Aleksandr had been drafted in September along with three close childhood friends, he said. He and another suffered concussions. One lost both legs. The fourth is missing.
But when he is discharged from the hospital, he said, he fully expects to return to Ukraine, and would do so willingly.
“This is how we are raised,” he said. “We grew up in our country understanding that it doesn’t matter how our country treats us. Maybe this is bad. Maybe this is good. Maybe there are things we do not like about our government.”
But, he added, “when a situation like this arises, we get up and go.”
Do not cry for the Russian anthropoids. This is how they were raised.