Worker From Belarusian NPP Tells How To Become AFU Fighter

He was a pacifist before the war.

Until 2022, Brutto was a pacifist and worked at one of the nuclear power plants in Belarus, and then joined the service as a driver of an ATGM platoon (anti-tank missile systems) in the 118th Brigade (a separate mechanized brigade), Suspilne writes.

According to the serviceman, until February 24, he worked as an installer of technological nuclear equipment in Belarus for 6 years. Despite the fact that almost all colleagues at the plant were Ukrainians, the nuclear power plant itself belonged to a company associated with Russia.

"When I worked at the nuclear power plant, I was persuaded to get Russian citizenship. They said that without it there would be no career growth," said the 35-year-old Ukrainian.

The man admitted that at the end of 2021 he returned home to Lutsk, a few months later he was going to return to work in Belarus, but a full-scale war began in Ukraine and he personally woke up on the 24th from rocket explosions. Brutto explained that he immediately went to the military enlistment office with friends, but he was refused to be mobilized due to lack of military experience. He joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine in June of the same year, when he was handed a summon note.

According to the soldier, after training under the guidance of NATO instructors, their unit was sent to the Zaporizhzhia direction, where he's still located. Their task is to deter enemy tanks.

“We have an anti-tank platoon. These are all types of anti-tank weapons. Enemy vehicles come out, and coordinates are transmitted to us by radio. We work it out and left. Sometimes we go to assaults, sometimes we hold positions. The tasks are changing," Brutto said.

As the Ukrainian recalls, on October 2 last year, he was injured — a shell from an anti-tank grenade launcher hit a trench, 50 meters from the positions of the Russian occupiers.

“I thought it wold die in the first minutes. I was blinded and heard nothing. I sat there and thought that this was how death came about. Then I thought that my eyes were knocked out until the earth fell from them, and my vision returned," the warrior says.

He said that as a result of the projectile hit, he was diagnosed with a craniocerebral injury, severe concussion, burns to the hands and face, and rupture of the eardrums.

Treatment and rehabilitation, according to the media, lasted for about 6 months. According to Brutto, his mother and the Boulia dog of the Jack Russell Terrier breed helped him a lot during the recovery. He should return to the front line in a few days.

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