Mortal Combat: Interview With Russian Fighter Who Won In Hand-To-Hand Combat

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In early January, a video of a hand-to-hand fight between a Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, in which the Russian fighter emerges victorious, went viral on social networks. This video was shot on the helmet camera of a Ukrainian fighter on November 16, 2024 in the village of Trudovoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. 

According to Ukrainian sources, the UAF serviceman was Dmytro Maslovsky with the call sign “Cobra”. He was a soldier of the 71st Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Airborne Assault Troops of the AFU. He participated in the ATO (“Anti-terrorist operation” – in Ukraine it’s the official name of the war in Donbass 2014-2018). From 2017 to 2020 he served under contract in the AFU. In 2023 he was mobilised and carried out combat missions in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya directions.

Dmytro Maslovsky

Video of a fight between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers filmed by a Ukrainian drone

Some sources report that the Russian fighter was fought by another serviceman, whose data the AFU does not want to disclose.

The victorious Russian fighter turned out to be a storm trooper from Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Andrei Grigoriev, call sign Tuta, who voluntarily signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in April 2024.

Recently, a full interview with Andrei Grigoriev was published. In it he talks about how that fight went and what helped him to survive. The hand-to-hand fight with the Ukrainian fighter was only the beginning of his dangerous adventures. According to him, he hid for almost a week in various buildings on the territory of Trudovoye, having managed to find ammunition and fuel depots of the AFU. Wounded and exhausted, he endured four more full-fledged Ukrainian attacks. He managed to shoot back and even forced the Ukrainian soldiers to retreat, creating the appearance that Russian reinforcements were coming. In particular, he simulated a howitzer hitting a fuel depot with explosives.

Andrei Grigoriev received Russia’s highest award for his heroism and bravery.

Andrei Grigoryev (left) and his fallen friend with the call sign “Gik” who was on a combat mission with him

Interview with Andrei Grigoriev

Excerpts from the interview:

– Recently, a video has been circulated where you engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. When was it? How was it? What combat mission were you assigned to? Where did you get into this hand-to-hand combat?

– Hello, my name is Grigoriev Andrey Nikolaevich, call sign Tuta. It was November 16 last year, 2024.

We had a combat mission to put a flag in the village of Trudovoye. I and one comrade-in-arms were sent there. We went on a motorcycle. We had already planted a flag and were attacked, opened machine-gun fire on us. My friend was killed.

After that, they chased me together. Thank God, I killed one soldier by firing a burst of automatic fire from him. Then I was hit by an FPV kamikaze drone. I was confused and tried to find shelter. Thank God, I found a shed, a concrete pantry. I had a wound in my ears, a lot of shrapnel got into my eyes.

At this time, the second fighter was chasing me and saying: “Surrender! We won’t do anything to you.  We will treat you, feed you. You’ll be treated normally.”

I was trying to survive. I said, “Get out of here! He says: You’re trespassing on our territory. I told him: Run away from here, I will have reinforcements coming soon.

I tried to scare him, but it didn’t work.

Then FPV arrived. I hid behind the books. When he started attacking, I was already waiting for him. The door was open. I waited for him and fired. He still managed to throw a grenade at me.

– The video shows how he approaches you, to the barn, and you meet him with return fire.

– Yes, I responded with bursts of gunfire… Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. To save ammo. It turned out that I hit him, but he hid and threw a grenade at me. I immediately went out, and he did not have a machine gun. Hand-to-hand combat began. I was scared, of course.

– Was he bigger than you?

– Of course. He was much larger than me. I immediately tried to pull out the knife, but he held my hand. Then I pulled out a knife and stabbed him. The first knife strike… I was wounded, I wounded myself, because the knife was slippery, covered in blood. He’s covered in blood, I’m covered in blood… He immediately took the handle of the knife and stabbed me with my own knife.

In the fight, he was on top, then I was on top. I bit him, I had to do it.

– Did you understand at that moment that this was a fight to the death and only one of you would survive?

