Mentre viveva a Stoccolma, l’Ajax ha sentito al telegiornale che l’Ucraina sarebbe caduta in due settimane. È tornato per combattere e da allora ha mantenuto la linea

Ihor Kardash, callsign “Ajax” is a soldier of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade “Velykyi Luh.” He had been living and working abroad, in Stockholm, Sweden. When the full-scale invasion began, he immediately made his decision: he would return to Ukraine and go to war.

>“In Stockholm, I followed the news very closely. They were saying Kyiv would fall very quickly and that Russia would seize half of Ukraine in just two weeks. So I called home, spoke with my family, and said I was returning to Ukraine to join the army. Russia has never treated Ukraine well.”

Ihor Kardash went to the front as a volunteer. At first, he served as a deputy commander of a combat vehicle, and later as an infantryman. In particular, he took part in the counteroffensive on the Robotyne axis:

>“During the first assaults, I was on a vehicle, behind a machine gun. But when the counteroffensive began, when we were barely using equipment and were constantly on foot. That’s when I became infantry. We went through the entire counteroffensive on foot. We practically didn’t rest, we were constantly working. A quick break, and then forward again.”

Over the years of service, Ihor has had many moments when he survived by sheer luck. In those moments, he says, he relied on fate and his own instincts:

>“Twice I thought there was no way back. Once we were surrounded, but thank God we got out. Another time, we were cut off. And once, when a fellow soldier and I were clearing Russian trenches—we cleared one and were moving to the next, but something stopped me, like I needed to turn back. I went back, looked into the trench, and a Russian soldier was climbing out with a rifle. We fired at each other at the same time. He fell but his bullet grazed my helmet.”

At the end of 2023, Ihor was seriously wounded and forced to leave the service:

>“It was the first time the Russians assaulted us near Robotyne. We repelled the infantry attack, but then they started hitting us with mortars and SPG launchers. I was hit by shrapnel—it went through the upper part of my neck and into my back. I was very lucky it didn’t hit my spine. Just a bit lower, and the consequences could have been much worse.”

After undergoing rehabilitation and returning to civilian life, Ihor realized he needed to be back at the front to help his comrades. So in May 2025, he returned:

>“This war concerns everyone. No matter how strong soldiers are mentally, physical exhaustion takes its toll. When I was on duty rotation, I didn’t care who replaced me. People can’t fight all the time. They need at least some time to rest. There has to be rotation.”

Ihor plans to continue fighting. He says he believes Ukraine will succeed in reclaiming all territories occupied by Russia:

>“As long as Russia’s economy doesn’t start collapsing, the war will continue. For now, they’re still staying afloat… We’ll see what happens next. Maybe they will finally start to think and make concessions. We want to return to the 1991 borders. I believe that will happen.”

[**https://suspilne.media/zaporizhzhia/1256074-povernuvsa-v-ukrainu-z-za-kordonu-abi-piti-na-front-istoria-aaksa-kotrij-brav-ucast-u-kontrnastupi-v-robotinomu/**](https://suspilne.media/zaporizhzhia/1256074-povernuvsa-v-ukrainu-z-za-kordonu-abi-piti-na-front-istoria-aaksa-kotrij-brav-ucast-u-kontrnastupi-v-robotinomu/) 

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