The date was chosen in memory of military correspondent Dmytro Labutkin, who died on this day during hostilities in eastern…
“Unfit for military service” — Artem refused to accept this status. He insisted on reconsideration and went to defend the country voluntarily.
His story was told on the page of the 68th Separate Artillery Brigade.
His family was very worried and did not want to let him go. So Artem had to use a trick: while his wife and mother were at work, he took the children to his mother-in-law, and only then told his family by phone that he was going to the military enlistment office — when he was already far from home in the Chernihiv region.
First he served in the Territorial Defense, later — in infantry within the 58th Brigade. Thanks to prior courses and certification he became a medic, later a combat medic of a platoon, and eventually the chief medic of a company.
Throughout his infantry service Artem was always at “zero” positions with his brothers-in-arms. Though his position technically allowed him to stay at the command post, he deliberately chose to stay on the front line.
For him, the priority was the lives of comrades, not his own safety — from the command post it is too far to the wounded, and on the battlefield every second matters.
He understood: to save a person, you must be nearby, even under heavy fire.
Artem proved his dedication with his own blood. During one evacuation, he came under fire and was wounded in the head by shrapnel. Despite a concussion, he stayed on the battlefield and continued saving a severely wounded comrade.
Even wounded, he walked hundreds of meters and carried his fellow soldier to safety.
“Carrying a wounded man those 700 meters to where the evacuation vehicle could reach — that feels much harder than the battle itself”, — Artem says.
In the toughest moments he and his comrades tried to remain optimistic. He recalls an episode near Novodonetske, in the Vuhledar direction.
While enemy 120 mm mortars were firing around them, the guys received a gas canister and fresh meat from friends.
Artem recalls how, right under fire, they began cooking dinner, while the company commander laughed kindly:
“Mortars are firing, and you’re here cooking French-style meat”.
Under the sound of explosions, that meat tasted especially good.
Today Artem continues serving in the 68th Brigade. For him, brotherhood in arms has long become something deeper than professional relations.
“Comrades-in-arms are the same as brothers. As life shows, no one is closer than your wife and your battle brothers”, — he concluded.
