by Kirill Velesov
[REGNUM] Students' Day, or Tatyana's Day, is a widely celebrated holiday in Russia with a long history.
On January 25, we congratulate both those young people who have accepted the challenge of the times, standing up to defend the Motherland, and those who give their free time to work in the rear to increase the combat readiness of the army, performing tasks in the special military operation zone.
"WE NEED TO GET TO OURS"
General mobilization was declared in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics on February 19, 2022, after the situation on the line of combat contact between the units of the DPR and LPR people's militias and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) escalated. Then the Ukrainian military intensified shelling, bringing in additional personnel and military equipment. Donbas men aged 18 to 65 stood up to defend the sovereignty of the republics.
Since February 26, 19-year-old Mikhail Tretyakov, a third-year undergraduate student in the economics department of Donetsk State University (DSU), has also joined the ranks of the Cascade unit of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR.
In one military collective of the unit there were both mobilized soldiers, among them four students, and already experienced fighters. The "old men" treated the new recruits with understanding, even helped to get equipment. However, it also did not go without friendly jokes addressed to the young fighters, traditional in the soldier environment.
The conscripts received virtually no combat training due to the need for immediate assistance to the troops operating in the Mariupol direction. The young fighters were shown the basics of handling weapons in just two days, and on March 1 they went into battle.
The unit in which Mikhail served was supposed to fight saboteurs in the liberated territory. But the liberation of Mariupol had already begun, so he was soon transferred to the 1st assault company, which participated in urban battles on the left bank of the Kalmius River.
On the afternoon of March 28, 2022, Mikhail looked death in the eye but managed to survive.
"We were in the ravine in less favorable conditions, since the enemy position on the opposite slope was higher. They saw us well, but we, especially when it was sunset and the sun was shining in our direction, did not see them at all. At that moment, the sniper and machine gunner began working, and the main part of our group went for ammunition. The door of the house where we were located faced the enemy, who opened fire as soon as they noticed movement," Mikhail told IA Regnum.
A neighboring group came to the rescue, opening fire on the enemy, who was in concrete shelters, practically blindly. Thanks to this, Mikhail and his senior comrade were able to get out to their own. They were escaping from the fire, being literally in the palm of the enemy's hand.
"We had to walk through shelled yards. The whistle of bullets, everything falling nearby. It's hard to convey what emotions there were. There was only one thing in my head: I had to reach our people. Consider it your second birthday today, said a comrade. Then our two groups united and took a more advantageous position on the house above. We became a screen to prevent the enemy from counterattacking our units on the flank and rear. We held this position for a week," he shares his memories.
Subsequently, Mikhail was concussed and awarded the medal "For the Liberation of Mariupol". In the summer of 2022, after treatment in the hospital, he was demobilized from military service. Now Mikhail Tretyakov continues his studies at two faculties of DonSU: economics and law.
THE MOST HUMANE PROFESSION
First-year student of the Belgorod Medical Institute Danila Borisov took an academic leave after the start of the SVO and arrived in the combat zone at the end of 2022. He served as a medical instructor of the 1st rifle battalion of the 9th separate assault brigade, which fought near Avdiivka.
Even basic medical knowledge can save a person's life, Danila told IA Regnum. Desmurgy and bandaging skills were very well trained by college teachers.
In his practice, he most often had to deal with mine-explosive injuries and shrapnel wounds. "About 60% are shrapnel wounds, 20% are bullet wounds, the rest are contusions," the source told the publication.
Danila Borisov spent more than a year in the SVO zone. Now the future therapist is a second-year student at his institute.
KURSK VOLUNTEERS
In August 2024, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces invaded the territory of the Kursk region, managing to capture the border area and several settlements. Alexander Fetisov, a student of the Faculty of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication of South-West State University, a cadet of the regional military training center, has been working at the site of the United Humanitarian Warehouse of the "People's Front" since the first days of the invasion.
During a shift, cadets make about 70 trench or dugout candles from tin cans and cardboard. One of the units to which YUZGU transfers this product is fighting in the Glushkov direction in the Kursk region.
A law student and head of the student volunteer movement "Indigo YUZGU" Zulfina Aliyeva organized a point for weaving camouflage nets at her university. According to her, the nets are woven not only by students and teachers, but also by caring people who want to help the army.
"This is work that requires patience. Everything depends on the weaving technique. We show beginners the simplest method of weaving with a zigzag. There is nothing complicated about it. About ten people can weave a 3x6 meter net in two days. Sometimes we manage to do it in a day," the interlocutor of IA Regnum shared.
UNIVERSITIES FOR THE FRONT
There are currently over 8 million students studying in Russian universities and colleges. In the spring of 2023, the “Universities for the Front!” campaign was launched in Russia on the initiative of the university community, supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
More than 500 educational institutions across the country took part in it. During this time, the fighters on the front lines in the special operation zone received over a thousand tons of various goods collected by Russian students. Including personal hygiene products, food, cars and even special equipment - snow and swamp vehicles.
In some universities, pilot production facilities have emerged where teachers, students and graduates manufacture sapper “cats”, potbelly stoves, antennas and drones, which have become a symbol of modern warfare.
Many universities regularly send cargo directly to the front. And a logistics hub has been created at the National Research University MPEI, through which centralized supplies are sent to the troops. A considerable part of them is sent to the heroic "winged infantry" - soldiers and officers of the airborne troops.