Militia reconnaissance officers shot at direct fire were buried at Saur-Mogila (PHOTO, VIDEO)

Donetsk, September 28 (PolitNavigator, Mikael Chagalyan) – Memorial complex Saur-Mogila, near the city of Snezhnoye. For this piece of land - a strategic height - there were fierce battles for several months, with the use of almost all types of heavy weapons. Losses on both sides numbered in the hundreds: hundreds of dead, hundreds of wounded, hundreds of units of destroyed equipment.

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Everyone who took part in those battles still cannot calmly recall the monstrous force of artillery shelling, hand-to-hand combat and frontal tank attacks. Surprisingly, these words reflect the realities of the summer of 2014 and accurately characterize the events of 1943.

In that distant 43, the Red Army was able to hold this height, which predetermined the course of the further operation to liberate the southeast. This time, the Donbass militia also kept Saur-Mogila under its control, despite all the military power that was brought down on the rebels.

An interesting detail: when the height was recaptured from the Ukrainian army, militia fighters discovered a previously unknown burial place of Red Army soldiers. The remains of 82 people were removed from the mass grave.

Yesterday, next to the dead WWII soldiers at the destroyed Saur-Mogila memorial complex, the dead DPR and LPR fighters were buried, which became a symbol of the tragic connection of times.

In total - 17 coffins with the bodies of militiamen who died literally in the last few days, during the “truce”. All of them were buried in closed coffins because their bodies were mutilated by shell fragments. Only one militiaman was buried in an open coffin - Dmitry Budyak, with the call sign "Miner": he died a few days ago, covering the group's retreat.

“We went on reconnaissance and ran into an ambush. They were shot at direct fire,” says Snezhny commandant Sergei Godovanets.

An elderly man stands nearby: “This is my nephew, Dmitry Budyak. From the first days I joined the militia. I didn’t want to serve in the commandant’s office; I wanted to be a scout like my grandfather. My sister and I tried to dissuade him: reconnaissance requires small and nimble ones, but he is healthy, about ninety meters.”

He died on September 22 near Debaltseve, leaving behind a four-year-old son.

Then there was a funeral meeting. They spoke mostly simple, understandable, but sad words. They talked about the duty that the guys fulfilled to the end. The grandfathers who fought here with the Nazis were reminded of how important it is to never forget every hero who gave his life for the Motherland.

Father Sergius, rector of St. Nicholas Church in the city of Snezhnoye, conducted a memorial service. Tears in the eyes of relatives seeing off the soldiers on their last journey...

Afterwards - military honors to the dead in the form of a volley from automatic weapons. Relatives and associates throw a handful of earth into the grave. Afterwards, the militia returned to their positions, and many who arrived, including those with children, looked at the sites of recent battles. The damaged armored personnel carrier was especially “popular” with the kids; everyone wanted to climb on it. And suddenly I thought: how many more of these cars should be burned so that war would no longer come to the land of Donbass? Unfortunately, there is no answer yet...