Before the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, our current Guardian of Light – Vitalii Novotarskyi with the codename Biker – had lived in Energodar and worked at the Zaporizhzhia NPP for 36 years. He was a foreman at the refueling site. According to the nuclear employee himself, this kind of work work is very responsible: “It’s not about throwing coal with a shovel, but about uploading and loading nuclear fuel into the reactor.”

However, responsible work is not the only thing our Hero lived for. He had a serious hobby – bikers, on which he had to press pause for a while due to a significant reason – the birth of his son.

“At that time, my wife asked me to choose one thing: either a child or a ride,” recalls Biker. “The choice was obvious. And when my son grew up, I bought a motorcycle again.”

At the beginning of the great war, Vitalii had as many as five bikes: two Yamahas, a converted Dnieper, a Chinese sports bike for training, and a light Honda.

He recalls that from the beginning of his biker career, in the 1990s, the “Dnieper” bike fascinated girls; they called it a Harley-Davidson, asked to ride them, and wondered why a biker needed five “iron horses”. Vitalii always replied that motorcycles were like clothes for girls: everything depends on the mood. Unfortunately, all five of them ruscists stole and took away to the boondocks.

Today, three members of the biker club “Volotsiugi,” to which our Guardian of Light belonged, are defending Ukraine. However, sometimes the biker defenders cross paths on different parts of the front, recall the past, and dream of the future. Their short-range plans are to win, change into biker clothes, get on a motorcycle, and just tear along the road. Nevertheless, for now, they are the defenders of Ukraine, who have the same idea as the biker movement – freedom and independence!

The full-scale invasion caught the nuclear employee on vacation. He sincerely believed that he would have time to help quickly kicking the ruscists out of Ukraine – and calmly be back at work, in the 16 days remaining until his vacation end.

“I don’t like it when they tell me how to live properly,” explains the resident of Energodar. “Especially the so-called brothers who arrived by tanks. I did not want that, so I decided to defend my family and my Motherland.

My wife was operated on just before the war. Therefore, on February 24, 2022, I bought the necessary medicines at the pharmacy, gave them to my son and said: “Here are the medicines, here is mom – look after her, and I will be back soon.” However, this “soon” has already extended over four years…

Fortunately, everything is fine with my family. After six months, they left Energodar – it was impossible to live there; moreover, the ruscists started looking for our club fellows.”

Having said goodbye to their family, Vitalii Novotarskyi and his friend departed on motorcycles to the military registration and enlistment office – they really wanted to give the enemy a beating for climbing into their native Energodar. However, upon arriving at the place, the bikers learned that you needed to have passport with you for registration for territorial defense unit.

“When we came the next day with the documents, the military registration and enlistment office in Energodar was no longer there, it was evacuated,” says the resident of Energodar. “We caught up with our military registration and enlistment office approximately in Vasylivka, changed clothes there and received weapons. We went to fight not for money, but for our hometown, for our native country.”

The Biker unit did not hold out for long near Vasylivka. After a time, the defenders were sent to the Orekhov district, where they stayed for a year. Our Hero’s favorite directions are Nesterianka, Shcherbaki, Mala Tokmachka. Although there were others, in particular, the Kharkiv direction. Vartovyi shared the story about the things happened on those lines in detail:

“Once, in the Kharkiv region, we had a task to recapture a position. A group of five defenders was assigned for me. I divided them and went with the first two. They started shelling us; we came under FPVs and missiles. It is good that we had good electronic warfare, so we reached the position successfully. The next three defenders followed us, they went longer, the enemy did not touch them, and they focused on us.

We went into the dugout, and it smelled of chemistry there; it means, our previous defenders were smoked out of that place. I do not know where international organizations are looking, but there was gas, phosphorus, and all that one can wish. The ruscists want to ignore international norms and rules of warfare, they just laugh at those.

Nevertheless, we were lucky, we had gas masks. We managed with the chemicals; we counted that at that time those had been used seven times for attacks. When the orcs realized that they would not drive us out in that way, they sent their infantry. Our radio did not work, so I heard the enemy already at the entrance to the dugout. That evening I had three 300s. We bandaged them and at 11:00 p.m. we waited until the rotation. Four more defenders were brought, the wounded military were taken.

The guy Valera with the codename Gnom stayed with me, although he was shell-shocked, but he decided to do so, and also – Mykola, with codename Roentgen. He is such a good person he must have been a squirrel hunter in a past life, because his shot is very accurate. In addition, those four who were brought. I tell them: “Guys, we have to survive, so we have to stand all night and keep a good watch for the enemy,” and they answer me that one of them has bad hearing, the other has bad vision. Well, I say: “Great, the two of you keep vigil! One listens, the other watches.” The night passed peacefully, the most interesting thing began in the morning.

