When a squad of Russian soldiers forced their prisoners to kneel in the dirt, Yulia Mikitenko could do nothing but watch.
As the lead commander of a Ukrainian drone platoon, Yulia was in the horrific position of witnessing war crimes unfold in real time via live feed on her iPad.
6
6
6
Its team had spotted Russian paratroopers in the final stages of the attack on a Ukrainian position on the front line in the Donbas region.
Russian forces were seen firing tear gas into the bunker, forcing the five Ukrainian defenders out into the open.
“We saw it all live,” Yulia, 29, told The Sun.
“Our men didn't have time to react.
“They had to come out to breathe.
“And when they left, they surrendered.
“The Russians made them kneel.
“Then they shot them.
“The Russians took over the situation.”
Such atrocities are not unusual.
Ukraine says it has recorded more than 90 cases of prisoners of war captured and executed by Russian invaders.
All but a few of that have happened this year, and Yulia thinks this is a new policy.
“The Russians are taking no prisoners now,” she says.
“They are shooting at them in front of our drones.”
Witnessing the horrors of war became a horrific part of her job.
She sometimes has to use her drones to find dead or wounded comrades.
Once, it took half a day to find what remained of its beloved commander, Captain Dmytro, who had been torn to shreds by a direct hit by a Russian artillery shell.
Those are her darkest days – when her comrades are killed or maimed and she can't do anything to help.
Yulia is no stranger to loss.
Her husband, soldier Ilya Serbin, was killed in a Russian bombing in 2018.
Her father, Mykola, a sergeant, set himself on fire in 2020 in protest at what he saw as President Zelensky's failure to stand up to Russian aggression in the run-up to Putin's full-scale invasion.
Perhaps it inevitably lost one of its soldiers on a mission assigned to him.
When I ask her how she is dealing with the situation, she says, “I don’t know how to answer.”
“I despise men who don't protect their families.”
Then she adds with calm steel: “The only thing I can do is not let all these feelings overwhelm me.
“I consider this part of my job.”
How is morale in the broader military?
“I feel so tired,” she says.
And with this fatigue comes frustration that not everyone is lifting their weights.
Yulia, who speaks fluent English and dreams of becoming a professional translator, says: “It sometimes bothers me that people back home live a normal life, and go to restaurants, stores, and movie theaters.
“Especially when I see guys with their girlfriends and kids knowing that my soldiers don't have these opportunities.”
Teams like hers only get 15 days off a year as the battle rages on.
“I believe that every adult man and woman capable of carrying a gun should serve and protect themselves,” she adds.
“It's not the country you're protecting, it's you and your family.
“If you cannot protect yourself and your family, you have no right to live in your country.”
As she speaks, her anger grows: “I despise these men who don't carry a gun and protect their families.
“And I despise women who choose such men and who hide them.
6
6
6
“I would be very interested to see what these men will do when the Russians come to their homes and start raping their wives.”
Then she checks herself.
“On the other hand, I feel good when I return to Kiev for 15 days, and I can live my normal life in cafes and theatres,” she says.
When Putin unleashed his all-out invasion in February 2022, Ukraine's armed forces were filled with eager volunteers determined to defend their country.
Yulia was one of them.
She rejoined the 54th Mechanized Brigade where she served in Donbass with her late husband, Ilya, between 2016 and 2018.
But as the war continued, the pool of volunteers dwindled.
The war continued
Countless thousands were killed or wounded, and Kiev was forced to forcefully recruit men to replace them.
Horrifying footage showed men of fighting age being dragged kicking and screaming from bars and clubs into waiting police cars.
Like many of her comrades, Yulia had mixed feelings about the emergency project in Ukraine.
“A year ago I did not support forced mobilization,” she says.
“The soldiers who come to us like this are not very good soldiers.
“It is very difficult to convince them to be warriors.”
It bothers me that people still live a normal life, going to restaurants and shops. Especially when I see guys who have girlfriends and they don't know that my soldiers don't have those opportunities
Yulia Mikitenko
Now, more than a thousand days after the bloodbath, it looks as if this may be the only option for Ukraine.
“It's not a good idea, but it's the only way to fill the army with people, because we have the right to have a rest,” Yulia says.
All 25 soldiers in Yulia's platoon are volunteers.
One is a former YouTuber, there is a merchant marine sailor and a computer engineer.
Some are former stormtroopers who came to her unit traumatized or scarred from their time in the infantry.
For those who are not physically harmed, the brutal war takes its toll in other ways.
“If the West is not decisive, there will be no peace.”
Recently, one of her soldiers asked her if he could go on vacation because his young son was forgetting who his father was.
Yulia says: “My friend came to me and asked for leave.
“He said, ‘Can I go on vacation because my son started calling me uncle?’”
Fortunately, Yulia agreed. “Of course,” I said, “why didn’t you come to me earlier?”
When Yulia visited London earlier this year to promote her critically acclaimed autobiography, How Well I Have No Fear of Death, it was her first break from hostilities in almost a year.
This came as President Zelensky was touring Western capitals to promote his “Victory Plan” to end the war, which hinges on joining NATO to deter a future Russian invasion.
Yulia is convinced that peace talks are coming and that the war may finally end next year.
“I'm sure we will negotiate,” she says.
“We are exhausted.
“Russia is exhausted.
“Both sides are exhausted.”
The issue is whether this peace will last.
“If the West has enough conviction to maintain pressure on Russia, and if Ukraine is allowed to join NATO, there will be a chance to avoid the next wave of aggression,” she says.
But if the West is not decisive, there will be no peace.
“There will be a short pause to prepare for the next wave of war.
“Unfortunately, Russia will be ready for this much sooner than Ukraine.”
- How Good I Have No Fear of Death: Lieutenant Yulia Mikitenko's Fight for Ukraine, by Lara Marlow, is published by Zeus Bloomsbury, priced £20.
