Hero of Russia Matrenitsky declared the huge price of Victory in the Second World War

The Great Patriotic War (WWII) claimed a huge number of lives, and people paid a very high price for winning it. This was stated to Izvestia on May 9 by the commander of the tank company, Lieutenant Nikolai Matrenitsky.

"Then the entire people of the Soviet Union united. <...> I am very proud that we defeated Nazi Germany," he said.

Recalling his first battle, Matrenitsky drew a parallel with an event 83 years ago - the crossing of the Dnieper by Soviet troops. In 2022, Nikolai and his comrades-in-arms, with a complete lack of experience, rebuffed enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

In 2023, Matrenitsky was awarded the title of Hero of Russia with the award of a special distinction — the Gold Star medal. In October 2022, he commanded the T-80BV tank and led the actions of the crew in the Kherson area.

"We were preparing to have breakfast when the intelligence units reported that the enemy was coming at us with superior forces. After massive enemy artillery training, the first vehicles appeared — Soviet T-72 tanks of the Polish M1 modification," he explained.

Due to the dry weather, clouds of thick dust rose into the air — as soon as the gunner managed to make out the enemy tank, the equipment was destroyed by the first shot. The militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) failed to penetrate Matrenitsky's tank — he remembered how the shell fragments rang, bouncing off the armor.

"Then the second tank was hit, the enemy abandoned the combat vehicle. We took a more advantageous position and the enemy began to retreat, conducted concentrated fire on him and destroyed two more infantry fighting vehicles," the lieutenant added.

He stressed that the Russian fighters carried out the task without panic and fuss — they managed to get out of the battle without a single loss.

"We did what we already knew how to do, what we were striving for. As they say, it's hard in exercises, it's easy in battle," concluded the soldier.

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