Alpha Group Ukraine - Olena Kiselova shows the obituary for Volodymyr Kiselov, son of the Ukrainian security service. He was 32 years old. Photo by Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail • Courtesy of family
Captain Volodymyr Kiselov has a choice: he can retreat with his Ukrainian special forces and perhaps live to see his wife and baby daughter, or he can face intense Russian fire and let his men escape.
Alpha Group Ukraine
In a battle on May 7 in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, 32-year-old Captain Kiselov chose the latter. Members of his elite combat unit, the notorious Alpha Group of the Security Service of Ukraine, Captain Kiselov, nicknamed "Vova" and "Uncle", made a successful comeback as fellow officers. Sasha” stayed behind to cover the fire. Both were killed.
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"Vova and brother Sasha saved the rest of the group," said Oleksandr Reznikov, the 31-year-old who met Captain Kiselov in the army and is his best friend. "They said to others, 'If it's not us, who's going to do it?' they said.
Captain Kiselov's death came as he met with The Globe and Mail to discuss his unit's role in the successful defense of Kiev, as well as the impending war over eastern Ukraine. He fears that the second phase of the war will be more difficult and dangerous for him and his men - unless the West quickly supplies Ukraine's artillery.
Details of his latest mission are not clear and the SBU news agency said it could not comment on combat casualties while the war was ongoing.
But family and friends of Captain Kiselov believe he was a hero who helped change the course of the war for Ukraine. They want him to tell his story - at least what he knows.
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They also argue that his death could have been avoided if the West had moved more quickly to supply long-range weapons, reducing the ability of special forces such as Captain Kiselov to launch dangerous attacks against Russian artillery and weapons.
After several weeks of fighting, when it became clear that Ukraine was fiercely and successfully resisting the Russian offensive, Canada and other Western allies began sending heavy artillery into Ukraine.
"If we had artillery and missiles, we would have won this war. But now we can't reach them and that's why they're moving forward," Captain Kiselov told the Globe on April 21.
Sixteen days after this interview in a restaurant in Kiev - and before Ukraine announced it was going to use Western howitzers in the field - Captain Kiselov died.
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Poltava's central park was a favorite place for Captain Kiselov and his family to walk during their short breaks.
Although Ukraine claims to have killed more than 25,000 Russian troops since the war began on February 24, its own military losses are a closely guarded secret. It has officially acknowledged the deaths of between 2,500 and 3,000 combatants, but Western estimates put the number closer to 11,000.
Last week, Captain Kiselov's mother, his widow, and Sergeant Sergeant Oleksandr Reznikov (no relation to the Defense Minister) agreed to meet with Globe to tell the story of a professional soldier whose job was to remain as anonymous as possible behind enemy lines. stay.
This work made Captain Kiselov proud and good. He and his men played an important role in the battle for Hostomel Airport near Kiev in the early hours of the war. Ill-equipped and surprised by Russian attempts to capture the airport with helicopters and paratroopers, Ukrainian forces thwarted Russian plans to invade Hostomel with large forces and quickly capture the capital.
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During the process, a patchwork of fighters from the Alpha Group, special units of the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR, local reservists and foreign volunteers graced the most elite units of the Russian army.
Before Hostomel, there was hope that Russia's larger and technically superior army would quickly conquer large parts of Ukraine. Later, both sides learned that Ukraine is able and ready to stand up for itself.
Later, Captain Kiselov and his men were among the first Ukrainian troops to enter Bucha, a city outside Kiev, where they committed mass murders and rapes during the month under Russian occupation. It was an experience that haunted him for the last five weeks of his life.
A destroyed street in Bucha is seen on April 7 after Ukrainian forces recaptured it from Russian invaders.
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Captain Kiselov joined the army at the age of 18 and soon rose to the rank of officer. Soon he was selected for SBU.
The successor to the Soviet KGB has a long and controversial history in Ukraine. It was used as a tool of repression by Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, but has undergone major purges and reforms since being ousted in the 2014 revolution.
Captain Kiselov belonged to a new generation of SBU officers who grew up in independent Ukraine. They replaced high-ranking agents, veterans of the KGB whose true loyalty has worried successive Ukrainian governments. This was never a problem for Captain Kiselov, who grew up in the central Poltava region. According to his mother Olena Kiselova, her son has always been very proud to be Ukrainian. "He was a silent patriot. He didn't shout about it, but he loved Poltava and Ukraine," Ms. Kiselova said. "He told me, 'Mom, I want to be with SBU because I feel like I'm needed there.' "
He said he was a "sick boy" but wanted to join the army. He developed his strength and skills by secretly taking kickboxing lessons and pretending to be swimming with his friends. "I opened the newspaper and saw a picture of him after kickboxing," he said. The sickly boy grew fit and muscular and broad-shouldered, he would walk five to six miles a day.
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After joining the SBU, Captain Kiselov spent five years fighting Russian plenipotentiary forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, in a smaller war before this year's Russian invasion. There he met MSgt. Reznikov said his friend was a natural leader. "He was always confident. Everyone wanted to be in his department because it was a guarantee that you would come back alive."
In 2019, Captain Kiselov was invited to Kiev to join the SBU's special operations group. "I don't know and I'm not going to tell you what they're doing there," MSgt said. said Reznikov.
In an interview with the Globe in April, Captain Kiselow said Alpha Group's role is often to operate behind enemy lines, attacking columns of troops and cutting supply lines.
Such duties intensified after February 24. Captain Kiselov told Globe that he and his unit had been sent to Hostomel 24 hours before the start of the war. They were surprised to see 30 Russian helicopters appear on the horizon - unsupported by ground forces and even airstrikes that weakened the waiting Ukrainian troops.
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"Their tactics didn't work because they wouldn't be countered," said Captain Kiselov, recalling the battle, after at least three helicopter gunships were shot down and some of Russia's most elite troops were killed or captured. surrounded by earth.
While Russian tactics were in disarray at Hostomel, Captain Kiselov was shocked by what he saw at Bucha. MSgt. Reznikov - at the time a member of the reservist Territorial Defense Forces from the neighboring town of Irpin and who entered with his best friend Buka - has a smartphone full of gruesome photos and videos of what he witnessed on April 1. The streets were dark. burning cars and corpses, decapitated bodies and severed limbs.
Captain Kiselow said his family must have been shocked by what he saw. "He couldn't kill civilians. He can't understand how it happened or why," said his widow Alina Kiselova, 31, who has lived outside Ukraine with her eight-month-old daughter Veronika since the war began. The family briefly returned to Poltava last week for the funeral.
Russia's withdrawal north of Kiev means the main battlefield will shift from the forested outskirts of the capital to the vast plains of eastern Ukraine. Globe met with Captain Kiselov and one of his special forces on April 22, as the unit recovered to Kiev. An artillery battle near the Russian-occupied town of Izyum, south of Kharkov, resulted in several concussions.
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Captain Kiselov agreed to the interview so that he could emphasize Ukraine's need for long-range artillery, which he believed would be decisive in the second phase of the war. "I don't know why this problem has taken so long," said MSgt. About Reznikov
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