First, the pickle-off started, after that – FPV. One young, healthy guy jumped up – and began shooting at the UAV with an assault rifle. Therefore, I see how the Mavic’s component detaches and explodes. The guy is wounded. He climbs back, his whole butt is in holes, and his arm is in holes. Valera is knitting bandages on them. Mykola and I stand back to back, and it started. He took two Mavics using the assault rifle. Therefore, I say – Roentgen! Then another drone was shot down by our electronic warfare system. We were not afraid, there were simply no other options, and we had to shoot back. We were also on adrenaline. The ruscists became shocked because we were shooting and hitting!

That day, Mykola and I fired with five assault rifles and a machine gun – three and a half “zinc”. We were shooting at everything we saw. The military from the watch station tell us that there is no one there. But how could it be if I hear them!? At dusk, I reported that I had 300s and I was already the 300th. Mykola was also wounded. The orcs started mortar fire. Then I thought: nothing depends on us anymore. After a while, they stalled!

At 11 p.m., an infantry-fighting vehicle arrived for us. It brought six guys. I stayed for the second day. I would like to say that I was very lucky with Mykola and Valerchik. I called the Gnom commander and asked to assign a kind of reward for him, because he was a fine fellow, but the commander replied that the guy was not alive yet... At that time, I had promised him that I would take him out and I did that, but I could not save him afterwards.

After that, I was given 30 days of leave of absence due to injuries. It is quite interesting: one wound, and four holes. At some point, I decided to wash the armor. My wife and I took a few more fragments out of it, and cleaned it. Oh, that armor saved me.”

During almost four years of war, Vitalii Novotarskyi has had many things, but he treats everything with a cold mind and humor. Moreover, most importantly, despite everything, he remains a Man with a capital letter and for some reason always modestly talks about his contribution to the approaching Victory of Ukraine.

For example, without pathos, he shares the story of the case when he hit an enemy Mi-24 with the Igla-1 MANPADS. In that situation the Ukrainian defenders intercepted the enemy’s radio conversation, where the pilot shouted that he had one 300th and the altitude control system was damaged.

“Well, I was shooting down a helicopter in the Zaporizhzhia direction,” the defender shares. “It was the day after Easter. I also took two eggs with me to the position – because it was a holiday, we needed to celebrate. At first, I was alone, but lately, I was given another fighter to support me.

Therefore, I peeled the egg, I was standing and thinking about the good things, that it was spring, that the holiday was so nice and it was time to end the war. Then they say on the radio: “thunderstorm in the foreground; be ready”. I see, their powerful armored “MI-24 Krakadil” takes off from behind the greensward and looks so businesslike, as if at home. Most likely, the orcs did not expect us to be standing there.

We had one rocket, and we launched it. I fired a shot from the MANPADS – according to the rules, I should have run away, but I saw that something was smoking at their place. My hands were shaking; and apparently, something theirs started sharing too – the helicopter was up and down – and then disappeared. What is one rocket against such a helicopter? If there were two, we would have finished it off. However, after that incident, the enemy did not fly to our place for a week. Another plus is the personnel are intact.”

Nevertheless, there are situations that do not make Vitalii Novotarskyi happy. This is when defenders are not properly awarded after being demobilized. According to him, simple attention to a veteran is of great importance.

“I am proud that the guys remain people, even when they have lost limbs,” emphasizes the defender. “But I am not proud that they are still without awards. Because if an award is provided, then every fighter should have it. The award is important, because the Hero understands that he was needed when not only he was performing combat missions, but also now – he is important, not forgotten. Any sign of attention is worth a lot, even a certificate, gratitude or bitcoin, etc.”

Biker himself just wants to return home – to his native Energodar, hug his wife, visit his mother’s grave and buy a new motorcycle.

“I want to forget everything and go somewhere on a motorcycle,” the man shares his dreams. “ I would like to buy it again, because I will never see those motorcycles, buy something new and ride. Of course, I want to hug my wife, and visit my mother’s grave. She is russian, originally from Rostov, but, to be honest, she never loved those ruscists and their russian world. She loved Ukraine – and she died here. It’s good that she remembered our country as free.”

Vitalii Novotarskyi is convinced that Ukraine will definitely be free again, but emphasizes that the path to Victory will not be easy. According to him, now, every Ukrainian must realize that only together we are able to defeat the enemy.

“Everyone must feel this in their hearts,” says Biker. “Because if we can’t stand it now, if the rear does not support the front, those who will not ask for help will come. They will simply put a weapon to their temples and send them to fight. However, Victory will definitely be ours. We will return all the occupied territories. It is just a matter of time.

I do not know for sure whether we will get everything back militarily or politically, but we will definitely win it back. There will be a Victory, and we will celebrate. Nevertheless, it will be difficult for the traitors to look us in the eye. My childhood friend in Energodar dressed up as a kazak (I say, kiziak (dried or processed manure)), so, I would like to see how he will escape. They know that there will be no place for them in Energodar!”