The One Whom Fate Protected”: The Story of Veteran Oleksandr Annenkov
Kyiv in the Fog and Darkness. People move with flashlights, searching for even the faintest signal. This is how the conversation with Oleksandr Annenkov began - a veteran who went from a young border guard to a defender of the capital in 2022. The connection was broken, the Internet was down, but Oleksandr was calm, he could see much worse.
Oleksandr knew from an early age that his path would be connected with the service. He studied at the paratrooper school, at the young sailors' club, raised service dogs for the borders - he was looking for himself and preparing for the role that would later become key in his life. In 1991, he joined the ranks of the border guards, went through sergeant school and received the right to take people to the border. Service then meant trips to “hot spots” - Moldova, Transnistria, Transcaucasia.
But after demobilization, Oleksandr could not even imagine that many years later history would repeat itself — much more brutally. Oleksandr met the war of 2022 with a phone call. His daughter from Bucha said that “they were shooting and everything was exploding.” He took his children and wife to a safe place — and that same day he took his backpack and walked to the military registration and enlistment office. He remembers how he spent half a day with other men looking for weapons and at least some opportunity to enlist. “I walked for half a day looking for weapons. The military registration and enlistment offices said there was nothing. But I knew — if not me, then who?” On February 24, he became a soldier again. Commander of the detachment, weapons, checkpoints, Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel. He speaks of all this as work that had to be done.
Twice fate literally averted death from him: the first time — when an enemy missile fell directly on the territory of the military registration and enlistment office, where he was supposed to go, and the second time — when his unit did not have time to leave for the Desna River, where a missile soon hit, taking the lives of many soldiers.
“I guess the Mother of God saved me,” he adds quietly.
After the defense of the Kyiv region, there were Soledar, Kramatorsk, Kurdyumivka, Druzhkivka — difficult areas where every day meant survival.
Despite fatigue and heavy losses, the greatest strength was in the brothers. Oleksandr still maintains contact with those who were there in the darkest moments. They underwent rehabilitation together, meet, and go to the funerals of those who were not lucky enough to return.
“It’s hard to believe that this happened to us. But we remember everyone,” he says.
Oleksandr underwent rehabilitation and returned to work, where his colleagues greeted him with respect.
But adaptation for him is still a process. At home, his wife “hides” military belongings so that her husband is less drawn back. “She says: if my belongings are not there, then I will not go. And I tell her: I will go, they will put me in. But for now, I am resting. If necessary, they will be called.”
He finds psychological relief in meetings with his comrades. For him, this is a way not to lose himself between war and peace. Oleksandr speaks honestly: the world around him has become different. Trust, humanity, simple conversations — everything now has a different weight. Betrayal hurts especially.
When asked what he dreams of, Oleksandr answers without a pause: for the war to end, for people to return home, for evil to be punished.
“Ukraine will win in any case. And let’s hope that all this will end soon.”
The story of Alexander Annenkov is a story of duty, courage, and indomitability. About a man who knew his purpose and followed it, no matter what. And today, like thousands of similar veterans, he seeks only one thing - peace for his country.