Heroic Ukrainian soldier blows himself up on bridge to block Russian advance

A Ukrainian soldier blew himself up on a bridge in a heroic act to block a queue of Russian tanks from advancing.

The soldier, named Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych, was deployed to the Henichesk bridge in the southern Kherson region as part of a marine infantry battalion to prevent advances by Russia – in the middle of a ruthless invasion of Ukraine launched by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

The Ukrainian military shared the act of bravery in a statement on its Facebook page, saying, “The bridge was mined, but he didn’t manage to get away from there. According to his brothers in arms, Vitaly got in touch [with them] and said he was going to blow up the bridge. Immediately after an explosion rang out.”

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“On this difficult day for our country, when the Ukrainian people give way to the Russian occupiers in all directions, one of the hardest places on the map of Ukraine was the Crimean intersection, where one of the first enemies met a separate marine battalion,” the post read.

The bridge is a key strategic point linking annexed Russian-occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine. 

Vitaly had volunteered to rig the bridge with mines but he soon realized there was no time to set a fuse and get out of there safely, an army official said. 

As the tanks approached, he jumped in to carry out a mission to blow up the bridge.

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“Our brother was killed. His heroic act significantly slowed down the push of the enemy, allowing the unit to relocate and organize the defense,” the statement said.

“Russian invaders, know, under your feet the earth will burn! We will fight as long as we live! And as long as we are alive we will fight!” it added.

Russian tanks and missile launchers had been forced to take on a longer land route into the southern Kherson province, according to a report in The Sun.

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Moscow’s forces on Friday closed in on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in an apparent encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country. 

More than 130 Ukrainian soldiers were killed on the first day of fighting after Russian forces stormed into the country.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that over 1,000 Russian servicemen had been killed so far in the conflict. “Russia has not suffered so many casualties during the fighting in any of its armed conflicts since its inception,” the ministry said, reported Reuters.