18-year-old Mikita from Rechytsa, who was captured by Ukrainians on his first combat mission, explained why he went to war

Mikita during a conversation with his mother. Photo: DmytroKarpenko / YouTube

The hero of a new episode of Dmytro Karpenko's YouTube channel "Apostol" was 18-year-old Belarusian prisoner Mikita. He was born on July 29, 2007, in Rechytsa. His parents divorced when he was about ten years old.

According to Mikita, he has an older brother, who is about 31 years old, and a cousin. His older brother lives separately and, according to the boy, hardly helps his mother. His cousin also went to war in Ukraine, and the boy claims to have heard that he died after seven months of service.

Mikita performed poorly in school. He only completed nine grades of Secondary School No. 10 in Rechytsa. His average grade was approximately 4.5 out of ten. He admits that he didn't like to study, "goofed off," played a lot, and had little interest in academics. He knows the Belarusian language poorly, although he studied it in school.

After school in 2023, the boy entered Zhlobin State College to study as a tractor driver-welder for the repair of agricultural machinery. He lived in a dormitory.

During his studies, Mikita began to work part-time with friends. They took on various casual construction jobs: plastering, helping on construction sites, responding to advertisements for needed workers. For a few days of work, according to the boy, they could earn 100 to 200 Belarusian rubles. They spent this money on daily needs.

However, in 2024, an incident occurred that strongly influenced his life. Together with two friends, he started stealing bicycles, removing their lights, speedometers, and other parts. In total, the group stole about six bicycles. They hid them in the garage of one of the friends' private homes. The scheme lasted several months. During one episode, someone from a house balcony noticed them and called the police. The next day, officers came to Mikita's home and took him to the station.

A criminal case was initiated against him and his friends under Article 205, Part 2 of the Criminal Code – theft committed by a group of persons. Initially, the prosecutor and the court considered the possibility of imposing actual imprisonment. Mikita himself could have received about a year in a penal colony. However, in the end, the court sentenced all three to a year of "home chemistry" (restricted freedom, often with monitoring).

He continued to attend college, lived in a dormitory, but had to strictly follow the regime and report to the police. Three months later, he fell under an amnesty, and the punishment was lifted. By early 2025, his criminal record was already cleared.

The Path to the Front

Around this same time, his cousin was already at war in Ukraine. According to Mikita, his brother went to fight for money. Mikita himself maintained contact with him and even wanted to join the same military unit. He said that after the criminal case and his studies, he began to consider participating in the war as an opportunity to earn money and change his life.

His brother promised to help with the paperwork and found a mediator for him — a woman named Yana, who was involved in organizing the arrival of new volunteers in Russia.

Mikita never met Yana in person. All communication took place via correspondence. According to him, contact began after he turned 18, in the summer of 2025. He didn't know what exactly to write, so his brother sent him a ready-made message text. Mikita simply copied it and forwarded it to Yana. In response, she informed him that she was starting to process the necessary documents for his relocation and service.

Yana arranged for him to sign a contract and took care of travel arrangements. Initially, she didn't want to buy tickets, but Mikita informed her that he had no money. As a result, the tickets were paid for by the organizers. At that time, the boy was still studying at college and attending classes.

Mikita claims that he actually received only about 500,000 Russian rubles (about $7,000 at the current exchange rate), although he was promised five times more.

After receiving the tickets, the boy left Rechytsa by train. The final destination was Voronezh. That's where his further dispatch into the recruit training system was supposed to take place.

Mikita says that he did not tell his mother about his decision for a long time. Only when he was already on the train heading to Russia did he confess where he was going. His mother tried to dissuade him and asked him to come home. She called him a fool and insisted that he not get involved in the war. However, Mikita did not listen to her and continued his journey. His older brother found out about it from their mother.

Upon arrival in Voronezh, he was met by car and taken to the "Blakitny Ekran" (Blue Screen) camp. Previously, it was a pioneer camp, but during the war, it was used as one of the collection and accommodation points for new contract soldiers.

Mikita spent about two weeks in "Blakitny Ekran". The boy says that not only citizens of Russia and Belarus were there, but also people from other countries. He particularly remembered the presence of Africans who also passed through this center. He didn't know exactly how many Belarusians there were, as he didn't particularly get to know anyone or inquire about the origin of other recruits.

Then, according to Mikita, he was sent to a training ground. He spent about two more weeks there, undergoing the standard initial training course before being sent further to war.

After two weeks of training at the Pogonovo training ground, Mikita was sent directly to the combat zone. According to him, he signed the contract on November 6, 2025, and on December 10, 2025, he was sent to the Kremenna area in Luhansk region. Before this point, he had never participated in combat operations and had no real military experience.

On the Front Line

At the location, according to the boy, he stayed only a few hours before going on his first combat mission. He was given an automatic rifle, five magazines with cartridges, and two grenades. As he claims, all soldiers were given the same set of weapons. When asked how many people he intended to kill, Mikita replied that he didn't want to kill anyone.

