A Soldier's Nine-Month Ordeal: Surviving Encircled by Enemy Forces

Survival Under Siege

According to Главком: For 271 days, Ukrainian serviceman Stanislav Kostyshyn was encircled by Russian forces near Toretsk in the Donetsk region, cut off from stable communication and supply lines. His survival story is a testament to extreme endurance in one of the war's most intense sectors. He eventually managed to escape, traversing roughly 16 km to safety, only to then learn of the death of his father, who was also a soldier.

Stanislav Kostyshyn spent nine months surrounded. His unit's initial mission was to occupy and defend a house, but contact with command was eventually lost. The defense was held by nine posts of three soldiers each. The house Stanislav was in burned down, and by the end of May, their position was being targeted with grenades. After losing visual contact via drone, he was listed as missing in action for about a month.

The Struggle to Endure

Without radio communication, assault rifles, or body armor, the soldiers relied entirely on their own resourcefulness. A month without proper food and water led to severe weight loss and dehydration. Stanislav recalls going a week without food and six days without water. They scavenged for food in surviving houses and in summer tried to eat fruit from trees. At times, Russian troops were positioned just 30-40 meters away. For a week, command could not issue a withdrawal order due to adverse weather.

The breakout from the encirclement itself took a month and a half. The soldiers covered approximately 16 km from Toretsk to Kostiantynivka. After emerging, Stanislav celebrated his 30th birthday on November 22, but the occasion was marked by profound grief upon learning of his father's death.

According to Kostyshyn, they had nothing: 'no radio contact, no assault rifles, no body armor.'

He also noted that they 'tried to keep a 'cool head,'' as people were dying around them and they were powerless to help.

Stanislav recalls: 'A packet of '3-in-1' [instant coffee] was food for a day. Or five grams of sugar – you put it in your mouth, saliva appears, and it's like a 'candy.' A week without food and six days without water – that's our kind of anti-record.'

He added that during the escape, he encountered comrades who, despite being given very little chance of survival, were also found to be alive.

This account underscores the incredible resilience of Ukrainian soldiers operating under dire wartime conditions and highlights the critical importance of support and communication between military units. Stanislav Kostyshyn's experience has become a symbol of struggle and courage, demonstrating how soldiers strive to maintain optimism and find ways to survive even in the most desperate situations. His ordeal reflects the immense price paid by service members and the families who suffer losses in the conflict.