Yevhen Pichkur: "The war took time, but it taught me to appreciate life"
His voice is calm and even, without a break. Only short sentences, behind which lies an experience that is difficult to comprehend for those who have not heard the war breathing nearby.
Yevgeny Pichkur is a veteran who went through the Lymansky direction, an infantryman who saw the war up close. For him, it began not in 2022, but much earlier - back in 2015, when the young man was drafted into military service. “A year and a half - and home, I thought it was just a duty. And then - full-scale. And again the army. No longer as a choice, but as fate,” he recalls.
Yevgeny served in the infantry - a universal fighter who knew how to do everything. “According to my military ID, I am a rifleman. But in reality - both a machine gunner and a grenade launcher. We are all interchangeable there.”
Life at the front is a way of life where you spend three days in the trenches, and three days a little further away, in a village, where you can rest. It was during these short days of silence that you managed to get in touch with your family.
“At first, once a week. Then we bought a Starling, a generator, and there was almost always the Internet. Communication with my wife was the main thing. My family saved me,” the soldier shares.
Yevgeny says simply: family is the main motivation.
“When you realize that someone is waiting for you, you start to protect yourself. I saw how those who no longer had anyone lost their caution. It ended badly.”
At the front, he met different people — comrades who could be trusted, and those who were looking for a drink instead of discipline. “There were different ones, but most were good guys. You live one day there, everything is different.”
Returning, says Yevgeny, turned out to be no less difficult than the war itself.
“People live here and don’t understand what war is. Sometimes they even laugh at it. Once an acquaintance met me and said jokingly: “Oh, I’m alive!” And for me it’s not a joke.” In his words there is no offense, but rather sadness. From the fact that there is an abyss between the front and the rear. People live on both sides, but see different worlds. After demobilization, Yevgeny returned to work. His colleagues greeted him warmly, but communication with them reminded him that even in the rear, the war is nearby. “Many people asked not out of sympathy, but out of curiosity — because they understood that tomorrow they could end up there themselves. But I don’t judge, I understand them.”
The only connection left was with his brother, who is still at the front, a drone operator.
“I’m in touch every day. While he’s there — there’s no peace,” Yevgeny admits.
Yevgeny is convinced: the war taught the most important thing - to appreciate life, every minute, every day.
And for those who were not at the front, he advises to treat veterans simply:
“We are the same people. You don’t need to glorify or pity. You just need to speak humanly.”
When asked about dreams, Yevgeny doesn’t hesitate:
“I want the war to end. Because my brother is there. And the guys who are still holding the line. I live and worry about them every day.”
His story is about the everyday courage of a person who saw the war, returned and tries to live on. Calmly and with gratitude to those who are nearby — and to life itself.