By Wings Phoenix
06.22.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Why do we do our work… Why do the guys serve there, on the frontlines… Why do they go forward and die… Why… Why… These are rhetorical questions.

Pasha Choriy. His name flashed in my text messages on the first day after the fight of the 79th Separate Airmobile Brigade. We collected data; we were looking for our [soldiers]. We got entangled in letters [spelling it]: in the hospital in Kharkiv, he went by the last name “Chornyi.” We were still unable to find him. Chornyi, Choriy. But now I will always remember his name; I will never mix it up again.

Shrapnel went through his right eye and it immediately leaked out. Combat. 4 am. Pasha [diminutive of Pavlo] is a sniper. Right eye. He clamped the wound with one hand, held the Dragunov sniper rifle in another, and kept on shooting. As much as he could, since [the rifle] has a small holder. And he couldn’t reload it. Armed fight, the thunder of explosions, screams of the wounded. Have you visualized it? Nighttime. [People] keep shooting from all sides. HAVE YOU IMAGINED THIS? ARE YOU SCARED YET?

And the valiant BTR-4E APC was running away from the battlefield so fast, in such a purposeful manner, that it crumpled to scrap metal the cabin of the GAZ-66 military truck that belonged to the airborne troops, and there were people inside. They got jammed. A fight! Night! And quite scary, because they could throw grenades into the cockpit at any second.

Pasha used up all the bullets, threw his rifle away, and ran to pull the wounded out. He, by pressing on his  pierced eye with one hand, MANAGED TO PULL four people out! He did not give up, and was conscious all the way to the hospital. He made jokes and requested vodka and a cigarette. Indignant, [because] he’s a sniper after all; how could it happen to his right eye! And only in the hospital did he disconnect.

Yesterday, the President of Ukraine awarded Pavlo Choriy with the Order “For Courage” of the III degree. Pasha has a temporary [eye] prosthesis, and there is already hope that they will take him to France to install a permanent prosthesis on some super-concessional terms. We only have to help him with the documents and buy [him] a ticket. We have the money for it.

And for the rest? There are my paratroopers; they are still there, at the frontlines. And [they] need … Armored vests, helmets, food, cigarettes, uniforms, first aid kits, boots, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, glasses. Glasses, the ones that protect the eyes.

Want to help?

PAYPAL Account – shaoshao32@gmail.com [updated on May 22]
Purpose: transfer to friends or relatives
Message to the recipient: ArmyUA

The servicemen will get the money promptly and definitely use it as intended: Yuriy provides all reports on his Facebook page. Here are some links for your review:

Consolidated financial report: http://goo.gl/UGt0Hw

Consolidated photo report: https://www.facebook.com/wings.phoenix.foundation

Source: Wings Phoenix FB