“How 25-year-old Bohdan “Pirate” commands a battalion of the Armed Forces and holds the defense in Sumy Oblast.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
He is 25. Call sign – Pirate. The real name is Bohdan. He is from the Kirovohrad region and has been serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2017 – long before the word “war” became everyday for the whole country.
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He does not speak of vocation in lofty terms. He says simply: he knew from the 7th or 8th grade that he would join the army. This confidence did not change. It only took shape – through study, service, responsibility.
In 2022, Bohdan graduated from the Kharkiv National University of the Air Force. Faculty of Aviation Engineering. Airplanes and engines. After graduation — service in the Air Force, in the transport aviation brigade. He worked as a senior aviation technician, servicing Il-76s, big machines designed for the sky, not the trenches.
But war rarely asks for a specialty.
In 2023, in February, his unit underwent coordination in the combined rifle brigade. The first rotation is a unit commander in a sniper platoon. The second is the company commander. The third is a battalion. First, chief of intelligence, later deputy commander. Today – battalion commander.
“The main thing is to understand the specifics of our workhe says. — I am on combat duty. And this experience cannot be obtained otherwise”.
His battalion conducts defensive battles. The task is simple in formulation and difficult in execution: to hold the lane, to prevent a breakthrough. This means constant stress, lack of sleep, and decisions that don’t have ideal options.
The unit has small arms, calculations of strike and reconnaissance drones. Fire support is provided by allied artillery units. They work as one system – without it, the defense simply does not exist.
The Pirate’s motivation is devoid of abstractions.
“I don’t want Russian troops to reach my househe says. — And my home is both Kharkiv and Kropyvnytskyi. Protecting your land is a basic thing”.
The first combat sortie as part of the combined brigade took place in the Donetsk direction during the 2023 counteroffensive. Staromayorske. There they advanced, withdrew to regroup, and advanced again. It didn’t feel like a rush attack from the map — more like hard, repetitive work where every meter had a price.
At that time, Bohdan was the commander of the department. The most difficult thing, he recalls, was not to fight, but to talk to people:
“When the staff first enters the position, the main thing is that they do not fall into a stupor. They need to have the tasks explained to them. Give them a sense of control.”.
In 2024, he commanded a company of anti-tank missile systems. During the assault near Velika Novosilka, his unit held the defense for almost nine hours – from morning to late afternoon. Ammunition was running out, the pressure from the enemy was increasing.
Then – departure.
“I had four seriously woundedhe says. — People are above all else”.
He received a bullet wound in his right hand. Then there were hospitals, treatment, rehabilitation. And return.
As the head of the battalion’s intelligence, he was responsible for aerial reconnaissance — identifying targets and transmitting information to command posts. A job where a mistake is very expensive.
That’s how he got to his current position.
Despite the fatigue and difficulty, he says: the fighters are determined. They know what they are doing and why. The enemy is pressing with technologies: fpv drones, insidious Zhduns, artillery, but we are on our own land. Each time, we hold on more and neutralize the deadly iron and the enemy.
In the Sumy Oblast, where the battalion maintains the defense, the Ukrainian infantry literally digs into the ground, working both on the ground and in the air.
The pirate looks at the phone again. Because the responsibility does not disappear for a minute.
From Sumy region Nadia Balagurakan officer of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
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