He believed that his victory – the victory over fascism – would surely come. He was ready, as a true Warrior, to give his life for it. And he did.
The Essence of Time movement suffered an irretrievable loss. On September 28, 2022, a man who was loved and respected by all who came into contact with him – the permanent head of the Essence of Time mission in the Donetsk People’s Republic, commander of the Essence of Time independent task force (OTG) Yegor Ivanovich Gorshkov (callsign Volga) – fell on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Yegor was a great warrior. Virtually all his adult life he spent at war, starting with service in the Marines in the last years of the Soviet Union, and then participating in a number of conflicts generated first by the collapse of our country, and then the collapse of another country – Yugoslavia. It is significant that these were the countries that offered fierce resistance to fascism during World War II. Yegor defended Abkhazia, Transnistria, took part in the war in Kosovo on the side of the Serbs. So by the time the war in Donbass began, he had accumulated a great deal of combat experience.
Volga arrived in Donetsk from Russia at the very beginning of the Ukrainian-Donbass conflict – in July 2014. As the commander himself said, he could not have done otherwise after what had happened in Odessa and Mariupol. Then he had a clear understanding: here it is, the darkness – it has come out.
Volga was able in a short time to create a full-fledged mission out of a group of Ukrainian members of the Essence of Time movement who had arrived in Donetsk and a few Russian volunteers. Most of the members of the mission had never held a weapon in their hands before and had no combat training.
At first, the mission was involved in providing humanitarian aid and information support – it became the press center for the Vostok militia brigade and the Essence of Time information center. For several years, this center documented the crimes the Banderites committed on Donetsk soil. Also with the help of Essence of Time’s members from Russia, members of the Essence of Time mission in the DPR conducted a large-scale campaign to provide humanitarian aid to the militia, the population of the republic, and schools in Donbass.
Initially, the Essence of Time mission in Donbass focused only on humanitarian work, but when Donetsk was virtually surrounded, they decided to take up arms. Volga’s independent task force took part in its very first combat in mid-August 2014, participating in the liberation of Yasinovataya and several villages along the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway from the Kiev occupants.
While studying and fighting under Yegor’s command, the Essence of Time OTG continuously grew – volunteers from Russia and Donbass joined the members of the Essence of Time movement, who were in the unit from the very beginning. Civilians without military training actively mastered military skills and became professionals.
The OTG quickly became one of the most combat-ready units of the Vostok brigade and took part in the brigade’s battles against the Ukrainian Nazis. The OTG members went into battle with two shoulder patches on their uniforms – the Vostok brigade patch and the red Essence of Time unit patch with the Soviet Soldier-Liberator, which was specially designed for the Essence of Time mission in Donetsk.
As part of the Vostok brigade, the Essence of Time OTG fought against the Banderites at the Monastery position near the Donetsk airport in January 2015, protecting Donetsk from a possible breakthrough of the Ukrainian punitive forces to the city. In this combat, the Essence of Time OTG suffered its first irretrievable losses – three of our comrades were killed: Yevgeny Krasnoshein (Pyatnitsa), Yevgeny Belyaev (Belka), and Igor Yudin (Bolgarin).
The Essence of Time unit continued to fight and learn military professions. Neither when the unit was part of the militia, nor when it joined the regular military structures of the DPR, Volga did not let his fighters relax. They underwent weapons training exercises, learned the tactical art as part of special purpose battalions, learned the art of special operations, mastered artillery and sniper skills. More than one human life was saved thanks to this insistence of Volga.
And then the Essence of Time unit servicemen themselves became instructors for their comrades-in-arms.
Members of the Essence of Time OTG always have shown unity, confidence, honesty in relations with each other. One more thing distinguishes servicemen of the Essence of Time unit trained by Yegor: even against the background of highly motivated soldiers of the DPR army they differ by ideological intensity, deep understanding of who we are fighting with and what is the stake in this war.
Yegor’s comrades-in-arms wrote much about him as a commander “And, of course, the guys were lucky to have such commander. Charismatic, confident Volga, no doubts, knowing what to do and how to do it, which path to take…” this is how one of the retired Russian officers, a commander of a special forces company, who came to defend Donbass, described him.
“We have found our way in life, some of us have finally found it. So we know we will win, we are ready to give everything for this Victory. We remember everyone and everything. There is a long way to the Light ahead. And we are on it. With warmth in our hearts, with faith in our souls. Leaning on each other’s shoulders. Comrades. Everything is still ahead – both for those in heaven and for those on earth.” Yegor Gorshkov wrote these words in May 2016, when the recognition of the republics of Donbass by Russia and the start of the military special operation were still years away.
But he believed that his Victory – the victory over fascism – would surely come. He was ready, as a true Warrior, to give his life for it. And gave it.
Eternal memory!
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
