Worked in Belarus's Defence Ministry, and now is fighting in Ukraine's Armed Forces. Story of mercenary with alias Immortal
The well-known Belarusian mercenary Andrii "Immortal" Tratsevskyi worked as an engineer in Belarus’s Defence Ministry for several years, and now he is fighting on the side of Ukraine.
After escaping the repressions, the fighter joined the ranks of the Belarusian Volunteer Corps to fight against the regime that deprived him of his home.
The story of Immortal was told in the new material of the Ukrainian Svidok (Ukrainian Witness) project.
"Andrii has been at the front since the first day of the full-scale war. He is a Belarusian who, together with his compatriots, is fighting on the side of Ukraine as part of the Belarusian Volunteer Corps," says Svidok.
Photo: Ukrainian Svidok
Before moving and participating in the full-scale war, Andrii worked as an engineer at the Belarus’s Defence Ministry. After his resignation, he worked as a taxi driver.
"I was repeatedly offered to become a policeman or a soldier – I refused. This contradicts my worldview. Once I saw a major of the Belarusian army force a young soldier to cut the lawn with office scissors.
I recorded it on my smartphone, and then I wrote a letter of resignation," Andrii says.
In Belarus, the fighter suffered repressions: on 14 August 2020, he was arrested for participating in protests against dictator Lukashenko. According to Andrii, there were more than 20 people in the cell, the detained protesters were not fed.
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The volunteer also said that his native Belarusian language is the language of teachers and oppositionists, because it does not actually exist in the country.
"Everyone speaks Russian. If your neighbour hears that you speak Belarusian, he might call the police and report that you are an 'oppositionist,'" says Immortal.
In 2020, the man moved to Kyiv. Two years later, he went to fight for Ukraine.
"Here we are fighting the enemy that also took my country. If I die, it will be in a fight for truth, for people and absolute goodness," Andrii says.
Now the serviceman fights mainly on the Zaporizhzhia front.
"On the second line of defence, Russian dugouts are filled with concrete and fortified five metres deep. You can get the enemy out of there only by entering these fortifications on your own feet," he says about the fighting.
Previously:
Immortal also participates in the Telegram project "TrO Bavovna", a channel where Ukrainian soldiers can communicate among themselves, together with twin snipers Yakovlev and other military personnel.
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