– We both knew this, because in such battles only one survives… It’s either him or me. You have to win by any means. That’s what we were taught.

 – The video shows that you had no emotions at all. Your opponent called for help, shouted. Until the last minute of this battle, there was not a single sound from you. Why is this so?

– I knew that I was on their territory, so I had to do everything without sound. I knew that reinforcements would not come to me. They are far from me, 5-6 kilometers from me. Why call them? I was afraid that enemy reinforcements would come. I wanted to finish him off as soon as possible and hide.

Then I killed him. In the end, you can see it, I put a grenade next to him. He said goodbye to me and muttered something. I opened the grenade and put it next to him.

I went into this basement. Well, thank God, the basement was double-sided. To enter from here, there was also a way out. It helped me, this one played a role. In the middle of the wall was concrete. I was sitting there. I took the radio of the deceased Ukrainian. I sat there bandaged, took off my armor jacket… I had a quick smoke, my body was shaking… Then they said: counterattack… And they sent six people to me.

– Did they send for you?

– Yes, for me. They already knew where I was hiding. They have a lot of drones flying.

-Did they also know that you were wounded?

– Yes. They knew that I had killed a Ukrainian soldier and that we had planted a flag. Some people say “Yakut” about me, some say “Tuvan”. Well, one of them said for sure: “He had a Yakut knife, he is definitely a Yakut.”  As soon as they arrived, they immediately threw grenades.  They came on foot.

Three people came from this side, three people came from the other side… And grenades are thrown from both sides. I’m running along the wall… Tyk-tyk-tyk-tyk-tyk-tyk. I didn’t say another word. I was just hiding from the explosions. I was very nervous.

I sit silently. Their commander said: “You’re alive there, aren’t you?” “Are you alive there? Probably dead.” Then someone was sent: «Well, come in and see». I sit and wait for him. I have a machine gun, I have a cartridge. He came in, I shot him right away. It was really smoky in there.  The distance is already close, three meters.

They got even angrier… They threw smoke grenades. Well, thank God, there was water there. I poured water into my hat and lay and breathed like that. In this case, the smoke is not so dangerous.

“Come on, go, check. You go, you go, you go…” Well, one soldier decided to come from the other side.  I sit and wait. I have a working assault rifle. There was smoke, so it was not visible. The man is visible, I immediately open fire, but I did not kill him, but I wounded him badly.

“I’m 300, I’m 300…” – he was lying and screaming. He was immediately taken away. Then they swore all sorts of obscenities, threw grenades again. Well, thank God, they probably ran out of grenades. Then they set fire to the basement. Inside the basement there were a lot of clothes, books, cardboard… Everything began to burn.

I sit and wait for them to kill me. One of them says, “now he’s going to die from carbon monoxide smoke.” I sit, wait, wait, wait. I breathe in the water on purpose. Then they left.

There were 5 liters of water. I put out the fire and sit waiting. It was about 11-12 o’clock in the evening. They tried to kill me for a long time, three or four hours. I sit, wait, wait. I had this watch, and the phone exploded. So I looked at my watch and kept track of the time. At five in the morning I went out. I knew they would be back again in the morning. I go out, listen… Drones. Nothing was heard. I thought that someone had been left to watch over me. But, thank God, no one was left. I went out, not so far, I ran about 20 meters, hid in the fence, was lying.

I didn’t have to wait long right away. At about 7 o’clock in the morning, the counterattack had already arrived. About 10 people came. They did not talk to me, they immediately threw a grenade. They fired from RPGs from different directions. Thank God I got out of there, otherwise the RPG would have finished me off anyway. Blew… Then: “Are you alive there, aren’t you?” Then: “Go check it out.” “I won’t come in.” “Go check it out.” They talk to each other like this, but no one dared to come in. “Well, anyway, he died” – they probably decided.

Then someone said to get ready. They have a meeting every morning, like, a formation. At 7 o’clock they packed up and immediately left.

