“Work as a pyrotechnician for me as a vocation”: the story of a driver-sapper from Odessa region
Alexander Glybyshyn joined the ranks of the State Emergency Service already during the full-scale invasion. During this time, he went through four rotations: in Donetsk region, Mykolaiv region and twice in Kherson region.
The man says that he remembered most vividly the first rotation in the Donetsk region, where Alexander arrived in the first days after the liberation of the city. Estuary.
“People were really hungry. The city was closed. The invaders looted homes and took away all the food. On the first day we met a woman who had not seen bread for 8 months. She asked us, the sappers, to eat. I gave my porridge, which I had for lunch, and she was just crying. She did not want to take at first, because she was ashamed, but she still took it because she was very hungry. We bought water and candy to give to the children. A lot of people came back after the release. Because they say they wanted to go home very much,” the man recalls.
Local residents told Alexander that when the occupiers “withdrew” from the city, they abandoned many of their comrades. They, after the de-occupation, threw everything they had, changed into civilian clothes and just ran away.
“Unfortunately, after the liberation, the city remained under shelling, of course, we worked in such conditions. I remember when we went to one of the enterprises, in order for people to receive pensions, we had to pre-check the building. As soon as we got to the building — immediately “arrival”. We didn't even have time to get out of the car! It was the case that we just left the place of deployment to another place, the next day we learned that the place where we lived was hit,” the man admits.
He says that in his work it is important to stay in a “cold mind”, because if you think about extraneous problems, you cannot concentrate, and you always have to be alert there.
“My wife understands that my job is dangerous, but at home we don't discuss it — this rule is important to me,” the man adds.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine
