths in recent months, she says. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news In the last three weeks alone, Svetlana and Vasyl’s department has lost 10 soldiers – 84 are injured. Svetlana usually works as a first aider in an ambulance in her hometown Kharkiv. But now she is one of tens of thousands from Ukraine’s second largest city participating in the fight against the Russian invaders. She has also learned that Norway has now said it is willing to accept 550 wounded Ukrainian soldiers. – It is very important, and we are very grateful that Norway helps us with this. The green-painted ambulance is Svetlana Snetklos’ permanent workplace. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news
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