Could it be that somehow Valery Hierovkin sensed what was coming? That the young Ukrainian infantryman felt there was a sniper bullet with his name on it?
His father, Yevgeny, a pastor, believes the answer lies in a prophetic TikTok video Valery made on his last visit home in November.
He plays the video on his phone and the images of his eldest son flash by, always gloomy, always in uniform, with a haunting song about pain and absence. “I don’t think you’re gone”, says the lyrics.
“Sometimes I feel that maybe Valery expected to die”, his father tells me, “because he spent the last two days of his vacation with us and made that video”.
“When he was boarding the bus, he said: ‘I have the heavy heart, I don’t want to leave’, but I said: ‘Son, you have to. You made the decision, so you have to go.’”
Weeks later, on December 1, Valery Hierovkin was shot dead by Russian-backed separatists on a fighting front in the east from Ukraine.
A projectile fired by a sniper went through his helmet. He had been making plans for life after the army and wanted to go to college when he returned home. Instead, his life was cut short at 22 years.
While NATO is concerned about a possible Russian invasion in Ukraine, Valery fought and he died in the war that is already underway and that took some 14,000 lives, between soldiers and civilians.
Began in March 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea after a pro-Russian government was overthrown in Kiev.
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Later, Russian-backed separatist rebels they took over parts of the east.
The conflict continues to simmer, despite a ceasefire. Valery was one of the 22 Ukrainian soldiers killed in recent 12 months.
“He wanted to defend his country”
I met his grieving parents in an old kindergarten converted into evangelical church surrounded by towering Soviet-era apartment blocks. They are quick to explain that the occasional distant knocking we hear comes from factory production lines.
These days, the city of Kramatorsk is at peace. But it wasn’t always like this.
Anna Hierovkina radiates warmth, even though she is wrapped in pain.
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Her slim body is leaning against her husband, a broad-shouldered man sitting next to her. In turns one speaks and the other comforts with a caress of hands. They are united by love and loss.
“ All parents think that their son is the best, and we had been waiting impatiently for him”, he says, while his face lights up at the memory.
“As a child he was very funny and a little mischievous, but very friendly. He was very active and liked soccer. He was like everyone else, but we loved him. For us he was the best son”.
As a teenager, Valery did not play war games on his computer. He was living it in reality. Kramatorsk was occupied by pro-Russian forces for three months in 1200 and bombed at 2015.
“From that moment on he wanted to defend his country”, Anna tells me.
“He wanted to volunteer at the 15. After finishing school, that thought never left him. When he had the opportunity to join the army, he signed up. That was his will, and as parents we support him. Of course, we didn’t think it would end this way“, he says, with tears in his eyes.
Anna is consoled by the death of her son. “I am proud of my son because he gave his life for his country,” she says. “He gave his life for Ukraine, for the people and for his family. That’s why I’m proud of my son”.
Kramatorsk is also proud. Valery Hierovkin received a hero’s funeral with military honors on the main square.
The mourners placed red carnations in the open coffin. His comrades-in-arms lined up to hug his mother. Some knelt on the frozen ground as their remains were carried away by troops in camouflage uniforms.
Worst to come?
War is not abstract here, and the locals know that there may be worse to come.
Yevgeny is preparing for Russia’s next move. “I am not panicking. I am scared? I think everyone is scared,” he says.
“You don’t know what’s coming, but the next phase of the war, if it happens, won’t be like 2014. Everything will be much more serious and terrifying”.
The invasion so feared and predicted may never come. Russia can get concessions from NATO and the West without putting one more boot on the icy Ukrainian soil.
Maybe not there is another Crimea, or an assault on Kiev. Maybe this is all high-stakes shadowboxing in the snow.
But for Yevgeny and Anna, the worst is over. They have lost a beloved son. And there are many broken families in eastern Ukraine. Valery Hierovkin is one fallen soldier among many.
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