- 2 days ago
Callsign Tuga - Portuguese fighter who has been in Ukraine since 2022 and participated in most of the major battles, including the battles for Bakhmut and Severodonetsk. He served in the International Legion of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the 3rd Assault Brigade. In this film he talks about one of the most dangerous operations he did. POV camera covers a large portion of close-quarters battle that took place in Donbass region when he and his team were clearing buildings controlled by Russians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0JngHHdSAQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0JngHHdSAQ
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00:00and he just comes right next to me as i'm shooting and he just yells coffee's ready
00:09and i just started laughing i was like let me finish the magazine and then we switch
00:13we're not talking about one round or two rounds we're talking about almost the whole path to where
00:19we we wanted to go was covered by mortars i forgot my helmet inside of the vehicle so i kind of did
00:26the operation with without a helmet it was not fun so i have two chances either i kind of like
00:35sit down and take it or i'll fight it
00:56hey i'm tuga uh currently i'm an instructor i'm third separate assault brigade
01:22uh i'm 34 years old and i'm portuguese uh i joined the military back in portugal when i was 20 years
01:31old i was an infantryman for seven years after seven years i left the army because the contract
01:39was finished and i entered civilian life to be honest i i couldn't fit in i tried it was not a
01:46lack of try i had a couple of jobs but multiple areas but just it just wasn't the right glove so to
01:55speak uh so yeah when i heard the call from president zaleski back in 2022 uh i was hesitant a little bit
02:06i talked to my father um and of course as a father what kind of father wants his son to go to war right
02:18uh but i sensed a little bit of pride but also concerned of course and when i made the decision i
02:26made the decision and there he is supportive of it however of course he's always concerned about
02:34uh what is happening over here so it's quite logical so when i came here i i i started feeling a sense of
02:45uh nostalgia so to speak because the people the even the way they they act and and as a society they
02:54kind of reminded me of portugal when i was growing up uh of course when i came to ukraine the war has
03:00just started so it was a shock for everyone uh i think it was a shock for the international community
03:07yet along for the ukrainian people but i was very very well very uh very welcomed i i felt very good
03:16like very welcomed for from the people and from the military also um a lot of people came they thought
03:24they were they were joining some you know some war against some some malicious or some rebels but
03:31they they quickly understand that was not the case some of us stayed some of us went home
03:38but uh i do believe that the ukrainian people in general they they they received this very very well
03:44and today it's a place that i i like to call my second home
03:50when i when i decided to join i i i wrote an email to international legion and then after i wrote the
03:59email i got a response i set up the date that i was coming and i landed in warsaw i was picked up by
04:08by volunteers me and a group of other foreigners americans and british and then we arrived at the east
04:15the west of ukraine where we stayed on the base uh we kind of like were forming teams uh or platoons
04:25and we trained for like two or three weeks and then we headed off to the capital city kiev
04:32where the russians i remember back in the day they were still in butch in irpin and the first
04:38assignment we did was was actually in uh in irpin and it was it was it was a shock so to speak
04:46to see the to see the aftermath it was a little bit of shock i've been in i've been in operational
04:53theaters before but the level of destruction was a little bit of a shock one of the first missions we
05:00did in the mikolive region it was um it was kind of like a rescue mission so to speak so a unit of
05:09ukrainians were in a small town uh near the mikolive and we were sent there to uh back their retreat
05:18uh or to break the encirclement they were they were about to be put in um and i remember this because
05:26it was a it was a funny mission uh so we went on pickup trucks no armored vehicle was just pickup
05:34trucks right and we got dropped off on an open fields which today would be total madness
05:44and as i'm moving out as i'm getting out of the vehicle i forgot my helmet inside of the vehicle