– It turns out that you went in where the Ukrainian servicemen were located, that is, you two went behind enemy lines?

The two of us entered. We had a task to enter from the other side, but we did not reach it, because they tried to blow us up, the motorcycle was blown up. So we had to go there.

We put the Russian flag somewhere, this is the Ukrainian headquarters. By chance, it so happened that we did not know that there were Ukrainians there. We went in on the 16th and I was there until the 22nd. I was there for six days.

 – So hand-to-hand combat was only the beginning?

– This is the beginning. The first day. These are the first two attacks. Then it was on the 18th… I did a lot there, I broke up, burned down warehouses…

– What warehouse?

– This is a clothing warehouse: drones, things, clothes… And I did not burn the ammunition depot, because I needed it myself. Interestingly, no one guarded the warehouses. A combat depot is such a house… all sorts of grenades… All sorts of bumblebees, RPGs, Kalashes, machine guns, grenades… There were no guards, so I didn’t burn it. There were things, drones, boxes, trinkets… I burned it…

I went into the house, there were full barrels. Open… in some barrels there is gasoline, in some – kerosene… We were taught how to make dynamite, explosives. This is a hose like this, you light it, it burns. Five minutes approximately… One centimeter burns for two seconds. I bet for five minutes. I lit up and ran away. The barrel exploded. Their gas station is no more. I was afraid that they would find out that I was alive. Their command says that it was a direct hit, 120 howitzers.

– Allegedly, the Russian army, right?

– They decided so. In fact, I did it. Direct hit. So the panic didn’t rise that much. Then I burned down the warehouse. They have already found out. “This Yakut or Tuvan, he did it.” On the 18th, at half past five, they prepared a counterattack on me: “Well, like, go, finish with this man who has a Yakut knife”.

– Is this the third brigade following you?

Yes, the 3rd… No, the 4th counterattack. They know where I am and were preparing to kill me, but I immediately ran to the armed depot and got ready. For a long time I did not dare, I was afraid all the same. Hungry, tired. In the end, I decided: it is better to fight back. I tried to load the machine gun, but my arm did not work from the first wound, so I could not load the machine gun. So I loaded three Kalashes, put them near the window, and took an RPG.

But I didn’t take the Bumblebee, because I don’t know how to use it. I took an RPG, prepared grenades, and I looked at the window, 10 – maximum 19 meters… They pass by me, and they don’t know that I am there. I immediately hit the armored vehicle with an RPG, it exploded. I fired in the direction of the engine, it immediately exploded. I threw the RPG, the Kalash immediately took it and opened fire.

I shoot at the second car. I don’t know why, but they didn’t attack immediately, they all ran away. I still managed to throw a grenade… I listen to them through the radio, they decided that I had reinforcements, that I was not alone. “He has reinforcements. When did they manage to come?”  It was already on the 18th. From the 19th half past one, I tried to go back out at night, but it didn’t work there, the drones found me. They immediately bombed me with FPV drones. More than 20 drones were sent to me alone.

I somehow got there, then I lay down, I thought that there was no point in running at night, because at night they looked with a thermal imager, so there was no chance to escape… Practically none.

I realized this, I was lying, I got a wound in the back, in the direction of the heart, it still hurts. In this place I received many wounds, 14 shrapnel …

The next day in the morning they came again. Well, they came there too, but I hid. There I lie. They were all dressed in civilian clothes. The ones I fought, they were all dressed in civilian clothes to give the impression that they were civilians. In fact, there are guns, armor jackets.

They do this on purpose so that we do not attack with air artillery. There were two more women there. They came in the morning… Two young women are talking. I’m lying close, hiding.

“Go check it out.” No one dared to come in anyway. This woman says: “He died yesterday anyway without medical help. Yesterday we hit him with a drone, hit him, he was wounded multiple times”. They look through the camera. One young soldier comes close and sniffs the door: “It stinks there…” They thought I was dead there. On the morning of the 19th, they lost me.

