A Ukrainian sergeant has recounted surviving 471 days in an underground mud bunker near Bakhmut, enduring constant Russian bombardment, hunger, and extreme thirst. Serhiy Tyshchenko, 46, spent over 16 months underground from July 2023 to October 2025, missing two birthdays and milestones in his five children's lives.
Tyshchenko and his team dug an underground well for water and frantically used homemade sandbags to plug breaches in their bunker day and night as drones tried to kill them. 'Everything is underground. Everything was dug out,' he told The Independent in Sloviansk. 'Our position was dug right under an asphalt road.'
His ordeal began when he and a comrade were collecting rations and were chased by a drone into a ditch. They made a dash for the bunker and survived. Initially a team of five, they lost two soldiers in the first week, leaving four men to hold the position for over a year. 'The breaking point was when the guys died in that assault, and I saw that there is no one to change for the dead guys,' he recalled.
Tyshchenko, a former veterinarian, described the grotesque conditions of living with unburied Russian dead around the entrance. 'We climbed over them and had to throw soil on them to get rid of the stink. But that stink never goes,' he said. The drone attacks were relentless, arriving day and night.
He emerged after 471 days and continues to serve close to the front line. His story highlights the extreme endurance required in modern drone combat, where survival is victory.
