They do not fight; they search.
On the Shield, a unit that searches for fallen soldiers in eastern Ukraine deep in the woods, where the leaves are greening with the spring’s new life, is searching through the forest.
NBC News’ team leader “Mykha” said earlier in the month that “our guys are somewhere here.” According to Ukrainian military protocol, he asked only to be identified by his callsign.
The team concentrated its search in the area of Dovhenke. This village was the site of a brutal Russian attack on April 20, 2022 two months after Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Cars and tanks that were burned out littered the road. Most of the buildings appeared to have been ravaged by a wrecking-ball. The few buildings that were left standing had artillery pockmarks.
Mykha reported that at least five soldiers of Ukraine’s 95th Air Assault Brigade who defended the area are still missing.
The team’s search for the dead is becoming more difficult each day, as the spring’s rebirth covered up clues and graves that were once easily spotted during the long, cold winter.
Mykah said that the remains of those bodies are now “skeletonized”, and that “any marks such as tattoos or other markings no longer appear.”
They did find a jacket of a military type hanging in one of the sleeping holes that Ukrainian soldiers had dug.
Some things were obviously Russian, such as a “telnyashka,” which is a striped blue and white undershirt worn by Russian military personnel. A bulletproof vest covered in Russian text was lying on a nearby tree.
Mykha stated that the unit was made up of volunteers and not conscripts.
He said that when our troops advanced, it was clear that the Russian military also left their soldiers as they had no chance to take them. “The first groups to arrive collected them all over: in the streets, in homes.”
One of the tanks had the letter “Z” painted on the front — a symbol seen on Russian tanks and military vehicles in Ukraine. One of the tanks had the letter “Z”, a symbol that appears on Russian military vehicles and tanks in Ukraine, and is embraced by those who support Putin’s war.
One searcher donned blue latex gloves and climbed in the tank nearest the tree line. Another mounted the turret while Mykha prepared a body bag.
The searcher asked, “Is this from the leg? Or from where?” as he sifted the charred wreckage. He would occasionally pause to tap the debris he had found on the tank’s side.
The team can distinguish between glass and metal, which sound different from bone.
He said “Maybe nothing is to register”, but later realized that he was looking at the scene of an accident.
He said “He burned here”, as he surveyed the fragments that once belonged to a man. “His bones have been burned.”
Mykah, and the rest Of the On the Shield Unit, don’t care about the nationality of the man. They are volunteers, not conscripts. Their goal is to follow one of the oldest military maxims: leave no man behind.
Mykha stated, “We’re now trying to locate everyone because will be exchanging and every Russian soldier practically is one of our returned troops.”
He said that “in this case, our army is the priority.” His team was equally concerned that the families of Russian soldiers “seek peace.”
He said, “We don’t have any other option because we are defending this country. But not all of these people understand why they even came here.”
While their task is grim, it does provide closure to the families and friends of those who have died.
Yurii Roslov, and his unit, disappeared in a combat mission towards the end of march 2022. His commander, Chef, the 95th Air Assault Brigade’s call sign, said that he “hoped they were captured, but there was nothing new.”
On the Shield discovered the 26-year old’s body in a shallow grave, near the village of Dovhenke.
The family of Roslov could finally bury him on May 6, around 400 miles away, in Ukraine’s Capital Kyiv.
The priest began praying as a bugle was played. His mother wiped her tears away.
His commander said that burying Yurii felt “like tearing a piece of myself off.” “And then, you begin to live again — someway — knowing that he won’t be there anymore, that you will not talk, that you will not hear his songs, that the sound of his guitar won’t be heard.”
Music begins as the last shovel of dirt is placed on Yurii’s casket.
