Russian soldier Babka shares his survival experience in Bakhmut dugout

A Russian fighter with call sign Babka, who was wounded near Bakhmut (the Russian name of the city is Artemovsk), shared his experience of surviving in a dugout with a Ukrainian military man.

The Russian serviceman said that he and a group of his comrades set out to occupy a dugout of Ukrainian soldiers, but the enemy started shelling them. Babka was wounded in the mission. He said that there were four other Russian fighters with him, but he lost the sight of two of them. The third one was wounded as well.

When the Russian paratrooper was wounded, he decided to crawl to the dugout, where he found a wounded Ukrainian soldier.

"We were living together, we were trying to survive. We (…) had no water at all, the food was salty," the Russian fighter said.

The Ukrainian practically did not speak Russian, but he swore in very good Russian, though. Babka could also get that his comrades had abandoned him. The two men survived by drinking rainwater. The Ukrainian soldier could live for three days and then died. The Russian remained alone until his comrades found him. He said that he had spent ten days in the dugout near Bakhmut.

On December 25, 2023, the military man arrived in Moscow. He is going to remain under medical supervision for about two more months. His comrades believe that he will be awarded the Order of Courage.