Then, on the 21st, I dreamed of my wife and daughter, as if I was holding the phone, there was a daughter and wife in touch, and I noticed the time was 14:26.Then I woke up… I know that I don’t have a phone. And at that time I felt that it was time for me to leave and I made up my mind. I did not dare for a long time… Feared. Then, I look at the time – 14:26. I decided to take a risk and try to leave. I crawled about 500-600 meters. There were burned-out armored personnel carriers. There I got out, somehow slipped through. There were a lot of drones. People passed by there… 5-10 meters and people walk.

– Like in a computer game?

– People walk, and I crawl. There were also 120th mortars. Then I went out. I went into the burned-out armored personnel carrier. There was the corpse of our soldier. I found cigarettes and water there… I smoked and sat down. It was already the time of the 6th hour.I crawled slowly for three hours.I decided that it was already dark. At 7 o’clock it is already dark, so there is no chance to go out at night. So I lay there. It was cold. I found a Snickers there and ate. I found half a bottle of water, drank, smoked cigarettes. At 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning I woke up. It was very cold there. I decided that tomorrow, if the rain did not stop, I would not leave… The day after tomorrow I will decide to run away and continue to sleep in an armored personnel carrier.

I had prophetic dreams again. I dreamed of my children. All five children are sitting next to me. The youngest daughter is sitting here, the youngest son is sitting here, the middle daughter, the adult daughter and the oldest son are sitting here. They were so cold. It was as if it was real. I was sitting: children, do not be afraid, we will somehow survive. I tell them, try to calm them down. The youngest daughter is so cold that she is shaking. I sit and try to warm my son and daughter: “Children, don’t be afraid.” I explain to them that it is raining, so we will not dare to run today. Tomorrow we will decide.

And the eldest son sits and says: “Dad, tomorrow we can’t, we can’t spend the night any longer. You see how the younger ones are frozen. We won’t make it.” What the eldest son said.

Then I woke up and thought that yesterday I saw my wife and youngest daughter in a dream and thanks to this I ran away. Therefore, I immediately decided, at half past seven in the morning I went out and walked on. About a kilometer away, I was crawling, and there was a noise behind me. The middle of the field was… This is such a big field.

– Why didn’t you go through the forest?

– It made no sense, because all drones fly through the forests and look at the forest belt and the road. It’s better in the middle of the field, because they…

– As they say, better to hide in the most visible place?

– Yes. There was a noise behind me… I returned, looked, and there were four Baba Yaga drones flying. I’m shocked. There were more than 20 FPV drones, flying like a cloud… I look and think: “Are they flying at me alone? I have two magazines of ammunition.” I did not dare to shoot. What are they going to do? I lie and wait. They fly past me. I was surprised myself.

It turned out that the 9th company had begun an offensive. 8 of our armored vehicles came out from this side and attracted special attention. They were blown up there, they were shooting too.

I was standing there, one Baba Yaga drone was destroyed by me. I pass by them, there my people are looking at me, sitting on top of armored vehicles and they are also shooting at me.

They don’t know that I’m Russian. They thought that some kind of Ukrainian fool had appeared…

– And runs around the field, right?

I’m the only one running around the field there… This moment gave me many advantages… I ran away. Then I looked, the armored personnel carrier in which I spent the night, it was also blown up. If I hadn’t dared to leave on time, I would have been blown up there too.

– Where did you lie?

Yes. It was blown up on the way. So prophetic dreams help. 

– As far as I know, you also had a third dream, where your dead comrades dreamed, where they tried…

Yes. On the 19th, at night, I dreamed of two dead friends, comrades-in-arms, one machine gunner, and the second had died 3-4 days before.

In my dream, they walk and talk: “Where did you die?”  “I’m over there.” In fact, I know that they did not die here, but in another place. In my dream, they talk as if I don’t exist. The first one said: “There was a thread lying here, I picked up this thread, it exploded, my intestines were lying everywhere.” He tells this to a friend. And the second is: “Was it really here?” And this friend says to me: “Do you see something? You have to be careful here.”

