Interview with a Soldier in Ukraine

There are bushes there, a little farther from the bushes.

Where's the backpack? The backpack. Right next to the backpack.

You slept next to the backpack.

Really close. I jumped across the ravine, there's a toilet there.

There was a stash in the toilet, a person came in to take a dump,

and I went behind the wall. Inside there,

there was an assault rifle too.

You heard he was there, right? Is that all?

Yes, and the assault rifle was there too.

Who was it, a civilian?

I don't know. I think

it was someone from the military.

You were hiding in the neighboring house, in the toilet.

In the toilet, there was a yard, a toilet, where the backpack was. The backpack was behind the house.

There was the backpack.

I jumped over the fence there. There are little houses over there,

then you go right, on the right,

it's almost a road in that direction, almost a road.

There's a toilet at the very end, just before the road.

The road goes in that direction, that way.

Yes.

To Kharkiv. There's a toilet there, a person came in to take a dump.

I was inside there,

sitting, and the assault rifle was there too.

This is where I slept.

You spent the night there.

Yes.

The weapon's still there, right?

Yes.

Is anyone else there?

That's it, nobody. Well, none of my guys.

How many of you were there?

Just me. Just me.

Where's the other one?

The other one surrendered after Shagni, he ran out of ammo.

I ran, and he started shooting back.

Who killed them?

I don't understand.

Who killed five people?

And who was shooting?

So if it was five, then it was me. I killed four in total.

If I hit the fifth one, then it was me.

Where did you kill them?

Well, there was a cottage.

How many stories did the cottage have?

At least two, definitely at least two.

One, two, three, four people on the first floor.

How many?

Four. On the first floor, one at the entrance and three in beds in the room.

Two under the bed, I guess. You enter the room, two under the bed on the right

and one in

the bed, and one in front of the entrance.

That makes four people. And if he got hit, then the fifth is upstairs. If I hit him, of course.

Well, the entrance is there, by the stairs.

There's a body lying right at the entrance, and up the stairs, one room to the left.

There are three bodies over there, and if he made it upstairs, then that makes five.

Where did you get the assault rifle?

The assault rifle is lying in the bathroom. Where the backpack is, next to it.

Show me on the map.

Next to the backpack.

In the bathroom.

Next to the backpack.

Is the green backpack yours?

Black.

Black?

Black. It has two power banks and phone chargers in it.

That's all. The phone is there too, right?

One phone,

one phone, two power banks.

Where did you get this?

Is there a radio there?

I got it there too, in the cottage, his radio, his radio. I got it in the cottage.

You got it in the cottage?

Yes. There, for the murder.

How did you get here?

I walked here.

From where?

From the bathroom, that one.

How did you get into Ukraine at all?

Oh, that was still...

Look here.

So, I ran away from the point.

I’m coming from the north, from Russia, from a northern country.

What city?

If I’m not mistaken, bearing thirty, just bearing thirty.

Yeah, he’s a maniac.

By the compass, bearing thirty,

the compass.

What unit?

Battalion One, if I’m not mistaken. 1009th Regiment, Battalion One,

if I’m not

mistaken. Battalion One, if something happened,

they renamed Battalion Two.

1009th Regiment.

Were you discharged there?

No,

I didn’t have time.

And where is the rifle?

I hid it in the toilet. Left it there.

In the toilet. You threw it into the toilet yourself?

Well, there’s a hole at the bottom of the toilet.

Well, into the toilet.

There’s a hole into the toilet, and there’s another hole in the toilet.

It’s in the same house, right?

Not in the house, it’s next to the house. There’s a house there, and a small house

next to it.

What else was in the backpack?

So, two, two cans,

one mobile phone, one cord.

Okay.

Come on, think faster.

Just a second, I’m remembering.

A spoon, no, not a spoon.

Why are you taking so long to think, fuck, bitch, enough, you fucking bitch. Hurry the fuck up!

Okay, a candy wrapper. I threw away the wrapper.

Whose backpack was it?

I took it from the house where they were killed.

Where exactly did you take it from in the house?

Right before, I mean, if you drive here from the backpack,

then if you drive north in the opposite direction, it’s over there.

I took the backpack from that house, where I was killing.

Yes, yes.

After I killed them, I took the backpack.

Yes.

And where were you headed now?

To Kharkiv.

For what purpose?

To live there.

Huh?

To live there.

How could you even know Kharkiv? How could you come here to live?

Well, to try to save up some money.

Huh?

To try to save up money.

You killed people and thought you’d save up money.

No, in the subway.

Huh?

To do it in the subway, ask for money, say I lost my documents.

Well, I fell in love. I came from another city, lost my documents.

They won't hire me. Please help.

So they'd help me, toss me a coin.

I thought maybe I'd get lucky.

Where did you serve?

I didn't serve in the military.

You didn't serve?

I didn't.

You just came from Russia to Ukraine.

I'm a con. A prisoner.

A con? What were you in for?

Article 111, Part Two.

Well, that's your Russian Federation.

Yeah, it's a knife.

For what?

A little knife.

What kind of little knife? A Finnish knife?

A knife,

almost a switchblade, only without a button. Big,

big as a button, only without a button, open, big.

Well, I mean, they open up big somehow, just without a button.

And you did time for that?

Yeah.

How long did you serve?

Seven years. That was the last charge, seven and…

Seven years and five months, yeah, I served.

That was the last charge.

Where did he get the weapon?

Hm?

Where did you get the weapon? Where did you get weapons?

How'd you kill the guys, where'd you get a weapon, if you never served?

Where'd you get an assault rifle to kill the guys?

In the prison camp. They sent me.

Well, then you served.

Oh, then I served. Actually, I was a con then.

You fucking bitch, why the fuck are you lying, you worthless creature?

Don't you realize what the fuck you're saying or what?

I mixed up the army a little.

Whose army did you mix up?

It's just that in Russia, there's this concept of relatives.

I thought a con was one thing, a serviceman was a con, and a serviceman was one thing.

No, it's all the same.

Oh.

You're a fucking murderer,

a fucking cannibal.

Servant of the People.