New Delhi: To stop Russian tanks marching ahead into the mainland, a Ukrainian soldier blew himself up, destroying the Henichesk bridge that connects the Russian-occupied Crimea to the southern province of Kherson.
In the process of protecting his country from the Russian invasion, the soldier sacrificed his life, and is now a matter a pride among Ukrainians as well as his fellow soldiers.
Marine battalion engineer Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych was reportedly deployed to the Henichesk bridge when the Russian tanks tried to invade the region. The Ukrainian military has described Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych as a hero in a Meta post.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a statement, “The army decided that the only way to block the Russian tanks would be to blow up the bridge and, accordingly, Volodymyrovych volunteered to do the needful”.
The plan was to rig the bridge with mines before the Russian tanks arrive close. However, as the tanks approached the bridge, Volodymyrovych soon realized he didn’t have enough time to fix the fuse and return back to the safe camp.
Hence, he blew himself along the bridge, cutting the link between Russian Crimea and mainland Ukraine.
“On this difficult day for our country, when the Ukrainian people give way to the Russian occupiers in all directions, one of the hardest places on the map of Ukraine was the Crimean intersection, where one of the first enemies met a separate marine battalion,” read a New York Times report.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had launched a military operation in Ukraine. The Russian troops invaded into Ukraine as troops moved into the cities with several missiles raining down on the populated area of capital Kyiv.
Ukraine Health Minister Viktor Liashko told that a total of 198 Ukrainians have been killed, including three children till now since the Russia-Ukraine crisis escalated on Thursday.
