Interview with a member of Fury Brigade about life on the front line

[Lightly edited for clarity and content]

Hello, this is Matthew Parish from the Lviv Herald, and I have the pleasure today of interviewing Dima, who is a member of the Fury Brigade, and he's going to explain to us what the Fury Brigade is and what he's been doing during the war. First I'd like to ask welcome you and thank you for taking the time today.

I'd like to ask you about your background before the war, and how you got involved in the Fury Brigade and what the Fury Brigade is.

Okay, Matthew, thank you so much. So let me introduce myself. My name is Dima, I was born in the Transcarpathian region and I studied in Kyiv at the National Academy of Internal Affairs.

I finished [my studies] in 2022. In February 2022 I started working as an investigator [with the Ministry of Internal Affairs]. I was an investigator working a whole year but the war started on 24 February, 2022. I still worked as an investigator. However I wanted to join the war, but I had no such opportunity.

The reason I had no opportunity is because if you go into a military organisation from the Police, you lost all your rank and your [professional] experience in internal affairs. It's not the same organisational structure, it's something else. So I was waiting. I wanted to leave my work and go to the military, and in 2023, January, I heard about the [Fury] Brigade. They started building this Brigade in 2023. And I wanted to join this brigade because I think it is the first Police Brigade in the world fighting the Russians, as a military system; no other country has this.

So I sent in my papers.

I sent my request to join the Brigade and they accepted me. And in February [2023] I entered the Fury Brigade. And we were training almost five months. And then I was a soldier.

I was a, you know what is, a Storm trooper?

Assault brigade. Yes.

Yes. An Assault Brigade. I entered in a platoon. We had 20 people and training and in July of 2023, we drove to the east of Ukraine, the region [where the fighting was], and we started fighting.

My first battle was in Klishchiivka. We and my group lost one guy who was my friend. He was killed by the Russians. And it was very hard for us because it was our first battle and I can still remember it.

It was a very difficult for me to stay sane; mentally it's too hard. Yes I had a friend [who was dead]. And at one moment I remember when all our group who came back from [Zero Line positions], we sat on the table a little bit, drinking and I remember what happened, telling you this story. And one of our guys took the phone of the guy who could not come back.

And then he showed me that his Mum is calling. What can I do? And we didn't understand what to do. We don't know, but what can we do and never accept this call. It's very hard.

Can you tell me where you were fighting?

I was fighting at Kurdiumivka and Klishchiivka. I was injured.

How were you injured?

From a drone.

So can you just explain for the readers where these places are, in which parts of the country?

It's near Bakhmut. [These are] villages. Yeah, were fighting, and one of the guys from my platoon was, injured. We evacuated him. And when we had finished, the Russians started attacking our position, They were. using portable mines deployed from artillery shells.

So it's artillery that fires mines.

Mines, yes.

Over an area. Yes.

So that then you step on them and. You are killed or injured?

Yes, but I I was injured from a drone.

You were injured from a drone?

Yes.

What were your injuries?

My left leg and my left hand.

And the skin on your face?

Yes.

Was this for an FPV drone? A small, or was this a large drone?

No, it's wasn't an FPV done. It's a larger drone. The Russians started to make it, and it uses bombs. So we were bombed.

So when you were injured, you went to hospital.

Yes.

After you were evacuated?

Yes.

We evacuated. It was not an easy evacuation. Our car, it was a Humvee. It's a good American vehicle. And this vehicle saved my life because when we entered the car and tried to come back, the Russians, opened fire with artillery and a mine blew one of the wheels and destroyed it, and we come back on three wheels.

If this were another car, I think, like a pick-up such as a Nissan Navarra or Toyota, we would not have been able to make it come back.

And after evacuation, I, entered the hospital and went for rehabilitation.

How long did it take you to be evacuated? Because there are stories of long evacuation periods.

I was injured at almost 4:00 PM. I was evacuated at almost 7:00PM or 8:00 PM.

So you were lucky.

Yeah.

Because there are some stories of evacuations.

