A resident of the Leninogorsk district of Tatarstan, Aidar Gaifutdinov, corporal of the motorized rifle troops and deputy platoon commander of anti-tank guided missile systems, signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2024.

      “I wanted to go back in 2022, but my children held me back — I have four of them. Then I told my wife, ‘I’m going to the SVO.’ She replied, ‘If you’ve decided, then you must go,’” Aidar recalls.

      Three days after signing the papers he was already on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

      Service was by the book: clear orders, discipline, mutual support. “I treated service as a job. There’s an order — carry it out. That’s it,” he says.

      Because of his excellent physical condition and tall stature, Aidar, who received the callsign “Bigfoot” at the front, was selected to take part in the Victory Parade in Moscow.

      “For me it was a special event. A dream came true — to march in step across Red Square on May 9. We marched — and by the 11th we were already back at the front.”

      In July, while changing position, Aidar came under mortar fire. “My crew and I were in a tree line; I was ordered to change location. I probably came into the view of an FPV drone, because the mortar immediately engaged me,” he recalls.

      The first shell tore off part of one leg. Shrapnel ripped through the other. On one leg he hopped to a pre-dug trench.

      There he came to, applied a tourniquet, injected himself with a painkiller and, as best he could, bandaged himself. He reported the wound over the radio and waited for evacuation.

      “My strength was leaving me; I understood that I could crawl about five kilometers, no more. I wasn’t afraid of death. I prayed. I thought about my family, my children, my grandfather who fought in 1945. The place where I lay continued to be shelled, and I was afraid I would simply be buried. But the guys got to me. They carried me on stretchers for two days. ‘We don’t abandon our own’ — we live by that motto to the end,” Aidar says.

      The fighter went through hospitals in Rostov, Yekaterinburg and Samara while recovering from numerous operations. “In Samara the doctors quickly fitted a prosthesis. Thanks to them I celebrated New Year 2025 at home — with my mother, my wife and my children,” Aidar says.

      He does not consider the loss of a leg a tragedy. “Our grandfathers, having lost a leg, carved prostheses out of wood and returned to the ranks — they worked, raised children. I’m the same: I’m alive, so I’ll be useful.”

      From the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, Aidar received an offer to take part in the Rais Cup among SVO veterans. As part of the team he won the sitting volleyball event. There he turned to the head of the Tatarstan branch of the Foundation, Guzel Udachina, asking for help with employment.

      Today Aidar works as a social coordinator at the Leninogorsk branch of the Foundation. He helps fighters like himself and their families. “I went through everything myself — the hospital and adaptation. So I know how important it is not to be left alone,” he says.

      Aidar plans to enroll in university and obtain a degree in public administration. But the main thing, he says, is “to remain needed and to be a support for my family.”

      “Losing a leg is not a sentence. It’s just a new stage. The main thing is not to stop living and helping others,” says Corporal Aidar Gaifutdinov, callsign Bigfoot.

      For courage and selflessness shown while carrying out combat missions, Aidar Gaifutdinov has been awarded the medals “For Combat Distinction,” “For Strengthening Combat Brotherhood,” and “Participant of the Special Military Operation”; he holds the Order of Courage and is a combat veteran.

      In his annual address to the State Council of Tatarstan, the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that for courage and heroism shown during the Special Military Operation, 17 natives of Tatarstan have been awarded the high title “Hero of Russia,” unfortunately eight of them posthumously.

      Minnikhanov emphasized that 3,285 natives of Tatarstan have been posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.

      The material was prepared with the participation of Ilmira Gareyeva.

      Photographs from the fighter’s archive.

      More news about the event:

      “‘There was no fear. I prayed!’: SVO fighter from Leninogorsk spent five days without food and water”

      A resident of the Leninogorsk district of Tatarstan, Aidar Gaifutdinov, corporal of the motorized rifle troops and deputy platoon commander of anti-tank guided missile systems, signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2024. 10:47 01.11.2025 Kaibitskie Zori - Bolshie Kaibitsy

      “‘There was no fear. I prayed!’: SVO fighter from Leninogorsk spent five days without food and water”

      A resident of the Leninogorsk district of Tatarstan, Aidar Gaifutdinov, corporal of the motorized rifle troops and deputy platoon commander of anti-tank guided missile systems, signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2024. 09:02 01.11.2025 IA Tatar-Inform - Kazan