The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Border guards with the call signs “Pastor” and “Korea” from the Steel Border Brigade have returned from one of the most difficult sectors of the front.
The story of the two valiant border guards was told live on the national telethon United News by Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
The soldiers held the defense under constant shelling and repelled six massive infantry assaults by the enemy. “Pastor” remained at his positions for 94 days, while “Korea” stayed for more than four months and continued carrying out his combat mission even after being wounded, refusing to leave his comrades.
“They are both mobilized. In fact, they joined the border guard unit in August last year. As for ‘Korea,’ after some time in his unit, he was deployed to a position and remained there throughout this period. ‘Pastor’ spent slightly fewer days at positions, but again — essentially three months. Both are mobilized. ‘Korea’ is originally from Volyn Oblast, ‘Pastor’ from Kyiv Oblast. One is 43, the other 47 years old. Their example is an example for all of Ukraine of the necessity to defend our state. We must stand up for what is ours, even under such difficult conditions, because behind us are families — including the families of these men. So we hold on and continue to strike the enemy”, — he said.
To evacuate the heroes from their positions, an entire special operation had to be conducted. Andrii Demchenko shared its details.
“It lasted for about two weeks. I should note that ‘Pastor’ even celebrated his birthday during the withdrawal from positions. The withdrawal itself and the rotation of other servicemen into their positions required staying at intermediate points so that the enemy could not strike the soldiers with artillery or UAVs. This was carried out even during snowfalls so the enemy could not track troop movements. It also involved supplying them during movement with all necessary equipment, including camouflage suits, via drones sent by their comrades, who dropped everything needed so that the men could eventually — albeit over a long period — safely leave the position, while another group took over and continued holding this direction”, — he reported.