Yes. Taking a lot longer.

And in 2023 there were not so many FPV drones, not so many drones on front line. And so we have more chances to evacuate [than now].

How long was your rehabilitation?

Almost four months. At the beginning of February [2024] I rejoined my brigade.

And then you rejoined the brigade?

Yeah.

And that was also in Donbas, in the Donetsk region?

Yes. All time our brigade was fighting in [that region].

How long do you fight before you get a break; when you can take some time off?

In general, so our first time on a break: our battalion was fighting almost six months at the front line, and the next time 10 months - almost 11 months. It's too long. [The officers say] yes, guys, you can, relax, but [it is not realistic]. I do not have so many chances come back home, just on weekends.

So maybe you have five days' [break] and when you are driving, one day from the east or to central Ukraine and then you come back so you don't have so much time.

What are the conditions like on the front line? Can you describe sleeping, eating and a typical day? Where do you rest, and what is your typical day on the front line like?

Yes well it's different.

It depends on the type of person you are. I try to make sports, listening to music, eating, we cook and [fill our time this way]. Many guys are drinking alcohol. It's a type of relaxation. Yes, it's popular off course. Every sort of alcohol is common even though it's forbidden.

And the alcohol, I think it's common in every army. Every army: it doesn't matter. Ukrainian, Russian American.

I think this is common in every army if it's at war.

I try to practise sports because in the war you can stand more chances to still live. Because you can run more, and go through more when you are physically fit and you can do more. So it's a better way [of living].

Where are you sleeping: in trenches, or in houses?

Houses. Or on the ground.

How is the morale of the Ukrainian armed forces now? As in the psychology of the soldiers,

[In terms of] psychology people are tired. Many people are tired because it's [been going on] for three years. This war is very, very hard.

I've been very tense. People have not so much time to relax, to change, uh, uh, change when they come back home from the East. Many people sit in the East one year and more. They have no weekends. And I am talking about other brigades as well as our brigade.

[The officers] try to let go people for weekends, maybe five days. Just a little relaxation when you see your family, your girlfriend can visit. Your wife, and your children. You can relax, you can see a normal life, but only for a little bit of time.

So from time to time you can go back to the frontline cities, such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Yes, that's possible.

Every few weeks or how often, can you step back from the Zero Line positions and go to a city like Kramatorsk, for example?

Every so often.

After my injury, I have worked from positions slightly behind the Zero Line and I have not gone back to Zero. On the front line I am making other works.

Because your injuries were serious and the Zero Line was too difficult for you.

That's right. I have metal in my back and in my hand. And on this [the left] side of the face.

In my legs I have 34 or 36 metal pins.

You'll be going back to Donbas and the Donetsk front soon. How do you think the war is going? Is it going well or badly? Our readers are interested because very little information comes out from the front line about the progress of the war.

It looks to many people in the west, like a stalemate. The front line isn't moving very much. The Russians are suffering heavy losses. We hear of the meat grinder and the meat corridors, and they're not making much progress. Would you agree with that? Or, or are the Russians advancing?

It's a hard question because I want to believe we must aim to win. But we need more weapons, we need more people. We need more resources, if we want to win.

I don't know, what can I say about the end of the war? I think we are close to the scenario of North Korea and South Korea because we have not a large enough army or enough weapons to retrieve our lost territories. We need really more rockets, bombs and training personnel in the future.

What we've seen recently is prevarication on the part of the United States. American policy changes from one day to the next by the American government towards the attitude towards the war in Ukraine. The US President, Donald Trump said he could end the war in 24 hours. He hasn't been able to do that, despite a lot of diplomacy with the Kremlin, including sending an envoy to Moscow to talk with the Russian President. Then then the US Presidents has made some comments that were perceived as anti-Ukrainian, and now he seems to have changed his position and has started being critical in public of the Russian government and the Russian War efforts because he seems to have concluded that the Russian President isn't serious in any peace negotiations. At the same time we've seen the countries in Europe start spending a lot more on defence, and there is talk of a European defence force that would come to Ukraine under some circumstances.