05:52so i kind of did the operation with without a helmet it was not fun uh however it was not fun the
06:00aftermath because i was obviously punished because of that and rightfully so as soon as we got out of
06:07the pickup trucks we went into a small pasatka but it was very very small little coverage and we went
06:15into the small pasatka and then we had to start moving as soon as we start moving through the open
06:20field so let's say what two three minutes after we disembarked from the vehicles the artillery just
06:26starts coming in like 120s uh 82s they just came uh we're not talking about one round or two rounds we
06:35were talking about almost the whole path to where we we wanted to go was covered by mortars so we were
06:42advancing and stopping at the city like almost what every two minutes let's say like this every two
06:50minutes we were walking a little bit and then we would stop mortar and so on and so on so that's when
06:57i actually realized this is this is a different conflict this is a different level of violence so to speak
07:04uh after miko live we were sent to severdonetsk uh and lizzy shansk also we did one first operation
07:17which was to clear a building and secure that building it was around eight hours of firefighting
07:25uh we spent the whole day just repelling attacks and repelling attacks on that building and i remember
07:31i was in a room and i was shooting and i came back to the hallway and as i come back to the hallway
07:40one one teammate of mine was like we've been at it for like four hours i could use some coffee and i
07:46looked at him i was like you can do some coffee so between bullets and shooting and whatever
07:54i'm shooting again on the window i'm shooting again and he just comes right next to me as i'm
07:59shooting and he just yells coffee's ready and i just started laughing i was like let me finish the
08:04magazine and then we switch so i finished the magazine go to the hallway drink a little bit of
08:09coffee smoke a cigarette and then we switched again uh that was that was funny because of the concept
08:16on the context itself like you're you're in the middle of a firefight then a coffee sounds good yeah
08:22why not it's like why not and then uh we got relieved by by the battle by the belorussian battalion they
08:31went in took the positions during the night and we we went back and i remember afterwards we we were
08:38happy because it was a successful mission we had no casualties not our team had zero casualties the other
08:44team had zero casualties so it was 100 on 100 which was which was kind of awesome on the second operation
08:51on severdonis though uh it was it was tougher so we had the enemy in in a building we went into the
09:01adjacent building we cleared that and our objective was to breach uh the building where the enemy was
09:10unfortunately i guess there was some kind of miscommunication where the tank that we had
09:16supporting us he fired upon the building but didn't fire at the right side of the building so that
09:24that put a a big issue on us me myself i never wore uh a gopro i had teammates they wore them
09:32okay we have a hole for it yeah yeah yeah come come here come here
09:36yeah
09:57come on
10:00Let's go
10:04What are we doing? What are we doing?
10:07We're behind us and we're closing the door
10:10Let's go, we're behind you
10:12We're behind you
10:14In the same stack, same stack
10:16It doesn't f***ing matter
10:30Don't punch up, don't punch up
10:52Yeah, yeah, yeah
10:53Go, go, go, go
11:00Bro, stack doesn't matter right now
11:06Stop keeping control
11:10Yeah, I'm telling you, part of that stack
11:12We'll talk about that
11:13I'm telling you, bro, from experience
11:30Push
11:49Push
11:55Hold
11:57Nice
12:02Big
12:03Push
12:06Push
12:07Push
12:15Up, up
12:16We're going to try to open the door
12:18So we can communicate with our guys
12:20You guys got up
12:22We're going down
12:24Alright
12:25Let's go
12:26Right behind you
12:27Right behind you
12:28Okay
12:29How are you?
12:30Pulling
12:31Quick
12:32Pressing
12:37Get around
12:38Get around
12:39Go
12:42Open door right
12:44Alright, give me two
12:45Give me two
12:46Coming
12:47Coming to the left
12:50You got two
12:52Hey someone get back this way
12:54Anton and I will clear this room
12:55Go
12:56Go
12:57Go
12:58Go
12:59Go
13:00Go
13:01Go
13:06One right here
13:09Push up
13:10Get out of the doorway
13:11Get out of the doorway
13:12Straight up
13:13Straight up
13:16This side good?
13:17Good
13:18What are you waiting for?
13:19Go
13:20Coming up
13:21Coming up
13:22Coming
13:23Coming
13:24justamente
13:25Moving up
13:26Go
13:27Going
13:28Go
13:31Go
13:32Go
13:33Go
13:34Go
13:35Go
13:36Go
13:37Go
13:38Go
13:39Go
13:40What are you waiting for?
