Volodymyr Simonov, call sign Sima, is a fighter of the “Predator” Brigade of the Patrol Police Department.
Before the full-scale war, he was a police officer of the Patrol Police Department in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
His first memory of the war was February 24, in his native Siverskodonetsk. Volodymyr was among 62 volunteer police officers.
Evacuation of civilians. Delivery of humanitarian aid to addresses and bomb shelters. Control over looting in Siverskodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubizhne.
During the war, Volodymyr became a school bus driver, taking people out. According to the norms, there were 30 passengers. In fact, there were 100 or more. People stood, sat on the floor, held each other's hands.
He especially remembers people with limited mobility, the elderly. Those who had it the hardest. They were carried out of their apartments on stretchers, loaded into transport, then carried into train cars.
There were also those who refused to leave. Even with small children. They said: "It will all be over soon."
There are scenes that he remembers down to the smallest detail. Kurchatov Street. He went there every day. He went around the entire street and brought food. Even when the military said that it was no longer possible to go there. He went to feed the city where he was born. Because he wanted everyone to be alive.
"The hardest thing is not to carry people out on stretchers, but to leave those who refused to leave," says the fighter.
Sima is currently evacuating fellow soldiers and civilians in the Kostyantynivka direction as part of the medical company of the "Predator" brigade.
He learned to drive any armored vehicle. He maintains the medical company's equipment in good working order and combat readiness. He has completed tactical medicine courses.
It so happened that most of his evacuations were of wounded with massive burns, so he had worked out the algorithm for providing such assistance well. As soon as the order for evacuation comes, he leaves.
One of the most difficult evacuations, morally speaking, is when you have to save your friends. Once I arrived at the medevac position to repair a car. At that moment, an FPV drone hit the car in which his friends were - the company commander and deputy commander. I dropped everything and went there. Fortunately, everything worked out. They replaced the tire and towed the car to a safe place.
"It is my duty to help the city and country where I was born," says Volodymyr.
The story is published as part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' information campaign "We Are Different," which is dedicated to the deep internal transformation of each person during the war years. Through personal stories, we tell about the shared experience and strength that irrevocably changed Ukrainian society.
