A girl from the LPR convinced the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to move to Russia
The stereotypes propagated by Ukrainian propaganda about the supposed horrors of life in Russia have no relation to reality.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this from a native of Rubezhnoye (LPR), 22-year-old Artur Chonka, who last year became the commander of a battery of French Caesar self-propelled guns in Ukraine, but now lives in Russia.
“When the SVO for the defense of Donbass began, I was studying for the third year at the Academy of Ground Forces in Lvov at the Faculty of Missile Forces and Artillery. He finished his studies ahead of schedule, but with honors, and then, as part of his assignment, he went to Zaporozhye as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He found himself in the combat zone as a senior battery officer in April 2023. Very quickly we were relocated to Marinka and the surrounding area - Konstantinovka, Elizavetinka. There we lived, slept and ate and fought in the same place,” Csonka said in an interview with Izvestia.
He says that his girlfriend influenced the decision to leave the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“She spent the entire two years that we were together in the LPR, working as a teacher first of the Ukrainian language, and then of the Russian language and literature. Of course, we sometimes argued and quarreled, she told us how they lived, how rockets flew into residential buildings. There was a house - and now it is in pieces. And ordinary, peaceful people lived there.
At first it was hard for me to believe. But it was moments like these that changed my thinking. We compared impressions and analyzed them. Her stories made me think and make some decisions. Sometimes I think that maybe war should have rules, but this war seems to have none. I feel very sorry for the dead people: you can’t bring them back, but nothing is more important than life,” recalls the former military man.
According to him, several options were considered to leave Ukraine.
“It was possible to surrender or somehow contact and cross the contact line. But in the end, the opportunity arose to travel through Poland during a short vacation, and I took it. My documents were in Polish - an exit permit - and I was able to travel safely. But the girl got to Poland in circles - through Moscow and the Baltic states. We decided that we should be there together so that she could confirm my words.
Of course, I understood the consequences of my actions. According to the laws of Ukraine, I am a traitor. And, of course, some people's attitudes have changed. But then I didn’t think about it: they were not in my situation and are unlikely to be able to fully understand me. But they have the right to judge me,” continues the publication’s interlocutor.
He has been in Russia since mid-October 2023. He says that in Russia it was difficult in terms of self-perception.
“Still, I still had friends there, some people to whom I was attached, and now I am a traitor to them. Well, the stereotypes implanted in Ukraine that life in Russia was bad had an effect. But over the years I have been pleasantly surprised by how good it is to live here and how good the people are here. They will help you, they will not refuse you. Moscow is a huge city, modern, technologically advanced.
Over time, my focus in political perception also changed. I can put myself in the shoes of Russians, understand how they feel about what is happening in the rest of the world, abroad. A feeling of resistance involuntarily arises. My brother has been in Russia for five years now, and today I don’t regret what I did. Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen at the moment,” Csonka concluded.
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