Marines from Feodosiya are presently stationed in Mariupol. For the last time they have been on the native peninsula in March when they were rapidly moving to the mainland after the referendum. They have been sent to Nikolayev and then to Mariupol to protect their motherland. Many of them have houses and flats in Crimea as well as former and real friends, wives and children left there.
“We live for today and fight by omens”
“Slow down, this guy is nervous and he may shoot,” laughs one of the marines, who volunteered to guide us through the territory of the camp. Looking from the window, he cries out: “Cheetah!”
“Who is Cheetah?” I asked.
“It’s a password. It’s valid only for a couple of hours so don’t rejoice over knowing it.”
Still in March stern owners of stripes with icon of a wolf were the hosts on their own camp. Back then they wondered about the absence of order from the nation’s leadership to open fire, they were sick in hearts from the Russian propaganda directed by Russians on their territory and left their positions very reluctantly. It has been a half year since Feodosiyans have possibility to fight.
Their daily round became worse but their mood got better. There are only tents and almost complete self-maintaining instead of full-value barracks but at the same time they have weapon in their arms and every couple of days they get to the frontlines. Feodosiyans don’t hide they prefer this state of things better:
“We’ve learned so much within the last half a year,” says young marine from Chernovtsy with a call sign Aquarius. “We live for today and fight by omens. For example, we always used to be dissatisfied with something in the past and now we are happy just to survive a day. We learned to entrench and construct dugouts fast. We learned to do everything fast. We understand that our lives depend on that.”
Marines distinguish types of gun by the sound of shot and also they can understand by the sound whether the shell hits in front or behind them. Besides, they make up real military omens .
“For example, if a day is sunny, it means that the artillery of terrorists will be shelling from 11 am till 3 p.m.” says Aquarius. “That’s how we live.”
One more Crimea should not be allowed
The marines from Feodosiya were characterized by the different world perception yet having been in Crimea. Sure, many of them stayed to serve the Russian Federation. However, the ones who are fighting for Ukraine today are special people.
For example, it is “the Old one”. The combatant received his call sign because of his age and tough personality. He considers the war to be his job and refuses to admit himself a hero. He fights in the east of Ukraine not to allow the Crimean situation to ever happen again.
“I don’t want the same that took place in Crimea happened here, that’s why I am here,” says the marine putting on his neck a face mask.
The “Old one” never supported Maydan but he considers the aggression against Ukraine to be meanness.
“I didn’t communicate with the ones who stayed to serve Russia. It wasn’t little… It was approximately a half. We have different goals now. They stayed because of high salaries but I didn’t betray the oath. Acquaintances say that it has been stated they were unreliable in their personal files. But I didn’t see that myself.
Being professional soldiers, marines don’t believe it’s going to be over soon. They wait for the winter and are grateful to the volunteers’ help and happy about support from people.
“One night in Zaporozhe, when we arrived to pick up some wood, people came out from houses to support us. It was unexpected,” says Aquarius. “In Crimea we didn’t feel such support of the Ukrainian army.”
However, the biggest problem of Crimeans, who fight on the mainland, is their families. Many of them have families on the peninsula as for example, the Old one. This is why the combatant should be too wary and wear a mask for the interview. He does not know what his relatives are to do as they don’t have any possibility to move to the mainland but it can be dangerous for a family of Ukrainian soldier to stay in Crimea.
The Old one says that soon he is going to have a vacation for 15 days. Sure, he would like to spend that time together with family. But the truth is that he does not know how it can be possible to go to Crimea and back. He doesn’t know whether there could be any difficulties either from the Russian or Ukrainian side. He wishes other people would never happen to be in such situation as his when you are a migrant in your own country.
