Brothers in arms: how unity and individual strengths serve three Filimonovs well in battle

Serhiy (Filya) Filimonov is an Azov veteran, actor (he played the lead role in Oleg Sentsov's film Rhino), public figure, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has been a soldier again. He joined the 1st Separate Mechanized Battalion "Da Vinci Wolves" with his brothers, the "Honor" company. Filya is a public and media personality. He has 54,000 followers on Twitter. But he serves in the battalion not only with his comrades but also with his two brothers. Viktor Filimonov, 29, is an aerial reconnaissance officer, while Oleksiy, 40, goes with Serhiy to storm Russian positions.

We spent three days with the Filimonov brothers at the front. This is a story about what it's like when brothers are brothers-in-arms.

"Every time we realize that we may die"

"We are about to enter the village we liberated. Before that, three more villages were liberated by our battalion," says Filya, driving an SUV in Kharkiv Oblast.

Last year, the Da Vinci Wolves battalion liberated many villages in Kharkiv Oblast. Now they are fighting again in the region, trying to stop the Russian offensive on Kupyansk. On the day we talk to them, the battalion has no combat missions. Together with other soldiers, Filya is going to a training session, which he asks not to talk about in detail until it is completed. But it is very important for Filya to go along with the stormtroopers, even though, as the battalion's deputy chief of intelligence, he should not have to. It is important because his friends and best fighters were killed in the previous battle.

"I did not go on the last mission, where the guys were killed. I was controlling the battle from the headquarters, and maybe it's my conscience speaking. Maybe I am deceiving myself. It seems to me that if I had gone with the guys, everything could have been different, so I want to go on the next mission we have planned myself," says Filya.

Serhiy Filimonov has a principle: he never sends his soldiers on a mission that he is not ready to go on himself. When a task seems very difficult and unrealistic, he goes with his comrades and shows that it is real. He had people wounded in his group, and he himself was wounded more than once, but when he was with the guys, the whole group always returned alive.

Every time he gets in the car and drives to point zero, he thinks about seeing his family at least once more, thinks about the next trip home, and that it will be easier after spending time at home. Seeing his pregnant wife and six-year-old son is always special because of the infrequency.

"Before each mission, everyone realizes that they may not return, and they say goodbye to their families and to each other. Most military people turn everything into black humor, but it's absolutely true," says Serhiy.

I ask him where he finds the strength to continue fighting when his comrades, like in the mission mentioned above, return on the shield.

"Most of the military are tired of the war. And we all want to go to our families, we all want to raise our children, engage in civilian hobbies, and just live a normal life where you don't lose people very close to you and don't worry every day that you might be killed. But there are no options. If we don't fight here, we will fight in Kyiv, in Rivne, in Vinnytsia, in Lviv," Filya replies.

Oleksiy, the oldest brother

Despite his position, Filya is not the only one who goes on assaults with his brothers. Oleksiy Filimonov is the eldest of the brothers who serves in the Wolves. He became the deputy commander of the Honor company after Filya was transferred to the battalion's leadership.

We attend a training session conducted by Oleksiy. Some of the fighters are shooting, while others are learning how to operate a turret - a machine gun on wheels. The "Wolves" follow innovations and together with the developers try to reduce losses on the battlefield with the help of technology.

Next to Oleksiy is his fellow soldier Oleksandr Yabchanka, a former spokesman for the Ministry of Health and now an assault platoon commander who is implementing all these innovations in the battalion. Oleksiy jokingly calls him "Dr. Innovative Death."

"Lyokha was the commander. In all operations that involved risk to life, there was always Lyokha somewhere on the side," says Yabchanka. "This is a tradition of the Da Vinci battalion. The commander does not send people somewhere, the commander leads people. This is a very noble story, a story that inspires respect. It also has a flip side. This is the Da Vinci tradition. Da Vinci is dead. We are losing the best."

Da Vinci was the legendary commander Dmytro Kotsiubaylo, who founded the Da Vinci Wolves company, which grew to a battalion during the full-scale invasion. On March 7, 2023, he was killed during an artillery attack in Chasiv Yar. After Da Vinci's death, the battalion was headed by his friend and deputy Yuriy (Kapusta) Kapustiak.

The figure of Da Vinci is very important to the fighters. According to Oleksiy, Kotsiubaylo was one of the most powerful commanders he knew, and his death shocked everyone. After the funeral, the battalion's fighters gathered and decided that they had to continue the work he had started.

