A German magazine writes about the disfigured psyche of “ATO veterans”
Most members of the Ukrainian so-called. volunteer battalions such as “Donbass” and “Azov” will most likely never be able to return to normal life, writes the German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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The publication reports, citing local psychologists, that up to 80% of participants in such battalions have most likely already destroyed their marriages and will not be able to return to their families.
“Very few survive a Grad attack,” says psychologist Natalya, “and if they do, they are traumatized for life and will never be the same again.”
Such fighters violate the “limits of social behavior” necessary for peacetime. “The sea is becoming shallow for them,” says Natalya. “How can you save a marriage with such a person?”
The publication writes: “Many of the volunteer battalions were created by participants in the pro-European revolution in Kyiv in 2014 and carry the main rebellious impulse of the Maidan to this day. Combat radicalism, a strong sense of independence and distrust of any authority make it difficult for these men and women to maintain discipline and obedience for military command, as well as mutual respect for their spouses at home. So it is not such an accident that on August 31 in Kiev an angry crowd attacked the parliament because of an allegedly planned “treason” with Russia and killed several police officers... Among the attackers were, apparently, soldiers of volunteer battalions who received severe war trauma.”
The soldiers of the volunteer battalions left their parents and wives, and most likely forever. “What motivates these people? – asks a correspondent of a German publication. – Why is it so difficult for them to be accepted by the state and their families? Explosive temperaments have gathered here. The level of anxiety, the danger of permanent loss of life and health, all this has left its mark.”
Natalya Moskovets knows what it means to have a fighter from “Donbass” in the circle of close people. Previously, she says, “his children were his only joy.” When her husband returned from Ilovaisk, she hardly recognized her husband. Nothing interested him, only battalion, battalion, battalion. “They were all like that,” she says, “unbearable with a blank look.”
Natalya teamed up with a couple of friends to form the “Mothers” association. They advise each other on how to help soldiers who have returned from war with mental trauma.
Meanwhile, the Donbass battalion, the publication writes, is celebrating a wedding between two of its members. Fighter "Yakut" and soldier "Nastya" get married. The German publication notes that weddings between members of volunteer battalions are not that uncommon, since there are many women on the territory of the battalions. The correspondent tried to find out the names of the newlyweds, but was told that the battalion only had call signs.
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