63-Year-Old Former Paratrooper Staged Guerilla Against Occupiers Near Kharkiv

He went on raids every other day, and he took his dog Malva with him.

A 63-year-old resident of a village in the Kharkiv region, that was under occupation for more than two months, resisted the Russian military: he stole their ammunition, documents, and made it impossible to refuel their vehicles.

The man's name is Vasil, he is a former paratrooper. He went "hunting" with his dog Malva, looking for boxes of ammunition and other useful things, the Suspilne writes.

Thus, he somehow tried to help Kharkiv, which was regularly bombed by the occupiers and where his son lived.

"They are bang, bang, bang, day and night. And there is Kharkiv, I know that they are shelling at Kharkiv. I don’t know what to do here, I don't have peace thinking how to help people in Kharkiv. I can't sleep, I can't do anything. I went for a walk, let's say," Vasily describes.

Together with his dog Malva, it found boxes with ammunition near one of the Russian military vehicles. In total, he collected 48 shells, which he hid in the toilet.

Waiting for friendly forces to come

He did not stop at that: the next time Vasil took out the documents of the invaders and hid them in the toilet in one country house. He went “hunting” every other day and under fire: "Do you think you can do everything in one day? So many, I told you about a single car. I was afraid that a drone would catch me. And if the drone catches, then it's over, I'm trapped"

In addition to ammunition, he removed batteries from the occupiers' vehicles, and he cut the fuel hose of an infantry fighting vehicle.

"IFVs are approaching but they can't refuel. A tank is coming. Well, I guess, thank God for that. At least something in life needs to be done well,” he says.

Sinistrous mine and the loss of a foot

Vasil's wife said that he kept his guerilla a secret.

On that day, the man went to the field to check whether they had taken the bodies of the dead Ukrainian soldiers, according to his son Andriy.

“The dog sniffed something and ran away. My father came up next to these soldiers and stepped on a landmine,” he says.

Vasil lost his leg because of it.

“He is my paratrooper, he was not at a loss. Malva was crying next to him, he took off the leash, immediately pulled his leg, fell on all fours, and Malva helped him make his way to a road. He followed the path of tanks not to hit mines. He sent the dog, told her to go home to guard my mom. Malva did not want to, it stood crying, dad said, and it ran to mom. Then dad crawled to a road," says Andriy.

The Ukrainian military rescued the wounded man and made another tourniquet. Later, they took him to a hospital in Kharkiv.

Nothing is threatening his life now, and his family and our defenders admire Vasil's courage.