“He was always eager to go to hell.” The story of deceased Serhiy Sova with a yellow and blue band on his wrist

For five months, Oksana Sova waited to hear from her husband. The last time she spoke to him was on April 19. At that time, Serhiy, a fighter of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar”, was on the Izyum axis in eastern Ukraine.

“Oksana, things are hard, we have losses, our forces are incommensurable, but we will fight here until the end,” Serhiy told her during the last phone conversation.

Since then, the woman has not heard from him again, as well as had no information about her husband, until the Ukrainian military de-occupied Kharkiv Oblast and found mass graves near Izyum. They began to exhume the bodies, and journalists began to record the crimes of the Russian occupiers.

In one of the photos that the whole world saw, there was an arm with a blue and yellow band. It was the arm of Oksana’s husband, Serhiy Sova. hromadske editorial staff expresses their sincere condolences to the family and everyone who knew Serhiy Sova. We publish this text in his memory.

“Warrior in life”

Even before the start of the war in 2014, Serhiy’s life was connected with military affairs. After school, he got accepted to the institute but decided not to continue his studies but to serve in the army. Serhiy was engaged in boxing since he was young, and it was this sport that shaped and hardened her husband’s character, Oksana tells us by phone.

Serhiy served as a conscript in the Ukrainian Air Force, and then signed a three-year contract. After his son Marat was born, Serhiy left the army. A few years later, the couple had a daughter, Elina. The family lived in Nikopol, and Serhiy worked there as a dog handler. Together with his wife, they bred and trained dogs.

“It was our family business. All of his professions were like that — showing his character. He was a warrior in life. And life brought him to the army once again. In 2014, he was mobilized in the first wave,” says Oksana.

Serhiy went to defend Ukraine without hesitation. He got into the 93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar". From 2014 to 2015, he defended Pisky and brought ammunition to Donetsk airport. When a contract would end Serhiy would sign a new one. He was a grenade launcher operator, a driver-mechanic, and a senior shooter. He also wanted to learn to be a combat medic.

“Service was a call for him, the war haunted him. He would return home, rest for a while, and then go back to war,” says Oksana.

Serhiy Sova

Photo: hromadske

“Not a single meter of our land”  

The large-scale invasion did not take Serhiy by surprise — he knew that Russia would attack sooner or later. When the big war broke out, Serhiy was serving under a contract again. He was in the Desna Training Center, where he was supposed to get the qualification of a combat medic. Therefore, since February 24, he served in the Chernihiv region, and after the de-occupation of the Chernihiv region, Serhiy asked to join his comrades from his brigade.

“His heart was calling to go to the 93rd Brigade. At that time, they were in the Kharkiv direction, and he got the commanders to transfer him to Kholodny Yar. He was always eager to go to hell because being in the 93rd Brigade means always being on the front line, with constant battles, and difficult tasks. He wanted to go to the guys, help them, wanted to fight,” says Oksana.

It was always harsh for her when her husband made such decisions but she knew she couldn’t convince him. Serhiy used to say that staying somewhere in the back was not for him. If the guys need help, then he should be with them.

“What the Russians were doing here was terrible for him. He was used to fighting according to the rules of war: if it is a war, then it is a war with the military, and not with the civilian population. Serhiy could not watch the Russian military fire at peaceful homes and civilians, he was desperate, it was beyond comprehension. He knew that our enemy was cruel, but nevertheless, he used to say: “Not a single meter of our land,” says Oksana.

“Living in the unknown is difficult, but seeing things like this is even worse”

On April 19, at 8 am, Serhiy called Oksana. They talked for a few minutes. Having heard Serhiy’s voice and the sounds in the background, the woman realized that the situation was difficult.

“Already at 10 AM, they had a tough fight. I called him in the evening, but there was no connection,” says Oksana.

Serhiy’s fellow soldiers also did not get in touch. Oksana started searching. She reached out to his friends from other brigades, but no one could contact Serhiy’s unit. There were tough battles in the Izyum direction all the time.

Oksana spent five months waiting for at least some information. Serhiy was considered missing. When Ukrainian troops began to liberate the Kharkiv region, Oksana expected the worst, because for five months Sergey was neither among the wounded nor among the prisoners.

“Every day my son and I watched the map showing how our troops were advancing. When these burial sites were found and the first photos appeared, I didn’t have to wait long. The first photo was a picture of that hand, and then my husband’s body. Of course, I would like to doubt, to forget everything I saw. Living in the unknown is difficult, but seeing things like this is even worse. My heart sank,” says Oksana.

Serhiy Sova

Photo: provided to hromadske

The woman could not hide her emotions from the children. 14-year-old Marat tried to support his mother, then went to his shell for the whole day. And he came to her with a letter that he wrote to President Zelensky.

“This is the hand of my father Serhiy Oleksandrovych Sova, a soldier and defender of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade “Kholodny Yar”, a Nikopol resident who fought for the freedom of our country since 2014. Mom recognized our dad from the tattoos on his body, after the exhumation of mass graves in the city of Izyum. This hand is a symbol of the Ukrainian warrior, indestructible and courageous. Please, facilitate getting my father home for a decent burial. I’m very proud of him! And I would be honored to accept from you a posthumous award for my dad,” Marat wrote in the letter.

“It was his cry from the heart, says Oksana. I also told our 9-year-old daughter about it.”

When Serhiy was declared missing, the woman hid it from the children, but as time passed — Oksana understood that the worst could happen.

“Then I said to my children: “We need to prepare for the fact that the father will protect us from heaven.” At first, it was very difficult because Elina is a daddy’s girl. Her father is everything to her, so it’s even harder for her. Serhiy raised Marat to be strong, stubborn, and courageous. Even though he is 14 years old, he is already like a real man. My children are an example of their father,” says Oksana.

At the beginning of the war, Serhiy asked Oksana to leave Nikopol. He was worried about his family, because they are the family of an anti-terrorist operation fighter, and it was not safe for them to stay in the city. But Oksana said that she would wait for Serhiy at home.

“I’m still waiting for our last meeting. Here, at home, everything is ours, and his spirit is here. Soon, we will go to Kharkiv, and I hope that we will take my husband’s body home.”

/ By Ksiusha Savoskina