Journalist: Three Ukrainian marines were killed when they went on a reconnaissance mission without being ordered to do so
Three Ukrainian marines, who were killed in the Donbas, went on a reconnaissance mission to gather information about separatist positions at the front line near Mariupol, journalist Yuri Butusov wrote on his Facebook page.
“On 8th of January, three fighters of 501st Battalion of 36th Marine Brigade: the Commander of 3rd Division of the Marine Corps, Junior Sergeant, Sergiy Sonko (23 years old) and his subordinates Junior Sergeant, Mykola Okhrymenko (53 years old) and Senior Seaman Sergiy Trubin (29 years old) went to the front lines in the area of Oktyabr near Mariupol without the knowledge of the Command. They were motivated fighters and decent people. Mykola Okhrymenko waged war on the front lines for more than two years and lived in Donetsk before the war. They didn’t want just to sit at the stronghold, they wanted active actions,” Butusov noted. According to journalist, all of them were sober.
“Apparently, the warriors decided to go on reconnaissance of enemy’s positions. They managed to covertly get to the front line and come up to the defense line. Unfortunately, the tragedy occurred – the warriors blew themselves up on mine. Nobody knew where to look for them and, therefore, nobody could come to the rescue. The enemy found their bodies on 11th of January. On 14th of January, the bodies were handed over to families in so they could bury them,” the journalist reported.
Butusov noted that Ukrainian soldiers often take matters into their own hands along the conflict line.
“That is the reality of undeclared war during announced truce, when there are restrictions on military actions but with all this, the war continues every day and our warriors are seeking for opportunities to inflict damage on the enemy by themselves. Unfortunately, in 2016, there were hundreds of such unauthorized forays to the front line, when fighters took and take responsibility for all risks and act on their own. Unfortunately, losses in such unauthorized forays are real. As a rule, these losses are legally recorded, they say, everything happens according to orders,” the journalist wrote.