A Ukrainian soldier sacrificed himself to slow down Russian troops from advancing further into the war-torn country.
Hailed as a hero, Marine battalion engineer, Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych, blew himself up to destroy a bridge in an effort to stop Russian tanks.
New York Post says Volodymyrovych was deployed to the Henichesk bridge in the southern province of Kherson when the Russian tanks advanced, the Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page.
“On this difficult day for our country, when the Ukrainian people give way to the Russian occupiers in all directions, one of the hardest places on the map of Ukraine was the Crimean intersection, where one of the first enemies met a separate marine battalion,” the post stated.
When the battalion decided that the only way to block the armoured column was by blowing up the bridge, the brave soldier volunteered to place mines on the span, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said.
Midway through the mission on the bridge which connected Russian-occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine, Volodymyrovych decided to pay the ultimate price when he realized he had no time to get to safety.
“According to his brothers in arms, Vitaly got in touch [with them] and said he was going to blow up the bridge. Immediately after an explosion rang out,” the military said.
“Our brother was killed. His heroic act significantly slowed down the push of the enemy, allowing the unit to relocate and organize the defense,” the statement said.
“Russian invaders, know, under your feet the earth will burn! We will fight as long as we live! And as long as we are alive we will fight!” it added.
Military commanders said they planned to give Volodymyrovych a posthumous award for his “heroic act.”