This mission became his first and only combat sortie. According to the boy, there were eight people in total in the group, who were delivered closer to the front line on two buggies. They drove for about forty minutes to a forest belt, where the route began. After disembarking, they were met by guides and led through the forest.

First, the group was led to a system of trenches. There, the soldiers waited for their turn to advance further. They went out two by two at night, wearing camouflage cloaks. For navigation, they used a special program on their phone, which Mikita calls "Alpinka." They were shown how to use it, after which they moved further along the route.

After some time, the group reached an area Mikita remembered as the Apple Orchard. They spent the night there in a basement. In the morning, they received orders via radio communication to continue moving. A drone — which the soldiers called a "bird" — showed them the direction. According to his story, it was based on the drone's instructions that they reached another house, near which was a garage with a blue tractor. There, they were met by another guide.

At this stage, the group was divided. Mikita's partner was a Russian soldier with the call sign "Kaktus." Together with another soldier, whom he calls "Friga," they had the opportunity to warm up after a difficult crossing through a swamp. The guides gave them candles for warmth and fed them canned porridge.

After a short rest, they continued moving through forest belts and abandoned houses. According to Mikita, he constantly lagged behind and quickly got tired. The crossing through a large open field, which they had to run across under the threat of aerial observation, was particularly difficult.

Later they found themselves in another bunker, where they were fed and allowed to rest for about four hours. After this, they received a new route via navigational points. On the way, they were given the opportunity to stop several times. At one of these stops, the soldiers hid in a hollow, drank water, and smoked.

Approaching the final point, Mikita noticed the remains of destroyed fortifications and wire scattered on the ground. He did not understand their purpose — whether they were anti-drone barriers or simply obstacles. Several times the boy fell, getting tangled in the wire and remains of engineering structures.

Captivity

Finally, they approached the last position. His partner went ahead. He knocked on the bunker door and reported that they were from the 31st regiment and asked if they had come to the correct position. From inside, they replied yes and asked them to step back. In reality, as subsequent events showed, the position was controlled by Ukrainian soldiers.

According to Mikita, they were ordered to throw down their weapons if they wanted to stay alive. Mikita and his partner immediately complied: they dropped their automatic rifles, after which they were ordered to remove their bulletproof vests and other equipment. After that, they were led into the bunker, where they waited for further evacuation to the rear. This is how Mikita was captured.

In captivity, according to him, they were immediately fed. Later, they were held in a basement. He spent about two weeks there. When asked what he told the Ukrainians, Mikita answered very simply: "That I went to kill."

After the conversation about captivity, Dmytro Karpenko decided to call the Ukrainian soldier who participated in the boy's capture. He reported that in the first hours after being captured, Mikita said that his brother had died in the war and that he went to the front to avenge him. Moreover, he allegedly said that after a possible exchange, he would return to the war for this revenge.

After this, Karpenko directly asked Mikita who was lying — him or the Ukrainian soldier. The boy admitted that he was the one who lied. He clarified that his brother was alive at the time of his recruitment and continued to fight, and he himself simply wanted to join the same unit.

What's Next?

Then the interviewer arranged a video call home. Mikita's mother and his older brother joined the call.

Павялічыць

During the conversation, it turned out that the family had not known his fate for a long time. Moreover, his friend had returned from the war and, literally a day before the call from captivity, informed everyone that Mikita had already died.

— Why did you go there, son? Oh, why? Did you really need this, my child? You left everyone. You left. My sunshine, — his mother questioned her son.

— I wanted, in short, to earn money so you wouldn't lack anything, — he replied.

— I don't need anything. As long as you're alive. As long as you're there. Son... Oh, why did you do this, my kitten?

(…)

— Mikitka, have you understood what you've done? What have you done? Oh, what have you done, my sunshine?

— I did a very foolish thing.

— Young, foolish, right? (…) Come home, sunshine. Come home. We love you very much and are waiting for you. Please, I beg you. My little fool. (…) How could you listen to a friend? Look, Dima (points to the older brother — NN), served in the army, everything's fine. You should have gone to the army. You almost had a ready profession.

The young man admitted that he doesn't know what awaits him next. He voiced two possible options: either a prolonged imprisonment in Ukraine, or a prisoner exchange with subsequent return to the front. The boy spoke about the so-called "second-timers" — people who have already been exchanged once, then sent back to war, and subsequently captured again.

His mother noted that her son had lost a lot of weight. Mikita explained this by the conditions on the front. He said that during his only combat mission, he mainly ate snack bars and dry snacks. According to him, they were promised that drones would deliver food and supplies, but he never saw a single such drone the entire time.

According to him, when he was already captured and held in the dugout, the shelling of that position continued. Russians are shelling the place where he is currently held captive.

"Choose: '200' or 12 years. '200' is if you are exchanged, you go to war a second time, and you get killed. Or 12 years," Karpenko offered the young man at the end of the conversation.

"I would go for an exchange," Mikita replied.

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