War through the eyes of Vitaly Lukashevich
The story of every soldier begins long before the front. With decisions, experience and readiness to take responsibility at a crucial moment. For Vitaly Lukashevich, this path began long before mobilization - back in 2011, when he was serving in the tank troops.
It was then that Vitaly received a military education as a light tank commander. In 2014, at the beginning of the war, he did not get into the combat zone due to his age. But the war still remained nearby - as a reality that one day will knock on the door again. The real test came with a full-scale war, when at the end of 2023 Vitaly got into the assault troops.
“After the training center, I got into the 79th Tavria Brigade, and from there - to one of the hottest directions: Maryinsky, the village of Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk region.” It was there that Vitaliy first felt what real war was like — not from videos or news, but from trenches, positions, and daily risk. “My idea of war was completely different. Even what they told me at the training center was very different from reality,” he recalls.
Officially, Vitaliy had the position of an infantry rifleman, but already in the brigade he underwent additional training and received the specialty of a machine gunner. His unit worked as part of consolidation groups: after assault operations, the soldiers entered positions, held them, and carried out assigned tasks.
Combat work was carried out in small groups of three people.
“We called it a “carousel”. People changed positions every three days. You spend three days at a position, then another group arrives. At the same time, there was no full-fledged rotation of the brigade, that is, the withdrawal of the entire unit from the combat zone for rest and recovery, although it was promised even before arriving at the front.”
This required not only physical endurance, but also absolute trust in each other. It is there, on the front line, that something that is difficult to explain in words is formed - a real fighting brotherhood. "We always supported each other. If someone was wounded, we formed a group of volunteers and followed them," says Vitaliy.
Despite the awareness of the risks, the people in the unit became friends very quickly. And even now, after being wounded and returning to civilian life, Vitaliy maintains contact with his comrades - those who continue to serve and those who, like him, were forced to stop.
Vitaliy honestly admits: there was fear. Especially at the beginning - before the unknown and the realization that everything could end at any moment.
Sometimes demotivating thoughts also appeared - about the fragility of life and about losses. But it was in these thoughts that real motivation was born. "I didn't call them here. Who gave them the right to take what belongs to me?” — says Vitaliy. And also — the desire to survive. To return. Not to lose those who are waiting for the call after the rotation. Not to lose the life that was built before the war.
The first impressions of the war were not as expected. “I thought it would be worse: that we would be knee-deep in mud and water in the trenches. But in reality the system was organized differently — with rotation, which allowed for rest,” — admits the veteran.
Vitaliy’s unit had a clear system of replacements — the so-called “carousel”. Groups replaced each other every few days, which allowed for at least partial restoration of strength. A full-fledged rotation of the brigade, as it is understood in the classical sense, never took place — the 79th remained on the front line until the last. Approaches to positions, waiting a few hundred meters from “zero” and a constant threat — all this became an everyday reality. During the fighting in the Maryinsky direction, Vitaliy was wounded. It was the point of exit from the war. Then evacuation, Dnipro, and later Vinnytsia — and a gradual return to civilian life. “I adapted quite quickly. It was worse to adapt to the wound than to civilian life,” he says. Now a year and a half has passed, his health has improved, although limitations in his hand remain.”
At work, his colleagues greeted him warmly. “They were happy that he returned alive. They supported him both during and after the service,” Vitaliy notes with gratitude.
The war changed many things. But the main lesson for Vitaliy is the value of people. “You never know when you will communicate with a person for the last time. If you value them, don’t put off talking for later,” he says. This experience will remain with him forever. As well as the understanding that life is fragile, and human connections are priceless.
The story of Vitaliy Lukashevich is not only the path of a soldier. This is the story of a man who went through the war, returned, and continues to live, remembering what is worth fighting for and for whom it is worth returning.