“We were billeted in a farmhouse on the edge of town, it was July 9th and we’d been in Donbas 2 weeks at this point. I was walking out the door when I heard what I thought was a low flying jet like we’d been hearing regularly.

I looked up and saw it was a missile coming down. It hit the apartment complex 300 meters away housing soldiers and civilians. I grabbed my English speaking Ukrainian buddy. We donned our fatigues and helmets Grabbed our medical bags and started running.

As we approached the building he stopped and said we have to go back, there will be a second missile. Other members of our team had already reached the buildings. Not a minute later a second missile struck, luckily he said that and we had time to run and take cover.

Soldiers started coming down the road from the complex, black faces, desperately choking for air. We gave them what water we had, deemed nobody needed immediate medical aid and started back to the buildings.

Ten minutes had passed since the second missile. As we approached the burning rubble, and could see the confusion and chaos amongst the soldiers and civilians, a third missile screamed in. This time we had no time to run, we hit the deck….we were in it this time.

The rest of summer was uneventful . Static line mostly. Lots of artillery. Couple wounded. Contusions and the like. Firing PKM at Russian hedgerows across fields. But no visuals.”

⁃ ‘Jak’. Western volunteer. Donbas Front. July 9th, 2022.