Recollections of a soldier of a volunteer detachment about the last fight of Alexei Mesyats (author's style preserved):

"I think that now it will not be a military secret if I describe the assault of March 13, 22 near Kiev through the river Irpen.
Do not judge my writing style too harshly, I am not a writer nor am I a military correspondent, I am a soldier.

Morning of March 13. We were raised, although we did not sleep, as our platoon commander had given us a command to sleep in flak jackets and helmets, with everything we needed lying next to us. Well, since everything was in readiness, as we were receiving daily arrivals, from March 7 we moved closer to the front line, until then we had a more or less calm situation, we could only hear artillery bursts in the distance.

We had initially been sent there with no more than 18 men, and we were told that our task would be outlined in the field, they selected the most reliable men on a voluntary basis. The squad leader, Babka, was the most respected of all for me. The company commander and the platoon leader were inferior to him in terms of real combat experience (although they had missions in the sandbox in the ranks of the musicians).

"Babka" was a real tough guy. Before he came to us, he had served 8 years in the LNR, on the front lines, as a platoon deputy. He could have risen higher in rank, but there were reasons why his career did not grow.

Let's go back to the storming of March 13.
In the morning we were brought in pick-up trucks to the village near Gostomel, near the Irpen river. It was misty, the village was empty, it was 4 o'clock in the morning. I guessed ours were working on the enemy on the other side of the river.

Our commanders went to a meeting with the high command, we sat along the fence. I heard the arrivals, they were near the village. The owner of the house, near whose fence we were sitting, came up to us and said we could come in and have a warm meal. We refused, thanking the woman.
Everyone was in a fighting mood, but the situation around us was somehow gloomy: fog, a deserted village... In an hour the platoon commander came. He ordered us to prepare rations, weapons, etc.

I spread the dried food out 50/50, half for myself and half for Babka. I and he always worked in a deuce, so we ate together, and we did not take any other packs, we took more ammunition, grenades and bullets, plus a 'mukha' each, which incidentally saved us during the storming.
In about 20 minutes after the platoon leader arrived, three BMDs drove up and we climbed to the top. I told Babka that we were real paratroopers now. I was in a good mood. The commander smiled and kept silent, his mood was not good, maybe he was worried about us, I understood this later.

Before we left for the mission, people came out of their houses, and that's why I did not write the names of the villages, because people could suffer from the Kiev regime for their pro-Russian views. Grandparents and families with children came out, and they looked at us, as trite as it may sound, as at their liberators. I would never have believed that such people would be in Kiev. A lot of people came out, almost from every house, we heard a lot of well-wishes. I remember an elderly couple who were walking hand in hand, husband and wife, I think they came up to the nearby BMD, smiling and with their facial expressions I understood that they wished good luck to the soldiers.

"Strap in!!!", the command sounded, and we drove forward in the BMD at full speed. At 1 km from the river Irpen were some gardens, small houses, further we were not taken, told to move forward on foot.

We started to go forward and a "chopper" started working above us. We were shocked by what we saw: the first time a chopper worked directly over our heads, it was like I was in some kind of movie ...

We were going down to the river... Engineering troops flew ahead of us to set up the pontoons. The guys, of course, are something else... Under mortar fire from the Ukrainian military, they built a crossing for us. We approached the river and started crossing. I saw the first dead, there were approximately 3-4 of them, as I understood it was those who were building the crossing. Towards us they were carrying a paratrooper with a torn leg on a stretcher.

The paratroopers had gone behind the river twenty-four hours earlier, most likely thrown in by helicopters. They had taken the entrenchment at the river. We started climbing the mountain to the fort where the paratroopers were sitting. It was an old Soviet Stalinist stronghold, very high. The AFU started firing mortars at us - the first 300's came, the paratroopers behind us got 200's. As far as I know, the regiment commander was killed. There were 12-18 of us, about 100 paratroopers followed us.

We went into the trenches, where our paratroopers who had occupied the fortification a day before were already sitting. They asked who we were. The answer was, "Soldiers of Fortune!"

It used to be the trenches of the Ukrainian military, we found a lot of ammunition, food, sapper shovels, RPGs and food there. The enemy abandoned everything and fled.

After 20 minutes our group of 18 people and a company of paratroopers moved further along the river to storm the Ukrainian Nazi strongholds in the forest. (Why I said the Ukrainian Nazis, not the military I will explain later).
2 fortifications we passed on easy, they were empty, some were lightly guarded.

Passed about 5 km, stopped. To our platoon leader came paratroopers and said that there is a fortification ahead, but there are no more than 30 people there. He explained, that as soon as we take it we can have a rest.

The platoon commander selected 12 out of the 18 people who would go on the assault, of course this list included me, the squad leader and my friend from Kazan. We took ammo with us and left the surplus at the temporary deployment point.

We didn't even have time to rest, it was already 4 pm, 12 hours had already passed since we moved out to the task.
We form a column and set off for the assault.

The paratroopers raised the quadcopter, looked at something there and said that everything was normal, we could go. We went quietly and slowly, along the road ... We heard a rumble of cars, all lay down. Six vans drove by. Our task was to take the fortifications, so we did not destroy the column.

As the cars passed, we saw a fortified position 50 metres away. Soldiers in black uniforms were walking there doing everyday tasks. They had not yet seen us. The commander ordered us to get closer. We got within 20 meters in the dense woods and the commander yelled: "Contact!!!"

We began to close in on the Ukrs, the distance was reduced to 10 meters. The fire barrage was intense, bullets flew over our heads; my assault rifle belt was cut in half by a bullet, I was lucky I didn't get hit...

We got through the first line of defense. We started with "Mukhas" on them, then we took them by storm. My comrade Babka, who was assaulting ahead of us, was wounded in the shoulder and killed by 3 7.62 bullets. I saw how my friend was wounded in the shoulder, but I didn't see how exactly. I asked: "Where was the wound?" He answered that it was in the shoulder. I yelled: "Crawl back! I'll cover you!" I covered him with fire, firing off a magazine at the enemy. Didn't see how Babka got hit. When I ran up to him, he was already lying almost unconscious, we could not save him...".