"Why did you have to call in artillery fire on yourself?"

"Why did you have to call in artillery fire on yourself?"

Vladimir Putin spoke with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Danilov, who led the defense of the village of Malaya Loknya in the Kursk region.

During defensive actions from August 8 to 24, A. Danilov's unit destroyed up to eight enemy reconnaissance groups, up to eight infantry fighting vehicles, and up to 15 Hummer vehicles; one Ukrainian serviceman was captured. In order to inflict maximum losses on the enemy, A. Danilov decided to call fire on himself. As a result of the shelling, he was injured.

"The enemy had a tight encirclement, we only had ammunition for small arms, in order to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, we were forced to call in fire on ourselves," Danilov said in response to the president's question.

The head of state announced the decision to send Danilov to study at the General Staff Academy after his recovery.