13:42Coming up!
13:44Coming!
13:50Isaac!
13:52That's it! That's it! That's it!
13:54Stop! Stop!
13:56You're off!
13:58Stay on that fuckin' right there!
14:00Go!
14:06Second floor!
14:08Right side? Right side!
14:10Alright
14:12You got eyes on, you tell me
14:14Go! Go! Go!
14:16Did they call for more?
14:18No! It's not there! Go up! Go up! I'll cover it!
14:20Unless they're calling for more, we're waiting
14:22We're up there
14:24That's why
14:25It's not clear
14:26You guys need help?
14:30Is the upstairs clear?
14:34Okay
14:36It's not! Do you need help?
14:38Come here! Go!
14:40Go!
14:46And as we were clearing the building up, everything seemed fine
14:50When we reached the roof, that's when the fire started
14:54And we engaged the enemy
14:56The enemy engaged us
14:58Hey! Come here! Come here! Come here! Come here!
15:00Just wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!
15:02Get by this corner!
15:04You got it? Come here!
15:05I know! I know!
15:06Okay! Good?
15:08Clear?
15:09Okay! Isaac and I are pushing it
15:10On you!
15:11Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
15:21Hold here! Hold here!
15:22Hold here!
15:37Move! Move! Move! Move! Plus accordingly!
15:39Friendly's up here!
15:41Move! Move! Control this!
15:42That's where he shoots from.
15:50Yo!
15:51Yo!
15:52Watch fire!
16:09Do you see something?
16:11Top right, right to left, window number two, top floor.
16:17Yes!
16:18Window two going right to left, top floor.
16:36Blue, blue, blue, blue!
16:39Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue!
16:47Friendly!
16:48Up.
16:49Up.
16:50Up.
16:51Up.
16:52Up.
16:53If you want it.
16:55Up.
16:56Up.
16:57Up.
16:58They got it!
16:59I am out of here!
17:08Here we go!
17:13Up!
17:16Up!
17:17Hey, remember we're shooting at it right here, too, okay
17:34Making progress, you need water, okay
17:48Oh, wait, nope, still recording, it's alive
18:03Yeah, what's up, yeah, yeah
18:33In my back
18:44What
18:48What's the window, what's the window
18:59Go, go, go, go, go down, go down, two floors down
19:11Watch the windows, watch the windows
19:16Go, go, go, go, go, you go, you go
19:21And as we are coming down, I almost got shot in the head
19:31Woo, fuck you
19:36Hey, come here, you're good, you're good
19:38Do you see where I came from?
19:40Where do you see where I came from?
19:41No
19:41No
19:42Oh, is it me?
19:43Yeah, this big one right here
19:50This?
19:50The big one
19:51You'll see magazines
19:55Just grab me one
20:01Is it zipped up?
20:11Huh?
20:12Zipped up?
20:13We got to get with the frag range, bro
20:37Jordan, do you see anything from your angle?
20:44No, mate, I can't only see top of the trees
20:46Hey, watch your muzzle
20:46Bruce!
20:47Yeah?
20:48How are you?
20:49I really thought I was going to fire my rocket today
21:12Right through a window
21:15They need a first floor, they need a first floor
21:21Bruce, come back
21:22Bruce, come back
21:23Go low, go low
21:26Woo
21:30I'm jumping these motherfuckers
21:33We need you guys
21:34We need you guys
21:35We need you guys
21:36Walk in, bro
21:38They can see us, yeah
21:40He just fucking almost hit Jordan
21:42Almost hit Jordan
21:47They have this spot
21:48They're in there
21:49Alright
21:50I'm jumping
21:53Switch me, switch me
21:59Come on then, we're not trying
22:00We're not trying
22:01We're not trying
22:02Hold on, hold on
22:03I need to ready to start
22:05Huh?
22:06Get them to give us fire support
22:07Yeah, come up
22:08Huh?
