The border guard "Stokhid" met the full-scale armed invasion of russia in Rivne. The serviceman was serving in the border guard department that ensured border control at the local airport. With the beginning of the armed aggression, the unit transferred from routine duty to defending the airport.

Before performing combat missions, all servicemen undergo the necessary training, including studying new types of weapons, as the State border guard service of Ukraine is rearming itself to NATO standards.

Thus, in the summer of 2022, a border guard mastered a new specialisation for himself - anti-aircraft gunner. During the training, the man learned how to operate the NATO man-portable air defence system «Stinger». "It was interesting, but in reality it's a bit different," «Stokhid» recalled the training and added, based on his combat experience, "it's good if you have 5-7 seconds to make a prick, catch the target and launch.".

"When we arrived in Avdiivka, we were assigned to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and I want to thank them for that, because the guys told us about the situation, told us how to do everything correctly, and coordinated on the ground. Since they already had experience, the guys are strong, they have seen a lot of russian hardware," said the border guard.

«Stokhid» says that the fighting in the Avdiivka area is not calming down, with enemy aircraft constantly trying to launch air strikes on the city, and russian bombs are killing civilians.

" During the week, we went to our positions, studied the area to find out the distances where our positions were located and where the enemy had placed theirs. The aircrafts often came in, only when the weather was bad they did not fly," the soldier recalls the beginning of his combat activity.

Due to a lack of combat experience, the soldier missed his first air target. He did not have time to react in time, everything was happening too fast. "The first aircraft was like a gift, but since I had no experience, I missed it. The first pair of enemy aircrafts left, they went up, fired shots, turned "belly up" and flew away, one and the other," the border guard admits.

However, our defenders learn quickly, and at the second opportunity, «Stokhid» shot down a russian warplane. "And we had already caught the second pair, I missed the first aircraft and worked on the second. So the first aircraft appeared, they were working in pairs, and it was clear that the second one would follow. I made a stab, and when the second aircraft appeared from the valley, I caught it in my sights and fired a shot, and the missile was launched. The aircraft was moving away, and the missile was following it," the soldier explained.

The border guard also speaks positively about the weapons that managed to shoot down the enemy attack aircraft. The «Stinger» are a good device, which means that they work automatically. In theory, we are taught that you press the button for 2-3 seconds until the missile is launched. In our case, it worked instantly - we pressed the button and immediately fired," said «Stokhid».

But he received a message about the destruction of an enemy combat aircraft on a routine basis. "We got into the car because we were withdrawing from our positions. It was already dark and the commander said: "Congratulations, the aircraft is down". That was it. I thanked my colleague who was with me at the position and corrected me. It's nice, of course, that there is one less target that was shooting at our guys," the soldier said.