– They have more artillery and more drones than us, and there is a danger that the front could collapse, says Gennadi Roubailo. Gennadi Roubailo and his unit during the fighting in Donbas in the spring of 2022. He has been involved in some of the hardest fighting during the war in Ukraine. The experienced soldier is back in peaceful Norway, a country he first came to as a teenager in the late 1990s. A few years later he became a Norwegian citizen. He proudly displays the medal he has received from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, for his efforts at the front in Donbas. MEDAL FROM ZELENSKYJ. Gennadi Roubailo has been decorated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj for his efforts in the war against Russian aggression. Photo: Morten Jentoft / news Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian Raised in Murmansk in Russia, with a Ukrainian-born father, he has roots in three countries. In 2011, he chose to move with his Ukrainian girlfriend and later wife Zoriana to the village of Ruda in the south-west of Ukraine, to start a new life as a pig farmer. – At the time, none of us could believe that there would be war and that Russia would attack Ukraine, says Gennadi Roubailo. IN THE SUNFLOWER FIELD. Gennadi Roubailo with his daughter Zlata and his wife Zoriana in front of what is Ukraine’s most important export item: sunflowers. Photo: Privat But in 2013, the Russian-friendly Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych surprisingly said no to a cooperation agreement with the EU and instead opted for closer cooperation with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. It was the start of the Maidan uprising, in which protesters eventually drove Yanukovych to flight. 2014 – the turning point Russia struck back and occupied the Crimean peninsula and actively supported pro-Russian separatists in the south and east of Ukraine. The Ukrainian state was in danger of collapsing, 22 years after the country became independent when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. It finally ended with a ceasefire at the end of August, which in practice ensured Russia and the separatists control of large parts of The Donbas area, including the area’s largest city of Donetsk. – I also felt that I had to do something, and from January 2015 I worked as a volunteer with medical aid for the soldiers and the civilian population in Donbas, says Roubailo. In 2018, he took the plunge and enlisted in the Ukrainian army. – Unfortunately, it has been the case that both former president Petro Poroshenko and current president Volodymyr Zelenskyj have in practice reduced our defence, says Roubailo. He believes that it was only thanks to volunteers that it was possible to hold the front in the east and build up a certain level of preparedness for a possible larger attack. GOOD FRIENDSHIP. Gennadi Roubailo together with another soldier from the 14th Mechanized Brigade, which has been fighting against Russian aggression since 2014. Photo: Private 24th Mechanized Brigade Gennadi Roubailo joined the 24th Mechanized Brigade in the Ukrainian Defense Forces. In the winter of 2022, the brigade held one of the most important front sections, based in a village Nutenfor the town of Popasna in the southwest of Luhansk county. Gennadi Roubailo shows us the destruction in the village of Novoaleksandrivka – On 21 February 2022 we had the first Russian airstrikes on Popasna, and on the evening of the 23rd we received a message that there could be what was described as “provocations”. LIFE IN THE SKYTERGRAVEN. Gennadi Roubailo has spent several years in the trenches in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Privat / news These “provocations” turned out to be a full military attack from Russia, where the aim was to remove the legally elected authorities and replace them with a pro-Russian regime. – These days I had two main tasks every day, says Roubailo. – It was to get myself in such a position so that I could call home to tell my wife and not least my daughter that I was alive. It was powerful to hear her daughter Zlata crying on the phone and asking dad to come home – alive. LIVE: Gennadi Roubailo has had to call his daughter Zlata home many times to confirm that he is alive. Photo: Morten Jentoft / news The wound in the open loin – We who were at the front that day were actually to be replaced a week later. Now we just had to try to hold the front until reinforcements came in from Western Ukraine. It happened around March 1. Then I was sent around to different front sections in the area to cover for Russian attacks. – It was in connection with such a mission that on 12 March we were attacked in the open. Three of my comrades were killed that day. Eight were wounded, including myself. Video from Ukrainian police. A soldier is evacuated on a stretcher. The fighting for the town of Popasna has been among the fiercest during the entire war in Ukraine. Gennadi noticed that he had been hit by shrapnel, but still managed to get back to his own lines. He was taken to hospital, where the doctors could ascertain that he had received several shrapnel which had punctured a lung. They had to be removed. – This had to be done without anesthesia, and that’s exactly what I felt, says Roubailo and smiles a little. BADLY INJURED. Gennadi Roubailo in the hospital after he was wounded on 12 March 2022. Photo: Private Because he knew he was lucky after all. One of those who lost his life that day at the front in Luhansk was Colonel Valerij Hudz, an officer whom Gennadi had held in high esteem. – He always thought of us soldiers, and was willing to listen to our wishes, says Gennadi Roubailo. Unfortunately, there are few like him left in the Ukrainian defense now. LEGEND. Valeryj Hudz was a legend in the Ukrainian defense even before he was killed on March 12, 2022. Photo: The Ukrainian defense Thought Ukraine was going to win news spoke to Gennadi Roubailo when he was being treated in a hospital in Vinnytsia. At the time, he was optimistic and said he had no doubt that Ukraine was going to win this war. And in the autumn of 2022, a lot happened that strengthened the optimism. The 24th Mechanized Brigade took part in the offensive that drove the Russians out of the only regional capital they had managed to capture in the spring of 2022, Kherson. At the same time, Ukraine also took back most of Kharkiv Oblast. Gennadi Roubailo decided to continue the fight, and was sent to the front at Bakhmut. The fighting there was very fierce, not least because the Russians sent wave after wave of soldiers forward, thinking about the losses. WATER COLLECTION. Much of the time for the soldiers at the front in Ukraine is about getting enough water and food. Photo: Privat – The worst thing was the smell of the dead Russian soldiers who were just lying in front of our positions, Gennadi says, grinning slightly. – It seems as if they don’t care about getting them back. But at the same time, they experienced that for every dead soldier that arrived, there was at least one new one. The Russians also had a great superiority in artillery, tanks and armored vehicles right from the start of the war. In the end, the superiority became so great that they chose to withdraw from Bakhmut. Again, Gennadi Roubailo had been injured, but not as seriously as in March 2022. DECORATED. The award and medal Gennadi Roubailo has received is signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Privat / news In the summer of 2023, there were great expectations that a new offensive could push the Russian forces further back. – But we spent three months taking the small village of Klishchijivka south of Bakhmut, and our losses were heavy, says Gennadi. Has done the best he could Now there is resignation in the experienced warrior, where he talks to news in a control room at news. – The help from the west comes far too late, says Roubailo. – It is no use with ten tanks and 20 artillery units every now and then. We would have needed 1,000 tanks if we were to have been able to chase the Russians back. STOP THE WAR. Zlata Roubailo has lived the last two years with war and airplane alarms. Now dad Gennadi hopes to get her to Norway. Photo: Private – I have done the best I could, says the 43-year-old. – Now I have to think about the family. My daughter goes to school, but her schooling is often interrupted by airplane alarms. It’s hell for her too, he says. Now he wants to take his family from Ukraine to Norway, his daughter is a Norwegian citizen like himself. – She deserves to see something else, live in another world that is not dominated by war, says Gennadi. The soldier still has faith that Ukraine will win the war, simply because they fought for a just cause.
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The front may collapse – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