Then I woke up at half past one in the morning and tried to leave. And it was at this place, as in a dream, that the drones found me. They tried to warn me.

– What did you cling to? You understood that you could have died at any moment of these six days, didn’t you? What motivated you to survive?

– Family, children, relatives. I promised my children and my wife that I would return back alive and unharmed.

On the morning of the 18th… It me off. Our soldiers from the company are trying to enter from this side… I listen to them enter, and they (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) hit them with a 120 mortar. I did not dare for a long time, at first I sat and did not know what to do. Well, then I made up my mind and went out to them. There were three people on a mortar.

One sat and took the coordinates through the radio, the other sat downstairs poking around and the third, who charges… I went out and killed the one with the radio. Then I destroyed the one who was poking around below, and the third one wanted to surrender, he was afraid. I killed him right away, too. Then I told the commander that I had eliminated the mortarmen, I was told that I was great.

– When you passed by, when the 9th company was bombed with drones, did you understand that if you went there to your own, you could also be met with fire by your own people?

– Yes.

– And you have no way back. How did you get out of there?

That’s why I didn’t go to them. Our friends were also in the forest belt there, Comrades-in-Arms. I didn’t go to them on purpose either, because I was covered in dirt. There was a big risk that they might not recognise me and open fire. Therefore, I decided to immediately roll back further, where my command was.

I found a dugout, I was afraid. I threw two grenades there at once and waited. It was empty. I was looking for water there. There was no water at all. There was a whole dugout and there was no water. There was water at the bottom of the bottle, I drank. There were still Ukrainian corpses lying there.

– Didn’t you try to call for reinforcements through the radio?

No. I was in touch. My friend, comrade-in-arms, is also Yakut. He said: “Where are you, I’ll come to you right now on an ATV. I’ll think of something, I’ll take you.” At first I wanted to call him, then I decided that I shouldn’t. Two people on ATVs, they (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) will hunt harder anyway, so I myself somehow.

My walkie-talkie was running out of batteries. I told him, every half an hour, shoot twice in the air, so that I don’t lose the coordinates… Because I’m crawling, the grass is high, I don’t know where to go, yes.

My boys, thank God, shoot twice every 30 minutes. It helped me. There was an abandoned garage, 500 meters remained. I was lying, looking, the drone was standing here, watching me. I somehow turned on my radio, I said to my comrade signalman: “Bro, are you standing over me?” He says: “No, it’s not me, it’s Ukrainians. Run away from there. Where are you?”

I got up and immediately ran. The drone managed to throw a grenade at me, exploded from behind, then it went forward and threw it twice… He probably had no ammunition He threw it twice and stands watching. I went into the garage.

I was angry and went out, showed this drone “Fuck You” and went back into the garage. They can’t find me anymore, this is our zone and he flew back. I tried to shoot at him, but did not hit.

As soon as I saw my friend, I immediately began to cry like a small child. No, seriously… I began to cry with joy.

– This is a video that is now being circulated, did you see it just yesterday?

– Yes, before that, when we fought with the Ukrainian, I did not notice that he had a camera. I didn’t see it, and yesterday my younger brother showed me, “Is that you?” I couldn’t watch it to the end.

It’s hard to look again. Such a long video. I thought that we fought for a minute or two at most. I thought so.

In fact, we fought for a long time, it turns out. At the end, when he said: “Goodbye, let me die, let go, goodbye.” I don’t remember this, because there was adrenaline, there was a shock. It turned out that I was saying goodbye. The human in me remained. Like real warriors. Regards. He is also a man, he is also a fighter. He fights for the sake of his Motherland. Me too… But we still need to remain humane…

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• First Person Video (18+): Ordinary Russian Soldier Eliminates Elite NATO-Trained Servicemen In Hand-To-Hand Combat
• One Of Key Cities In Donbass Taken In Pincer Grip
• Russian Forces Launched Assault On Vremevka, Cradle Of Ukrainian Counteroffensive

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