Probably it would initially be British and French soldiers. And then there's a series of other soldiers who've committed that they would come in a second stage. Now it takes time from the commitment to spend money, to actually supplying the weapons to the front line: all this takes time, because Europe hasn't been manufacturing enough armour and military equipment for a ground war since the end of the Cold War in 1991. The current situation is that there have been some changes. The Americans, the British, the French, and the Germans have now authorised their long-range missiles to be used to strike far into Russian territory.

The British and the Europeans are implementing enhanced or secondary sanctions, but the Americans have a plan for secondary sanctions, heavier sanctions to damage Russia's economy, but they haven't committed to doing that yet. How long do you think the Ukrainian armed forces can keep the frontline strong in the current circumstances? In other words, how long, how quickly does Europe need to supply more weapons, missiles and armour, to keep the Ukrainian front strong?

Okay.

How long time we can keep front line given current supplies, current weapons and armour coming from the West too Ukraine? At the current rate? It's started now and they will increase [supplies]. Which will take a few months. Can the Ukrainian frontline hold or is there a possibility that the Russians may break through anywhere?

I think we can. We can keep the frontline. Maybe in some zones we may lose a little territory because the Russian Army has so many troops, it's too many soldiers kill.

Waves, waves, waves and waves of Russian soldiers like in the Second World War - it never ends. This wave of waves and resources of people. We're in very different positions. Ukrainians, I don't know, maybe, uh, 30 million in Ukraine. Not so, not so much. Russians more. 100 million.

The population of Russia is 140 million.

1 million [Russians dead].

It's it's amazing actually that a country one quarter of the size of Russia in population can keep the Russian Army stuck. There are reports in Western media that the Russians are taking massive casualties, large numbers of people killed and injured. Is that right? Is that your experience that the many Russians are dying?

Yes.

So really large numbers.

Yes. Many, many Russians. Many, many, so many, I don't know how I can explain. Really, really many Russians die.

Russian propaganda makes Russians [blind to this]. The [Russian government] hides this from Russian citizens, who act as stupid people. And the [Russian government] told Russians that in Ukraine the country is full of Nazis and that Ukrainians are bad people. So the Russians think they must destroy us. Russia makes a cult of war and this culture is needed for Russia to function.

So they are, use to war. This way of their life has become, it's a type of life, Russian war, and I don't know, but I can say, that 100% of Russian troops die on frontline or if not die then suffer very serious injuries and that's just the way this is.

it's reported in the West that Russians are using prisoners, inexperienced conscripts and people from poor areas of Russia, from the south and from the east, and they're paying them to join the Armed Forces. There's no information in Russia about just how dangerous it is to join the Russian Armed Forces and go to Ukraine.

There are no reports in Russia, which has heavy censorship of the media. There are no reports of how many people are dying.

Yes, but those stories will get back as more and more bodies and injured people return to areas of Russia. And eventually the Russians may have to start conscripting people from the major cities, from Moscow, from St. Petersburg, from Kazan, the large cities in Russia. Do you think that might change the mentality in Russia or cause some political changes in Russia and political pressure to stop the war?

I think no, because, uh Putin and the other big people in Russia never will let people believe [the truth]. And all this time war is continuing, on and on. I think that now, at the moment, not any, any [events], can stop this war in Russia. Russian enjoys it when its soldiers, come back. To his motherland each is a hero. In Russian schools, [they teach that] it's nice fighting with Nazi Ukrainians.

But all he's doing is to build a tough Ukrainian people, and only reinforce the Ukrainian country.

How to stop at this war? It's our military power. If we can do it.

If we can make it very, very painful to Russia and after that, I think then they stop it before, and I think many countries can help us to, to make it painful to Russia.

If Europe sent 40,000 troops to the front line as peacekeepers, do you think that might stop the war?

So if this were 40,000 troops, let's say that they're not fighting but just to keep the peace?

