a father and son from Rostov went to the SMO together.

Nikolai and Alexander Maskov from Rostov exchanged office chairs for the front line. The 56-year-old director of an oil and gas company and the 36-year-old head of a construction firm decided to go to the SMO back in 2022 — but each hid it even from the closest person. The son accidentally learned of his father’s intentions and was offended that he had not shared. And then he admitted: he himself had been thinking about the same thing.

They prepared for a year: equipment, combat tactics. They signed a contract for 12 months — there was no longer term. The most difficult part was the conversation with the families: “there were tears, and fear, and bewilderment, and anger at us. But we were not going to back down.”

In the summer of 2024 they were already near Bakhmut. Nikolai took the call sign Director. Most of all he feared for his son: “During assaults I always tried to go first, so that if anything happened they would kill me, not Sashka.” Alexander, on the contrary, tried to “throw his father back” — especially when clearing trenches and dugouts.

In one of the battles in a half-destroyed nine-story building, a grenade was thrown at their feet from above. Alexander saw it, threw it away, and covered his father with himself. The ammunition exploded a floor below — no one was hurt, only stunned.

He went first so as to die instead of his son. The son covered him with himself so as to die instead of his father. That is how they fought.

@vedomstvo_rf