Ukrainian servicemen fire an anti-aircraft gun at Russian frontline positions near the town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 15, 2023. STRINGER/Reuters
A Canadian combat medic has been killed fighting in eastern Ukraine, friends and fighters say.
Grigoriy Tsekhmistrenko, known to his Canadian friends as Greg and to his comrades in the International Defense Legion of Ukraine as Doc Snickers for his fondness for the chocolate bar, is the third Canadian volunteer killed in action since the start of the 327-day-long Russian invasion of Ukraine . He died on Sunday near the frontline town of Bakhmut, which has seen months of fierce fighting in a desperate Russian bid to seize one of the key transport hubs in the Donbass region.
Details surrounding Mr. Tsekhmistrenko’s death have not yet been made public, and a Global Affairs Canada spokesman declined to confirm anything late Monday afternoon.
On Thursday, Mr. Tsekhmistrenko posted a photo on Instagram showing him carrying an assault rifle in his right hand — the first two fingers of his left hand are raised in a “V” — in a garage with six other Ukrainian fighters, whose faces are obscured. “Donbass,” writes Mr. Tsekhmistrenko. “Back when it was still warm.”
Tributes poured in under the photo on Monday, including from many who said they had fought alongside Mr Tsechmistrenko.
His sister Alyssa was shocked by the news and initially denied on Instagram that it was true. Eventually, she became convinced that her brother — who spent much of his life in Ukraine but acquired Canadian citizenship three years ago in a ceremony in Saskatchewan — was indeed gone. “He left us a hero and his family is proud of him … and his sister loves him very much,” Alyssa, who lives in Ukraine, wrote in a message to The Globe and Mail.
“Doc was an excellent medic and a hell of a warrior, fearless, dedicated,” said a Canadian member of the International Legion. Both he and Mr. Tsekhmistrenko are veterans of the Canadian Army, the fighter said, and had recently served together in Ukraine near the city of Kharkiv earlier in the war.
The Globe is not naming the other Canadian volunteer because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The volunteer, who is also currently fighting near Bakhmut, described the fighting there as “the most brutal part of the war … and I’ve seen a lot, so that’s saying something.”
Bakhmut, which was home to 70,000 people before the war, has been under fierce Russian attack since August. Fighters there have reported heavy casualties on both sides, while Russia has used scorched-earth tactics — destroying entire neighborhoods and then taking over the ruins — to slowly advance.
In July, Emile-Antoine Rois-Sirois, a 31-year-old Quebec resident, became the first Canadian killed in combat in Ukraine when he and three other foreign volunteers were ambushed by a Russian tank in the Donetsk region. Joseph Hildebrandt, 33, of Saskatchewan, died in November when he came under Russian artillery fire near Bakhmut.
Comrades of Mr Tsechmistrenko say he joined the Legion in the early days of the war and fought at the Battle of Moshun, a small town north of Kyiv where an early Russian attempt to take the Ukrainian capital was delayed by heavy casualties.
Mr Tsechmistrenko’s bravery was described by Nick Laidlaw, a former US Marine who recorded the fighters’ stories in his book What the war did to uswhich covers the first 150 days of the conflict.
In the book, a combat medic nicknamed Doc Snickers describes how his unit came under heavy fire from Russian artillery as soon as it arrived in Moshun on March 11.
“Unfortunately, we had several injuries and miraculously no one died. One of the wounded was a squad leader, a young lad of 22, about 6’6 and 235 pounds of muscle. He caught a large piece of shrapnel in his upper left arm which broke the bone and tore off a large part of his bicep/triceps. He did well and made it like a man, but soon from the loss of blood he couldn’t walk,” Doc Snickers was quoted as saying.
“So the four of us had to carry the man on a cloth trash in his gear and with our gear for about 1.5-2 km, through the woods, dashing from cover to cover while dodging artillery. Some landing within 15 meters of the hole where we were currently praying that God was listening.
Mr. Laidlaw told The Globe on Monday that Doc Snickers was indeed Mr. Tsechmistrenko. The Canadian has earned his nickname later that day in Moshun, voluntarily returning to the scene of the artillery strike. He had left his rucksack behind as he carried the injured man – meaning Mr Tsechmistrenko was without dry clothes or his precious supply of monoblocks. “I basically volunteered to go save my candy and I would do it again,” Mr. Tsechmistrenko was quoted as saying.
Posts on Instagram indicated that Mr. Tsekhmistrenko later served in Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, two cities in the Donbas region that were captured by Russian forces last summer after prolonged fighting. “We’re going to be okay,” a male voice says in English in a video from July as the vehicle the man is riding in tries to cross a badly damaged bridge, passing the remains of destroyed civilian cars and charred military equipment.
Mr Laidlaw called Mr Tsechmistrenko “one of the most likable people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting”.
Mr. Tsehmistrenko has packed a lot of travel into his life: backpacking through Iceland, beachcombing in the Bahamas, dragging a donkey piñata through the Mexican city of Guadalajara, hunting moose in British Columbia, getting up close and personal with gorillas in the wilds of Kenya. and makes his way through a high-altitude swing in Durban.
He also posted on social media about a quiet Christmas with his family in Saskatchewan, making gingerbread houses and pouring hot caramel over baking trays filled with fresh snow — a dessert he joked was “quintessential Canadian winter food.”
In Ukraine, in addition to his combat duties, Mr. Tsekhmistrenko tried to raise money online to buy medical equipment for the front line. “Due to the bloody and unjust invasion, we had to deal with countless casualties, both civilian and military,” he wrote on the fundraising page. “Although the government and allies are doing everything in their power to supply us, many needs, both medical and non-medical, are still unmet.”
Jack Fry, a former US Marine who founded Atlas Global Aid, an organization that brings humanitarian aid and military supplies to the front line in Ukraine, said he often bumped into Mr Tsechmistrenko during his travels.
He said Mr. Tsekhmistrenko “lives and breathes saving lives” and has come to embrace Ukraine as his homeland. “He lived in Canada, but his family is from Ukraine. He came to fight for his family’s land.
With a report by Mike Hager
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