To separate the parties. Yes. Not fighting. Well, they would have the power to return fire. Peacekeeping force would be able to fight back. Like it's a demarcation line. These troops are just safe, keep safe. They just sit there on the front line.

And if they're attacked?

Then they attack back. But otherwise they sit there. Do you think that would make a difference? Could that stop the war?

I think, if we're talking about this scenario, maybe it's how to start the end of this war.

So there's a sense in the west that the British could supply perhaps 20,000 troops and the French could supply 20,000 troops, initially. I don't think it would be immediate because they need training and they need more equipment than they're making now. It's one possibility that Ukraine invites firstly, British and French soldiers into Ukraine, and then they slowly move east, as a way of discouraging the Russians. The theory is that Russians won't fight fire on NATO troops. Do you think that might work?

To stop the fighting because if NATO troops go to the eastern front, yes. But I don't know. Your version about 40,000 troops British and French, uh, troopers. I think it's, fantastic. Fantastic. But I don't think so. Other countries of Europe, American, British, yeah, why would they help, our country [in this way]?.

So send many weapons and munitions. So train our soldiers. Yes, it's great, but I don't think so. We want other countries to send their soldiers in Ukraine. But the risk these troops take for peace, I don't know. Yeah, this is a great idea. Yes. I really want to this scenario, to help us to stop the war, but I don't think so for other countries, that they will send their troops to the eastern frontline.

You think it's not likely?

I think it's impossible now.

Why?

Because I think other countries don't want soldiers to die [in another part of the world].

This war is very important for all European countries because they understand that Russia is very dangerous. And if Russia occupies Ukraine, then other countries may be next. So Finland is very concerned. Poland is very worried. The Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are very worried. The Germans are already putting a lot of soldiers into Lithuania. The British have soldiers in Estonia and a lot of NATO countries have troops in Poland.

It's this is now the top European defence priority, because Europe sees Ukraine as the last free country before Russia. And we see that this is an attempt to recreate the Soviet Union, in other words, to go back to the 1980's.

So, uh, it may happen, but not, not yet. I can't predict.

Can I ask you a bit more about the Fury Brigade? It's police officers?

Yes. It's, it's police officers who've become a quota from Police stations, departments. Yes. It's other people too: investigators, patrol police, special police, all this guy from 20 [years old], it started in 2023 more of it was police officers.

And we also took civilians. Not only police, but civilians too, to have a chance to join to our brigade.

How does the Fury Brigade interact with the rest of the Ukrainian armed forces? Because it's very special brigade.

Yes. Very special. But we communicate with, our [other] armed forces. It's very good. And if we have chance, we help them and they help us. There are no problems [between us].We have good communications and I never heard bad words about our brigade from [regular] soldiers. Our medics help many soldiers and it's a good relationship.

Yes, it's a special brigade. Yes, it's, an [innovative] brigade. Never before have Police been in the war, I think. Police fighting on the front line. What? It's amazing.

Can you estimate how many people are in the Fury Brigade? Tens of thousands?

No, I think not so many. Maybe a few thousand.

What do you need from the west?

Immediately. Medical supplies. Bullets, armour.

What, what are, what are your top priorities? If there's money to be spent, what should it be spent on?

Ammunition. Uniform. Shoes. Medicine, yeah, we need it too, but we have a good supply from our country on medicine; but uniform, you can put on this uniform, go to the front line and lose this uniform. And we need good shoes, uniforms, protection for our eyes. Glasses, armour. We have good body armor. Yes.

Really good because we have ballistic, armour that protects not only ammo, plate ballistics but also on the sides. We. have helmets. We need night vision goggles, thermal vision goggles, and the little pickups of old Toyota or old Jeeps. Jeeps, I think vehicles are important it's a good vehicle [and this saves lives].

And yes we need sights for weapons. Not for a sniper rifle [but for more general weapons].

Frankly we need everything.

Are you short of food?

No. Food is not a problem. We are cooking, we buy, products. We can buy special [military] food in your, our country or maybe from other countries, but you can eat one this time, two, three, and on the five line you want to eat normal food. [And we have this on the front line.]