The Filimonov brothers also continue. Oleksiy and Serhiy, as commanders, even though they shouldn't have to, go on assaults together. Oleksiy says he may worry about Serhiy before or after surgery, but once the battle has started, he concentrates only on keeping his cool.

"I know for sure that his skills will allow him to do everything as correctly as possible, to work as efficiently as possible, and I'm not worried about him," says Oleksiy.

"Going on an assault with your brother is a high level of trust and reliability, but it is also risky,” he adds. “But when we are together, we feel each other's support, we are confident. Accordingly, it is much easier. It's calm when we're together."

Oleksiy is a father of many children. He has four daughters, the youngest of whom was born during the invasion. I ask him if Filya ever persuaded him, as a father of many, to demobilize.

"It's not a reason to demobilize, it's a reason to be here," Oleksiy replies. "I'm doing this not only for myself, but also for them, so that in the future they can live in a normal country, in normal conditions.”

Viktor, the middle brother

The brothers agreed on what to do on February 24 in advance. It was obvious to them that a big war was inevitable, says 29-year-old Viktor Filimonov. So on day X, he went to the agreed place. And now he is sitting in a landing near Kupyansk, holding a Mavic tablet on which he is watching the Russian positions.

A shell lands somewhere nearby, and the sound of landing echoes the area. Viktor looks to see where the tank is firing from.

“Maybe it's working from there, look?" he turns to his fellow Afer, with whom he works in pairs, and the latter leans over the tablet.

"Come on, go higher," Afer suggests.

“See where he is?”

Afer answers in the affirmative. The data is sent to the headquarters.

Before the invasion, Viktor worked as an IT specialist. "Like all programmers, I was playing Dota (a computer game - ed.). I got burnt out at work. It's like coming on vacation, it's easier here than at work," says Vitya.

Surprised I ask if it was even easier in Bakhmut. Viktor says it was. In those rare moments when there are no outgoing or incoming shells, here in the middle of the forest, it may indeed seem for a moment that this is an outdoor vacation. But another explosion quickly dispels this delusion.

Unlike the other brothers, Viktor is introverted and less talkative. Afer says that at first they didn't communicate much, but only eventually got to talking. Now they monitor Russian positions from copters together.

Viktor had never been interested in drones before. And he didn't really choose which unit to join.

"I had to fly, and I decided that I could fly," Viktor says.

Now he also flies when his brothers go on an assault. As an aerial reconnaissance man, he watches the battle unfold. Like Oleksiy, he does not worry about his brothers during the battle.

"If you concentrate on your work, you get used to everything," Viktor replies in a few words.

Serhiy (Filya), the youngest brother

Unlike his brothers, this is not his first war. He fought in 2014-2015 with Azov. His mother had no doubt that he would go to the front immediately if Russia invaded. Likewise, Filya had no doubt that Lyokha and Vitya would go to war.

"Vitya is a year older - we lived the same life. We fought a lot together against the same guys at school. Lyosha has been an example to me in many ways all my life," says Filya.

After high school, Viktor went to a polytechnic lyceum and became interested in programming, while Serhiy became a freestyle wrestler, a football fan, and a public figure. Their paths diverged, only to converge again in 2022. School fights gave way to battles with Russians.

"My brothers are good fighters. Vitya is a very good expert in drones. Wherever we go, everyone praises his work very highly," says Filya.

When he goes to the assault with Oleksiy, he worries about him, but just as much as about his other brethren.

"On the one hand, it's a weakness, but on the other hand, it's a strength, because I'm 100% confident and no task seems impossible," says Filya.

But these are not his only brothers. The Filimonov family is large: they have five brothers and two sisters. All of them are involved in the war in one way or another, says Filya. The eldest brother, also an IT specialist who lives in the United States, helps financially. His mother volunteers. The youngest brother, as his mother says, "was not born for war," and although Filya understands her, he does not rule out that he will have to fight. During the day we spend together, Serhiy repeats more than once that everyone will eventually have to fight.

"I don't want to say it, but the truth is this. I want to upset those people who are not preparing for the war, who think that it will be enough for them to write positive comments and put likes on the Internet, and the war will take place somewhere nearby, but not in their neighborhood, I want to upset them: most likely, everyone will have to fight. And the sooner these people realize this, the sooner they start preparing for it, the easier it will be for them to fight, the more chances they will have to survive, the more chances we will have to save the country," says Serhiy.