Hennadii P. Vehera (Zelenyi)

Makara's Notes: "The bullet hit the armor… A little above the center of the chest plate… No, it didn't penetrate, it just struck him like a hammer blow to the chest after breaking the sound barrier from that distance. He flew back with his arms wide open and his mouth open in a silent scream, crashing his back into the concrete wall and hitting his head. 'Damn…', he exclaimed sharply as he exhaled. In his wide-open, almost glassy eyes from the shock of pain, there was no fear, just a silent question: 'How could this happen?'. We met Zeleny in the 'sparrow's nest' — a multi-story apartment building with blown-out windows from constant shelling, peeling walls, and eternal dampness inside, where he and his comrades were on duty. A kind, cheerful soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, always with a smile on his face, who, according to him, was a champion in shooting in the past. Of course, at the first opportunity, he got a sniper rifle — and hell began for the separatists. Zeleny shot from the windows of his building at everything that moved. He shot immediately and on the fly, sometimes not even looking through his sight, and he even hit. When he took over the 'watch', everyone in the positions knew about it, as the single, ringing shots echoed throughout the area. 'And why Zeleny?', I asked. 'Because Gena, like a crocodile,' he replied with a smile. 'Well, the "crocodile" didn't stick, so now everyone calls him Zeleny.' Our team couldn't ignore the fact that a skilled shooter had appeared in the allied unit, and everyone immediately went to the 'sparrow's nest' to meet him. Upon arriving at the command post, we explained our intentions to the senior officer and entered. Zeleny greeted us with a joyful smile and immediately began to describe the situation in detail, often enviously glancing at our rare tool at that time: 'Over there they have trenches, every 50 meters — bunkers, and in that ruined building with bags on the roof — they have a "cuckoo". I calculated when they change shifts, when they bring them food and ammunition. The distance, however, is in kilometers, and there are more.' He pulled out an A4 sheet from his tablet, where he had drawn a detailed fire map with marked landmarks and defined distances to them. 'And how did you measure the distance?', Vados asked. 'How? I have a good eye, I've eaten a pound of salt in this business.' — 'Come on. You should know that in our business, a mistake is a miss. Do you have a rangefinder?'. — 'Where would I get one? Specialists came here, they had one for 1000 meters, I managed to get by, and beyond that — it was just a guess.' — 'Well, that's fixable, now we've come to help you. We have a cool…'. — 'Prytula sent it,' I couldn't help but boast, pulling expensive equipment out of my backpack. 'Manat-kolotyt', Gena smacked his lips, examining the rangefinder. — 'That's right. Let's check your "pound of salt" now…'. And we got to work, discussing among other things the activity of the separatists in that area. The example of the rifle in the Cook's backpack was just tempting Zeleny's gaze. 'What kind of device is that?', he couldn't hold back. And the Cook, with the caution of a surgeon, unbuckled the straps and took out his doll… 'Manat-kolotyt,' the shooter expressed his delight. 'With such a toy, I would have cleaned everything here already.' 'You'll go to school and get one just like it. Don't you want to join our unit?'. — 'Well, I'll think about it, of course.' Then we suggested Zeleny take a break because we began to focus on observing with our optical devices, studying the terrain, positions, and all the landmarks marked by Gena. 'Okay, then I'll make you some tea. And if anything happens, call me.' After that, we started visiting Zeleny often, exchanging phone numbers, and we would run to him at the first call… That day, an enemy bullet broke several of Zeleny's ribs, caused internal organ bruising, and forever changed his outlook on life in the hospital… Time passed. I met him under the 'bridge'. He was sitting on the armor of a BTR and smiling. 'Brother! Glad to see you alive and well!', I exclaimed as I got out of the car. And he jumped to the ground and came to me, smiling just as widely and spreading his arms for a hug. 'I've changed my mind! I don't want to be a sniper. I'm going to be a machine gunner now. Now I'm in the crew. The weapon is more powerful, and there are more shots per minute,' he rattled on, and I was just happy to see him alive and well. We chatted, smoked a few cigarettes, and then went our separate ways. And two hours later, I learned that Zeleny's BTR had hit a mine. The entire crew was killed…"