You, you've come from a professional civilian role where you've been an investigator with the police. How do you find military life now? It must be a big change.

Yes, it's a big change in my life. It's changed me as a person, as a man and this military life. It's really hard and really dangerous when I go to the war.

My father was fighting in 2022 and 2014. Yes. And he told me stories about this, about injuries, about death. But if you don't see it personally, if it does not touch you, you never understand it. When it's only you, going to the frontline and when you feel and understand that you have a good chance that you cannot come back home and you feel fear.

Yes. Feel fear, and now you understand how the how war is in real life. It's not a movie. It's not the books, it's not the stories. It's your life and you.

There must be a loss of post-traumatic stress disorder for soldiers who come back injured and have seen very difficult things. Do you think there'll be a problem with reintegration back into civilian life for this huge army that Ukraine now has when the war comes to an end?

Yes. I think our country must do many things to try. We need to help soldiers integrate into normal social life. These people, soldiers, when we go back into normal life, they need help because not so many people can control it. They need help to find other employment.

Yes, you can rest one month, two months, three months, and after that you must do something because if you not then in your head, you are remembering all these [horrors] of war. Yes. And many people started drinking [heavily]. It's a really big problem. And when humans have been drinking and have post-traumatic syndrome, which I think is every soldier who will be on the front line, there is a problem; have suffered from post-traumatic syndrome.

So there's a saying in English amongst soldiers that when the war ends, that's just the beginning because there is so much work to do, to integrate soldiers back into normal life. To get them jobs. To get them working.

Of course there's reconstruction. Yeah. Things have to be rebuilt.

I've been all along the front line from Kupiansk down to Kherson and everything has been destroyed. That's going to be an enormous job to rebuild it all.

Yeah. Maybe that's one thing that soldiers can be employed to do after the fighting stops. So you are asking in me about if the war stopped?

Yes. And when soldiers come back in normal life, they can do work on rebuilding?

Yes. It's a good point. But not every soldiers want to be a builder, I think. Yes, it's a good job. It's good work, but I really cannot do this. I will not take an interest in this. I am not a builder. I am lawyer.

Yes. I want to find my work and I want to feel good from my work. You know what I mean?

Yes. You want to go back to the work you've been doing before the war?

Maybe yes. I don't know because at first I want to rest and to visit the sea?

I never seen the sea. The Ocean. I want to visit countries I have never been. I have spent all my life in Ukraine. I want to open the world for myself, the world I want to visit. Interesting places. I want to join the interesting events. I want to see real life without war.

Just normal life. That's all. And after that, yes, I will find what I can do for my country and where I work and find work and live a ...

Live a normal life?

Yes. That's, that's what every soldier wants, is to go back to a normal life. It's the first. It's the first thing. Yes. And then. And then explore the world. See the sea. Yeah. And live. And live some more.

Well, well, that's what everybody in the West wants as well. Both the Americans and the Europeans want this war to end as quickly as possible.

Probably the way the war will end is enormous economic pressure on Moscow, because that's how wars normally end is the aggressor runs out of money. A country can't pay to fight it anymore. The Russians are now spending a very large proportion of their economy on the war machine. And they've got terrible inflation.

They've got macroeconomic problems and we hope that those problems will increase and that is what will bring Moscow to negotiate seriously, because so far they haven't been negotiating seriously.

Finally, can I ask you, where did you learn your English?

I have learned English all my life. I started to learn at school, learn, but I did not finish academy and I started watching some videos on YouTube .

I know my English language is not so good. It's. But I try to do better.

Your English is excellent given that you have never left Ukraine. So that is superb. And I think Ukrainians now understand that English is a very important language to learn, as Ukraine integrates into the European Union, and integrates into Western standards of freedom and democracy and rule of law.

So it's wonderful that you've learned English. Um, and it's my honour and privilege to being able to interview you. Um, you're a true hero of Ukraine.

Thank you very much Deemer for this interview.

It's been a great pleasure.

Glory to Ukraine!

To the heroes Glory!