Ruslan A. Bilenko

The Son's Order — To His Mother. It has its own history. Ruslan Bilenko is from Donbas. He was born, grew up, and studied there, and from there he went to the army.₴There, in Donbas, not far from the village where he was born, he was killed in action.₴The Bilenko family moved to the village of Livi Solontsi 8 years ago. On September 20, 2014, Ruslan celebrated his 30th birthday. He was mobilized on October 12. Exactly one month later, on November 12, he was killed. He was buried in Solontsi.₴Ruslan's mother, Nelya Saveliivna, was invited to the administrative building of the district council on August 14 and before the session began, she was presented with the Order of Courage III class, which her son, Private Ruslan Bilenko, was posthumously awarded in accordance with the Presidential Decree of June 4, 2015.₴While presenting the award, the head of the district state administration Mykola Raitarovskyi thanked the mother for raising her son. And the head of the district council, Larysa Snihur, assured that such families would not be left without the support of local authorities.₴When Nelya Saveliivna and I left the administrative building of the district council, she, carefully holding the box with her son's order, seemed to say to herself: "Now I will say that the order should be attached to the monument — yes, with the order until the 31st day of his birth, and we will open it…".₴I had nothing to say to the mother. Because no orders or payments can replace a son.₴By the way, Nelya Saveliivna did not run for payments. When invited, she went, arranged everything, and received it.₴Everything that is due by law.₴The whole village already knew the night before about the death of her son. But she did not. She found out about it only in the morning.₴The village head and the deputy of the district military enlistment office informed her of this bitter news.₴As a mobilized soldier, Ruslan was a newcomer — he had served only a month. But despite this, he was thrown into the very hell: Donetsk airport.₴During breaks, he usually fiddled with the mortar. He tried to be on familiar terms with it.₴…A rotation came. They gathered people from all accumulation points. During the exit from the airport, their vehicle was shelled. The place was chosen so that in case of shelling, the first vehicle could not provide assistance to the other. None of them even had time to react…₴"A sniper killed Ruslan instantly, and another one, from Odesa," Nelya Saveliivna recounts what she was told at the district military enlistment office. "Of the six members of their mortar crew, two were killed, and four were wounded."₴The soldier managed to serve only a month. His older sister went to visit her brother. She reached the checkpoint in Krasnohorivka. Ruslan was brought there. And a week later, he was killed.₴"We talked on the phone a few times — back then it was still possible," Nelya Saveliivna recalls. "He said he had caught a cold. They were standing right in the field. And the first frosts had come. Later, volunteers brought warm clothes, medicine, organized a bathhouse… There was one problem — with water. They took it from the canal. And the road to it was under fire… That was all he reported." He never even mentioned Donetsk airport. "I didn't even believe at first that he was killed at the airport…" the mother says.₴Ruslan last called the day before his death. And again — not a word about the airport. He said everything was fine, they were settling in… That day he called both his sisters and acquaintances. It was as if he was saying goodbye.