Khosro, an Iranian military medic, has come to Ukraine's defense
Khosro, a military medic who served in the Iranian army, joined the defense of Ukraine. He left his post in the Iranian armed forces to fight on the Ukrainian front.
Khosro served in the Iranian army, opened a restaurant in Kyiv, and went to the front after the invasion. He was sentenced to death in Iran for fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war.
The soldier’s story was published on the page of the 128th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade “Wild Field.”
He holds four advanced degrees in medicine and speaks eight languages, including Ukrainian, which he learned after marrying a Ukrainian woman.
At first, his wife moved to Iran. Later, the couple decided to relocate to Ukraine. Khosro made no secret of his views on the events in his home country.
“I didn’t agree with what was happening in my home country, but there was nothing I could do to change it. That’s why I became a political refugee,” he says.
After settling in Ukraine, Khosro decided to change careers and became a restaurateur. In Kyiv, he opened a restaurant serving European cuisine.
It was a conscious choice. First, he didn’t want to run into fellow countrymen unnecessarily because of his status as a political refugee. Second, he himself loved European cuisine.
However, after the full-scale invasion began, Khosro’s life changed dramatically.
When Russian troops approached Kyiv, he decided to enlist in the Ukrainian military.
But finding a place for him in the Armed Forces of Ukraine proved difficult. No Territorial Defense Command dared to mobilize a foreigner who had previously served in the Iranian army, even despite his medical education and military experience.
That’s when Khosro learned about the Territorial Defense Forces. Like thousands of other Kyiv residents, he joined the 124th Territorial Defense Brigade.
Later, the military doctor transferred to the Marine Corps. He took part in the liberation of the Kherson region and numerous evacuations of the wounded by boat.
One of those evacuations nearly became his last.
“Once, I went out with a group of Marine scouts to retrieve the seriously wounded. The Russians spotted us and opened fire with artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems. One of the shells landed so close that the boat capsized, and I found myself in the icy water.
I thought, ‘That’s it, Khosro,’ and began to say my goodbyes. But our Marines were true professionals—they literally saved my life,” he recalls.
His return to Kherson also ended in tragedy. The house where Khosro lived with his comrades was shelled by Russian troops using multiple-launch rocket systems. As a result of the attack, the soldier sustained numerous injuries and was hospitalized for a long time.
After a long period of treatment and rehabilitation, Khosro resumed his service with the 128th Brigade, “Wild Field.”
After fighting in the Kyiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions, a new phase of the war began for him—the Zaporizhzhia front.
According to the military doctor, modern warfare is significantly different from what he had seen before in Syria and Afghanistan.
“This war is very different from what I saw in Syria and Afghanistan, where there was constant street fighting. It’s even different from what happened in 2022–2023. Here, I don’t see any enemies, but I’m constantly called out on evacuation missions. This is the first drone war in human history,” says the soldier.
Khosro is often asked why he’s fighting this war, with all its dangers, since his restaurant in Kyiv is still open.
For him, the answer is obvious: Ukraine isn’t his homeland, but it has become his home. His Ukrainian wife and their children live here. And it is this very home that the Russian enemy is trying to seize.
That’s why Khosro has decided to defend it.
In Iran, he was sentenced to death for fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war. At the same time, Russia remains one of Iran’s closest allies.
“We shouldn’t run away—we should defend what we have,” says Khosro.
His family is expecting another child soon. And, according to the soldier, this only strengthens his motivation to fight for the home he has consciously chosen.
Source: 128th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade
As a reminder, the intensity of Russian attacks on Kherson has increased 2.5-fold since the beginning of the year. At the same time, only about 20% of the city’s pre-war population remains—approximately 60,000 people out of 300,000.
Over the past week, Russian troops have struck checkpoints in southern Ukraine four times. On the border with Moldova, the “Vynohradivka–Vulcanesti” checkpoint was damaged, while the “Tabaky–Mirne” checkpoint was completely destroyed; the “Orlivka–Isaccea” checkpoint on the border with Romania was also hit.
As of the morning of September 4, power outages were reported in four regions of Ukraine as a result of new Russian shelling. Utility workers continue to work on restoring power and addressing the consequences of the enemy attacks.