22:09I'm想 on 6th Äther
22:11ream
22:12We are in 6th這麼
22:12Depends the stairs
22:13We're not at 5th
22:15We're at 6th row
22:16Near the stairs
22:18We're on 6th gallery
22:20At 5th�대 side
22:22We're at 6th bruises
22:24At 5th elevator
22:25We're not going to dALD
22:26And then
22:27As they're going toask
22:28We're going to
22:38Yes, he's right at that point.
22:42Yeah, yeah, he almost got Jordan.
22:47You can't go down the road.
22:52You can't go down the road.
22:57Randy, give us a couple of fire.
22:59Full sends only.
23:00I'm jumping it.
23:01No, just put your rifle around.
23:03And I'm going to jump.
23:09No, no, no.
23:11John.
23:13Yeah.
23:14There's nowhere to land, mate.
23:15You're still in cover when you land.
23:16Oh, all right.
23:17All right, I'll stay.
23:21No, no, I'm not running with you right now.
23:25Ready?
23:27Ready?
23:28Three, two, one.
23:30One, two, three.
23:35That was close.
23:36Dude, that was right behind you.
23:38My friend almost got shot in the head, but unfortunately we lost a team member in the staircase.
23:44Yeah, it was pretty hard because we were not a lot.
23:50We were six guys, so it hits differently, I guess.
23:54It was very hard to digest.
23:57What's going on?
23:58He can't go down.
23:59He's not going down.
24:00He's not going down.
24:01Oh, Isaac, don't poke your head around there.
24:02He's going to shoot you.
24:03Huh?
24:04Don't poke your head around.
24:05We're pinned down.
24:06Don't poke your head around.
24:08Tell him we're pinned down.
24:14That was close.
24:19I think I got that too.
24:21Hey, tell him one down, we're pinned down.
24:30Alright?
24:31One man down, we're pinned down.
24:33Is Jordan down?
24:34He's not responding.
24:35One man down, we're pinned down.
24:36I'm going to see if Jordan's with him.
24:39Dude, he would have responded.
24:44What?
24:45What a fucker responded.
24:52Is he acknowledging?
24:53Jordan!
24:54Who's that firing us?
24:55I don't know.
24:56I need to PID that fire, man.
24:57I hear the yanks.
24:58You hear it?
24:59What's the last we heard from Jordan?
25:17Jordan!
25:18He fucking gave himself covering fire and he jumped down the stairs and he hasn't responded
25:23He hasn't responded soon.
25:35Isaac, I'm gonna come to you.
25:37Get in the prone and PID to that position.
25:39What am I looking for?
25:40I have control of these six windows, so I don't see anything.
25:43You see no muzzle flashes?
25:44No.
25:50Are they in there?
25:53What are they saying?
25:58Just keep trying, bro.
25:59We need to move in there.
26:00We need to move in there.
26:01We need to get to Jordan.
26:03Yeah, mate.
26:04At the moment, if you jump, you're gonna be injured.
26:06I know, I'm tracking.
26:07I'm trying to get reinforcements here so we can go down.
26:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:10Just keep doing your thing, man.
26:12I think I know where to come from.
26:14Okay.
26:15It's gonna be down two windows there.
26:17And you're about to do what?
26:18Fire at them.
26:19Okay.
26:20What are you firing at?
26:22Can you see the two windows around the corner?
26:26Where the trees are?
26:27Around the trees?
26:28I don't see that far.
26:29Okay.
26:30I see the window before the trees.
26:31Okay, I got you.
26:32Yeah?
26:33Yeah?
26:43That was a good chance to move up.
26:53You ready to move?
26:54One person get in the hallway because I can just jump.
26:59No, you're not jumping.
27:01I have to jump.
27:03Bro, we have to establish comms.
27:05You do your thing.
27:06That's priority number one.
27:07Donald does it.
27:09Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the objective.
27:19We lost one good man.
27:21Also, the commander of the other team, a Ukrainian national SSO was also killed, unfortunately.
