Battle for Zmiiny. A heroic story: how Ukraine lost and returned an important island. Reconstruction

"Guys, we have to split up, because we will all die here," Bohdan Gotskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian border guard on Zmiiny Island, glanced at the shelter.

When, in the afternoon of February 24, the cruiser "Moskva" launched another volley on the island and a new air raid began, all the fighters whose positions were next to it crowded into the obviously too small shelter. 

There are no capital shelters at all on Zmiino, it is not so easy to burrow into the rock. Therefore, all shelters are quite light - they can still be saved from the wreckage, but if the plane drops a bomb directly on them, then it is impossible to survive.

In order not to die all at once, Gotsky decided to disperse the fighters to other shelters. The first three waited for a moment of silence and ran over. The second trio - two young guys and one fighter already in summer - ran out after them. 

In about thirty seconds, the roar of the plane was heard and the senior fighter of the trio jumped back into the shelter with a swing.