The man decided to go to a military recruitment office on his own instead of waiting for a summons.  His family noticed that he seemed troubled and lost in thought long before this. Eventually, when he had a military summons in his hands, he told his family that he was going to war.

"At the time, I simply could not watch TV and hear the news from the hot spots.  I understood that the fate of my country was being decided there, on the contact line, and I had to take action. Since I had served in the border troops before, I was assigned there.  At first, we were in Kharkiv, and then we were transferred to the border with the Katsaps in the Kharkiv region."

The main task of the unit to which Sergeant Kravchenko was assigned was to deter the enemy and neutralise sabotage and reconnaissance groups attempting to infiltrate from enemy territory. The enemy shelled the positions of the border guard troops relentlessly. This situation lasted for a year.  In the spring of 2023, the border unit, in which Serhii served, was assigned to the 80th Air Assault Brigade to liberate Klishchiivka. This settlement was regarded as a strategic high ground. Bakhmut was clearly visible from there.

"It was very hard there. It was a different war from what we had once imagined. Nothing like what we saw in old heroic films. Now it is a war characterised by howitzer and mortar attacks, along with a large number of drones, to which the infantry is very vulnerable. Many of my fellow soldiers sacrificed their lives to liberate this land, and many others were left disabled. I will always remember all of them," the veteran said.  

The intense physical demands of combat took their toll. After treatment in the hospital and a thorough examination, Sergeant Kravchenko was demobilised from the army for health reasons. For three months now, he has been working on the home front, on the production site. Work was always plentiful in the railway shop of Inhulets Iron Ore, as the shop includes many stations, areas, and equipment that require professional maintenance by power and utility specialists. And now, with many male electrical fitters defending the country, he takes on the duties of an electrical fitter almost daily, despite being the head of the power and utility service. He says he is not complaining at all because he understands where his colleagues are now. Not to mention, he loves his job.