A mother has three sons. This is the story of the brothers who serve together in the same brigade.

To avoid waking the women she works with at the factory in Poland, Tatiana goes out to the staircase of their dormitory at dawn — to pray. She prays for Roman, for Sasha, for Bogdan. Three of them, her boys… “Deliver, God, from them a Russian bullet, shield them from enemy shelling. Help them fulfill their duty — to protect their families and their land. Show, God, your mercy to them and their brothers-in-arms”. She prays for her sons and for all the Ukrainian military, because they are also someone’s children.

…In February 2023, three brothers from the Volyn village of Velitsk received summonses from the military enlistment office. They are now serving in the 100th Brigade. Playful and hot-tempered Roman is the eldest. Measured and thoughtful Sasha is the middle one. And the youngest, Bogdan, the one who, by all accounts and even the results of the ultrasound, was supposed to be born a girl, but was born a tender boy towards his mother yet firm in his decisions and beliefs. Did Tatiana ever think she would hear hard words of truth from the youngest: “Mom, we have to endure everything”?

We spoke with the Dodik brothers about how they fight when a biological brother becomes a brother-in-arms, and family becomes the most important line of defense. We also found their mother to learn how small pranksters grow into reliable and tenacious men whom one can trust with their future…

One must know how to do everything

The eldest was born dark-skinned, with black eyes — the mother immediately decided to name him Roman. A year and seven months later, the second son was born. He was named Sasha, after Tatiana's brother, and Romchik pronounced this name very amusingly — just as he learned to speak. And God really gave her Bogdan — the birth was difficult, and Tatiana still cries when recalling that week in the hospital.

“I gave birth to the older ones in 1994 and 1996 — it was a hard time, and my husband and I had to work very hard to raise them. Work, always work. I would put them both in one stroller and take them with me to the garden or the field — to weed beets, to dig potatoes. I would lay a blanket under the willow, give them bottles with milk — they would eat and fall asleep, while I wouldn’t straighten my back from this work. When they grew up, I went to our agricultural enterprise with the cows — and the boys helped me. In winter, poor things, they cleaned after the cows. I taught them to milk — their little hands were small, it was hard for them, but they tried. They started milking from the age of 7”, — Tatiana shares.

With her husband, they taught their sons to be capable in everything: in the field, in household chores, to cook for themselves, and to do laundry. They constantly told the boys that life is like that; one must know how to do everything. And they managed: the garden, rabbits, pigs, cows, calves, horses.

“The boys are hungry, and they work so hard, and you’re inventing what to cook for them. There’s no meat, no lard. At work, they issued buckwheat and oil. You cook that buckwheat, season it with onions and carrots. Or dumplings — we had our own wheat, we had flour. That was when we got a bit better off, so I made Romka chebureks and Sashka dumplings — they loved that”, — Tatiana chokes on her tears.

Bogdan was born in 2002 — by that time, the family had improved a bit. Little Bodya would cook dinner and tidy up the house while mom was coming home from work. Since the older brothers went to study after the 9th grade, the youngest had to manage the household.

The children grew up, and the parents started traveling from the village to earn money: the mother would take one son with her, the father would take another, and they would leave someone at home to look after the household. Usually, it was Sasha — he was serious, wouldn’t burn the house down, wouldn’t bring bad friends. He would keep the garden tidy, preserve cucumbers for the winter, and make jam. He would also find a way to earn some extra money on a construction job to save for a motorcycle or some new mobile phone…

The brothers themselves do not recall their childhood as sadly as their mother does. They played and goofed around — like all children. They worked a lot — but there was also fun, entertainment, and, after all, everyone lived hard in the village back then, but they got used to work.

“We understood that our parents needed to earn money, that we needed to help — to assist with the household, to look after Bogdan. We are a family”, — Sasha says thoughtfully.

From a young age, they knew that no one would give them anything ready-made: if you want to have something — put in the effort. Before the war — earn for the family, now — defeat the enemy.

Volhynians from the Banderite forests

Roman trained as a driver-electrician, Sasha as a car mechanic, and Bogdan as a bartender-waiter. But with such specialties, it’s hard to earn a living in Volhynia. So, when they grew up, the guys followed their parents to earn money. Construction, working in greenhouses. And between jobs, they pitched in with their own household: fields, gardens, livestock, blueberry picking.

In the village, work keeps you up late and wakes you up early, there’s hardly time to open the internet. The brothers learned about the beginning of the full-scale war from their mother — she, worried, called from Poland, where she was working, and told them that Ukraine was being shelled by Russians.

The war approached Tatiana’s sons slowly: first, it took their uncles and other relatives. Problems in the village can’t be solved in one day: the land needs to be cultivated, the harvest needs to be gathered, tractors and combines need to be dealt with, and help is needed for relatives whose men went to the front. Sasha's wife was expecting their second child, and Bogdan was still recovering from a serious operation, after which he was exempt from mobilization for 5 years. Roman was troubled by broken knees. But in early 2023, the Dodik brothers felt that the war had already reached them. Or were they already ready for the front?

In February 2023, summonses were delivered to all three brothers.

Of them, only Sasha had served his mandatory time — but the service was somewhat… decorative. In the Presidential Regiment, the middle brother was on honor guard duty near the Marinsky Palace when the head of Ukraine received foreign politicians. But such a triviality as lack of military experience did not stop the brothers.

“We are Volhynians, we grew up in the Banderite forests , why should we be afraid of those orcs? Or Belarusians across the border? Older folks said that if anything happens, they’d be impaled in the woods with pitchforks”, — jokes Roman.

They didn’t think about all going to the same unit at once. Sasha didn’t go to the military enlistment office — he went straight to the 100th Brigade, formed from Volhynians, especially since their uncle Alexey had been fighting there since the first days of the large-scale war, whom the brothers sincerely respected. Bogdan was not mobilized due to his age and did not sign a contract — due to health issues, he was sent home. And Roman, seeking adrenaline, asked to join the Air Assault Forces — he ended up in the 46th Brigade.

“I am the eldest, and I must”

Today, Roman looks back on his year and a half of service in the paratroopers with nostalgia: “I flew in, gave the orcs a beating, rolled back, and then you think: ‘Wow, did I really do all that?!’” He fought near Maryinka, in the Zaporizhia direction, giving kicks to the Pskov paratroopers.

“I am not the kind of patriot who chokes on words and tears his shirt off. I love Ukraine differently. For me, the strongest motivation is my family, to ensure that Russians don’t come to our home, that they don’t rule over my land. It was very scary — I was afraid I wouldn’t see my son grow up, get married, that I would never have a second child, afraid I wouldn’t see my wife’s eyes, Elena has the most beautiful eyes in the world. But I adapted quickly. Already near Maryinka, I realized that the fish had been thrown into the river”</