The commander of the tank battalion of the 32nd OMBr, Serhii Korniichuk, shared how the former defender of “Shakhtar,” Yaroslav Rakytskyi, traveled with them to the Toretsk direction.
Yaroslav Rakytskyi“I have been serving for a very long time. I have many comrades who watch football. Different things were said about Yaroslav. Whenever I post a photo with Rakytskyi, people would comment: ‘That’s a separatist’ or something similar. Perhaps some didn’t accept him because there was a lot of hate when he went to play for ‘Zenit’. He says he returned immediately when the full-scale invasion started.
I said: ‘Damn, guys, Yaroslav is coming to us. When we were in the Toretsk direction, it was very tough there. And not every volunteer or our acquaintance would sit in a car with us and drive into a city where the enemy is present. But Yaroslav traveled with us. He went out on a tank and even fired at the occupiers. We provided him that opportunity. It’s all on video available on the internet.
To be honest, I told him: ‘Brother, you can leave Ukraine.’ And he replied: ‘How long can I keep leaving? This is my country, I will live here. My children study here and they will live here,’” said Korniichuk.