27:32So, psychologically, it was a little bit hard to digest.
27:37But we just went back to work, I guess.
27:41A little bit afterwards, we went back to work.
27:44So, yeah, you can say it was successful because we made the enemy leave that position.
27:53However, I don't know how you balance this because you lost two guys to take one building,
28:02two professional, two very professional soldiers.
28:05Not everything is roses.
28:09There's a lot of missions and a lot of operations that went well.
28:12A lot of operations also went bad.
28:14It's war.
28:15It's what it is.
28:17You're fighting an existential battle, okay?
28:21You're fighting for the sovereignty of your country, not only to have a flag.
28:27That's the thing.
28:28Like, when you're talking about a country, it's not just a flag.
28:31It's the whole history of the country, right?
28:33And what I think a lot of people don't understand is if we go back in history, something was signed
28:39back in the 90s.
28:41Some paperwork was signed.
28:43And if we take history back, Ukraine had one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.
28:51And they gave that up in return of protection.
28:55And where's the protection?
28:58So why shouldn't you fight?
29:01The question is not why shouldn't Ukrainians fight?
29:04The question is why shouldn't the Western world come here and fight also?
29:10The only answer I have for that is just, oh, it's because it's Russia and everyone is afraid of starting a third world war.
29:17Yeah, but if it was just some guys on flip-flops and AKs and turbans, everyone would be in it.
29:27If it had oil, everyone would be in it.
29:30So, it's like you have to fight.
29:35There is no other way.
29:36Like, Ukraine has to fight.
29:37Otherwise, Ukraine will not exist, will cease to exist.
29:40And if Ukraine cease to exist, what's next?
29:46Poland?
29:47Latvia?
29:49Because if people understand that back in the 30s and the 40s, you had to stop German imperialism, right?
30:00If in the 1800s, people understood that they had to stop the French imperialism,
30:06my question is why don't we find the need to stop Russian imperialism?
30:11Because he's invading one country.
30:13No, he's invaded more countries.
30:15Russia has invaded more countries.
30:17So, why do you fight?
30:20Why not?
30:21Why not?
30:22Well, they're going to come into my house.
30:25I have a house.
30:26Some guy is just going to come into my house and say,
30:28yo, living room and the kitchen is mine.
30:31The rest is yours.
30:32And I'll be okay with that.
30:34No one will be okay with that.
30:36It's my house.
30:37So, I have two chances.
30:39Either I kind of like sit down and take it or I'll fight it.
30:44Oh, but he's bigger than me.
30:46Or there are two of them.
30:47Or there are three of them.
30:48I'll fight until I have no strength to fight.
30:51And then I will die with a clear conscience if I have to.
30:55I heard there's some president that says that he wants to end the killing.
31:01If you really want to end the killing, just send what people are asking to.
31:09Stop being afraid.
31:11To be honest and to be very, very clear.
31:14The Western politicians for long years from now, they have been cowards.
31:23Europe is running, is being run by cowards.
31:26You can see on their society.
31:28You can see on, and my country included.
31:31Okay?
31:32You can see on the corruption.
31:33You can see on this whole society situation.
31:38The declining of society itself.
31:41And people are just cowards.
31:45They're just cowards.
31:47Where's the will that they had in the 40s?
31:50Where's all that?
31:52Where's the will to go to Afghanistan?
31:55Where's the will when NATO went to Iraq?
31:58Like where is it?
32:00So there's always a chance.
32:02And if I believe we don't have a chance, I wouldn't be here.
32:06So I believe we do have a chance.
32:09I believe that as many as they can, people should come here and share their experience.
32:15And if they want to fight and help, they can fight and help.
32:18If they want to help like donating, do it.
32:21If they want to help like, I don't know, volunteering work.
32:26You know, bringing supplies, generators, cars, fixing cars.
32:30You know, everything, everything helps.
32:33It's not because we are 2025 and not 2022 that things are not needed.
32:39So of course, I'm, of course, I believe we have a chance, man.
32:43And hopefully we will win this fucking war.
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