Kalinovite Jan Melnikau Speaks About 'Brest' Commander's Last Battle

Belarusian volunteers did a great thing.

Belarusian volunteer of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment Jan Melnikau told the Different People project about the last battle of the Volat Battalion Commander Ivan 'Brest' Marchuk.

The Charter97.org website quotes the story of the Belarusian volunteer:

— Firstly, I would like to say at the beginning that we still cannot, despite the fact that people are already in captivity and information has come out, tell about this fight in details. The specifics of that area and the conditions of protracted battles developed in such a way that it was on this sector of the front, at the moment when all attention was riveted to Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. The Russians gathered their forces in one place, which outnumbered ours.

Also, you must understand that Ukraine, unlike Russia, does not fight with 'meat'. Russia simply throws bodies at the front, while Ukraine takes care of its soldiers, and everything turned out that way. Due to the fact that they were able to pass and take a certain section of the front and were already approaching the Bakhmut highway, it was necessary to hold them back in order to successfully withdraw people from Lysychansk and from the nearest villages.

The situation was as follows: the guys had more reconnaissance than combat task, and they collided with the enemy's manpower and inflicted huge damage on him. There was one lightly wounded fighter from our side and a lot of '200s', and '300s' enemies after an hour and a half battle.

At that moment, the enemies were able to use the advantage in technology and cut off our guys from one flank and also attack them with superior forces.

They had an infantry group on a reconnaissance mission. They had no task to stop a convoy. They had anti-tank weapons, they were able to knock out, it is known for certain, we can talk about this with one tank, and engage the battle. Then the second tank fired at them. 'Brest' was wounded in the head with a high-explosive fragmentation projectile, as we assume, both legs were also injured. A severe wound did not allow him to move or quickly get him out of there with the number of people that were in that particular group.

With one of the fighters, there was a radio link, but he could not give us their location. He stayed with them, Jan 'Trombley'. You might see him on the interrogation videos. Jan stayed with the guys until the very end, he did not want to leave them, and I am really overwhelmed with pride that I had the honour to be next to such brave fighters.

The guys did not retreat, they accepted the battle, and they immediately had the opportunity to retreat after the shooting contact. They were able to give battle to one column and it retreated, losing a couple of vehicles, taking the wounded and taking the dead. They were able to point our Ukrainian artillery at the second column. It consisted only of tanks that moved, one might say, in one square, not in a column, but in one group. Of the eight tanks of this group, only two were able to retreat. The guys, at the cost of their lives and being captured, were able to stop the breakthrough on that particular sector of the front.

— Could you please tell us a few words about 'Brest'. What kind of person was he?

Jan 'Belarus' Melnikau: — I will say only one thing. He was a man of great energy. I envied him. I experienced burnout a month or more after the start of the war. He fed with his energy. We were in good relations with Vania 'Brest' long before the war. In 2021, we carried out political actions, and created banners dedicated to certain events together with him, our Belarusians, former participants in the Anti-Terrorist Operation and special operations and military operations. We united the diaspora around the idea that we should be organized here and declare ourselves. This man was a generator of ideas, the center of the company, who could gather ideologically close fellows around him. He also was one of the central people for the Kyiv diaspora actions. He is one of those people who created the Kalinouski Regiment and who took on significant work on its structure and development, even on the training of the first fighters who came to us.

— How did your fellows react to Ivan's death? What is more, the desire for revenge or the bitterness of the loss? Maybe, this did somehow demoralize someone or not? What was the reaction?

Jan 'Belarus' Melnikau: — Psychologically, it is definitely hard. Especially for young people who came and knew 'Brest' as a media person. They understood that Vania was the person who first goes into battle and leads from the conversations with him. He was not just giving orders: “Go and do it!”. He used to say: "Follow me!" Here was such a person. Of course, the loss of such a person affects the morale and psychological stance of people. But most importantly, Vanшa always had been saying that the greatest respect for the memory of the dead is to continue the work they started, which they did not have time to finish during their lifetime. That is our duty and our obligation: to continue the work they started. We are now obliged to Vania to continue and consolidate the development he started.