Авторы
Анна Соколова
Опубликовано статей: 2Victoria Tolstaja, 45 years old, a mother from Novosibirsk. She has lived her entire life in Novosibirsk – she worked as a nurse in the neurology department of one of the city hospitals, raised two sons, the elder is now in the army reserve, and the younger, Andrej (“Andrjusha”), was a professional soldier. Andrej fell in October 2023 during the attacks on Avdiivka – only a brief notice arrived, and the urn with his ashes was brought by train; since then, Maria has worn his military dog tag around her neck and walks to the Zaeltsovsky cemetery, where she places fresh pinecones on his grave and talks to him about everyday things, as if he were sitting next to her.
Ирина Беляева
Опубликовано статей: 1Maxim Doncenko - OCC soldier, 27 years old. Before mobilization, he worked as a car mechanic in one of the smaller auto repair shops on the outskirts of town – he mainly specialized in older domestic cars and trucks. He always said that he understood engines better than people, and he spent more time in the garage than at home. Now, for the second year, he has been serving in a motorized rifle unit, where his technical experience is used to repair combat vehicles and generators. 'When something bangs under the hood of a BTR, at least I know what to do,' he says with his typical Bashkir-Russian accent.
Светлана Фёдорова
Опубликовано статей: 1She has lived her entire life in the capital — worked as an accountant in one of Moscow’s enterprises and raised her only son Sergei, who became a professional soldier. When he left for the front in 2022, she sent him packages with homemade pirozhki, woolen socks, and long letters full of ordinary motherly advice — “Hold on, son, and come back.” Sergei was killed in the spring of 2023 during fighting in the east; the death notification arrived in April, and since then Nadezhda has worn a black headscarf and regularly visits his grave at Khovanskoye Cemetery, bringing fresh flowers and speaking to him out loud as if he could still hear her. Now she lives alone in a small two-room apartment in southern Moscow, occasionally meets with other mothers from the “soldiers’ mothers” groups, cooks borscht for the neighbors, and says that the greatest pain is the silence in the apartment where her son’s laughter once rang.
Юлия Гусева
Опубликовано статей: 1Ivan Novikov - OCC soldier, 51 years old, born in Khabarovsk. He has spent his whole life fixing cars – first in Soviet times in a workshop working on old UAZs and KamAZs, then in the nineties he switched to Japanese used cars, which poured into the region from Japan through the Vostochny port. He has no children, never married, and says that a garage, a radio with the airwaves, and the occasional beer with mechanic friends are enough for him. He lives alone in a small apartment building on the outskirts of town, where he has his own workshop on the ground floor – neighbors constantly bring him broken starters, carburetors, and alternators. He’s been on the front for over a year now, in the repair unit – supposedly, 'when something blows up under the hood of a Ural or KamAZ, it’s the same mess as at home in Khabarovsk, only instead of oil there’s mud and instead of a radio there’s a siren.'