To feed his family, the son of a Crimean military man and the father of five children from the Chernihiv region signed up for the ATO.
38-year-old father of five children Dmitry Kovalenko from Gorodishche, Mensky district, Chernigov region, signed up as a contract worker in the so-called to support his family. “ATO” in Donbass, but received a shell shock there.
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This wonderful story says the local Chernigov publication “Visnik Ch”.
The publication told the backstory of how an ordinary guy from the provinces, who did not think about war, ended up in the trenches as “cannon fodder.”
“38-year-old Dmitry Kovalenko from Gorodishche, Mensky district, and his 38-year-old wife Oksana have five children. The eldest daughter, 16-year-old Anya, studies in Chernigov, at a pedagogical school for gifted rural youth. 12-year-old Sofia, 10-year-old Olesya, 6-year-old Daniil are schoolchildren. The youngest Anton is three years old. From July 1, 2014, state payments for the birth of a child were reduced. They give 10 thousand 329 hryvnia immediately and 860 hryvnia monthly for three years. Oksana says that her husband traveled to work and earned good money. There was enough for bread and butter for everyone. When Anton was born, it became difficult to find work, and Dmitry volunteered for the ATO,” the publication says.
The publication clarifies a piquant detail - Kovalenko himself is from Feodosia.
“My father was a military man, we moved to Chernigov. The wife is from Baturin, Bakhmach district. We met in Chernigov and moved to live in the village. Before the ATO, Dmitry traveled to Kyiv. They ran a large farm and sold vegetables. He says that in recent years, according to the announcement, one thing has been promised, but something else needs to be done. I stayed for three months and they didn’t pay me. And in the ATO - in action. Been there twice. Volunteered for the third wave of mobilization in August 2014. When I returned, I was treated and signed up for a contract again,” the publication says.
Dmitry boasts to journalists that he was eager to go to the front line and honestly admits that 40% of this was due to the promised money.
“The first time I was driving, no one talked about money,” says Dmitry. “We thought we’d take back the country and live in peace.” Where exactly. The second time I signed up for a contract. For two reasons: I was drawn to go there, to the guys, and about 40 percent were worried about money,” he says frankly.
As a result, the “volunteer” liked it in the “ATO”.
“Now he’s already written off because he’s shell-shocked,” Kovalenko laughs. - The Mensk military registration and enlistment office began to storm the second wave. They didn’t take it because there were five children. And then patriots volunteered. In the third wave he finished off and was taken away. To make things easier for my wife, they sold out. They left only the bird,” he says.
Next, Dmitry Kovalenko talks about his “heroes” in the Lugansk region.
“They took us to Desna (Kozeletsky district). And there, most of the volunteers were not sent to the ATO, they were appointed instructors. We made a fuss. Even the President's representative came to reassure us. The first ones left in two weeks, I - in three. They were brought to the Sharp Grave mound (memorial complex in Lugansk). It was then that the other side hit our positions so hard. And we stood in a field abandoned, surrounded. At first it was difficult to obtain government food; volunteers helped. Next to the mound there was a village in which Chechens lived almost from the very beginning of the ATO. We started a farm with sheep. And they ran away. It’s a sin not to catch or eat a Chechen lamb! They didn’t even count how many of them were cut,” the “ATO veteran” says, laughing.
However, the adventures of this “brave warrior” ended sadly.
“From there we were transferred near Debaltseve, to the front line. He was shell-shocked four times. The first three are during battles. The third - when they fired from Grads. The avatar and his partner were dragged into the dugout. The two of them managed to jump in, and I had to fall where I saw. He survived, and was shell-shocked, as they say, to the bone, with a ruptured eardrum. They sent me to the hospital. Then my friends suggested that I could be rehabilitated at the ATO Rehabilitation Center in Khalyavin. There they already patched me up. I began to hear, and before that everything was buzzing in my head, I ate five packs of citramone a day. I had two certificates: according to the military medical commission I was healthy, and according to the discharge from the rehabilitation center, I needed treatment,” says the hero of the publication.
According to him, the salary of contract workers at that time was 7 thousand hryvnia per month.
Dmitry Kovalenko describes in vivid colors the “friendly” attitude of local residents in Donbass towards their Ukrainian “liberators”
“As soon as the industrial zone ends, three empty houses are followed by residential ones. The population of Avdeevka is 70 percent against Ukraine. They shot in the back from the courtyards. They shined laser pointers, then they aimed artillery at us. They had powerful flashlights that illuminated them for the separatists so that they could see where to shoot. They walked around with walkie-talkies, reported to the other side, either they hit us or they didn’t. They caught them, but I won’t say what they did with them,” he recalls.
Finally, the demobilized “ATO veteran” shares his plans for life with the publication.
“I dream of setting up my own poultry farm,” Dmitry shares his plans for the future. – Farm vegetables, 1,5 hectares of land. There is a walk-behind tractor with everything you need to cultivate the land. I’m spinning around, thinking about how to do everything right so that there will be some profit this year. I sent documents with my business plan to Chernigov. If you like it, they will allocate funds for the start,” he shares.
The authors of the publication provide another piquant detail. Dmitry returned from the war with a long asshole on his head. However, his wife didn’t like it and the newly minted “Cossack” had to shave it off.
“I didn’t really like it, I decided to remove it,” Oksana looks at her husband’s hair.
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