Trapped behind enemy lines, surrounded by jihadists and with no possible means of escape, Alexander Prokhorenko, 25, took the decision to end his own life by calling in Russian warplanes to obliterate his location.
The special forces soldier, on a secret mission in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, has since been hailed as a hero in his native Russia.
His wife Ekaterina, who is pregnant with their first child, today revealed she had no idea he was fighting in Syria. (The Daily Mail)
The last words' transcript:
Prokhorenko : command I am compromised, I repeat I am compromised.
Command: Please say again and confirm.
Prokhorenko : They have spotted me, there are shooting everywhere, I am pinned, requesting immediate extraction.
Command: Extraction request acknowledged.
Prokhorenko : Please hurry I am low on ammo, they seem to [be]everywhere, I cant hold them for too long please hurry.
Command: Confirmed, hold them off, continue returning fire, retreat to a safe position, air support is monitoring, state your coordinates
Prokhorenko : [gives coordinates which are blurred in the transcript] Command: [command repeats coordinates which are blurred.]Confirm
Prokhorenko : Confirmed, please hurry I am low on ammo, they are surroundig me, bastards!
Command: ETA on evacuation 12 minutes, return to the green line, I repeat return to the green line.
Prokhorenko : They are close, I am surrounded, this may be the end, tell my family I love them dearly.
Command: Return to the green line, continue returning fire, help is on the way, followed by air support.
Prokhorenko : Negative, I am surrounded, they are so many of these bastards!
Command: Extract ETA 10 minutes, return to the green line. Prokhorenko : I cant they have surrounded me and are closing in, please hurry.
Command: return to the green line, I repeat return to the green line.
Prokhorenko : They are outside, conduct the airstrike now please hurry, this is the end, tell my family I love them and i died fighting for my motherland.
Command: Negative, return to the green line.
Prokhorenko : Unable command, I am surrounded, they are outside, I dont want them to take me and parade me, conduct the airstrike, they will make a mockery of me and this uniform. I want to die with dignity and take all these bastards with me. please my last wish, conduct the airstrike, they will kill me either way.
Command: Please confirm your request.
Prokhorenko : They [are] outside, this is the end commander, thank you, tell my family and my country I love them. Tell them I was brave and I fought until I could no longer. Please take care of my family, avenge my death, good bye commander, tell my family I love them!
Command: [No response, orders the airstrike]
Thanks for posting this. I cannot figure out why on earth we went to Syria and made certain our military is fighting against Russia, near a base they had there since the seventies. God bless their baby.. And God bless us all.. Another country we have no business in. Jimmy Carter... Damn you to Chicago... Close enough, right?
Absent comrades. . . .
Note to Russian Special Forces Command:
1. You need to plan for air cover. Lots of it. And have back up. And have refuelers on stand by. You need to know where your troops are at all times and be ready to put down a wall of steel.
2. You need a compromise and extraction plan. A real one. Planned and rehearsed.
3. You need CSAR on immediate standby in the air.
4. You need a QRF. A real one. With muscle. Trained, rehearsed and ready to kick ass.
5. You need ISR. 24/7 on ops. You will know about a compromise before the troops on the ground.
He’s a hero. And his body was retrieved by other heroes, Kurdish YPG fighters.
Book,ark this
RIP.