9th Company

In 1988, young Soviet conscripts bid farewell to their families at a Krasnoyarsk recruitment base. They are assigned to the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment for deployment to Afghanistan. Pride and anxiety mingle as they prepare for distant duty.

The recruits arrive at bootcamp in the Fergana Valley and meet Pinochet, the Chechen conscript, along with their hard-edged drill instructor Dygalo. He has the aura of an Afghanistan veteran and pushes them to their limits. Through harsh training, they form tentative bonds across their differences.

Dygalo longs to deploy with the recruits, but his request is refused, leaving him behind as the group boards a transport plane to Bagram. The trainees sense a growing gap between training and frontline reality. The moment foreshadows the same brutal distance that will define their war.

On arrival at Bagram, Lyutyi receives a lucky medallion from a veteran who swears it protected him through several tours. The same base soon echoes with tragedy when a transport plane is hit by a missile on takeoff and crashes, killing everyone aboard. The double moment marks luck and loss colliding at the start of their Afghan chapter.

Back at base, some recruits are assigned to the 9th company while Pinochet and Ryaba join the 4th, separating them from their friends. The division foreshadows the different paths each squad will endure in the war. The bonds from training will be tested as the men head into frontline duty.

The veterans Khokhol, Afanasiy, and Kurbashi explain the realities of Afghanistan to the new recruits. Though Dygalo is medically evacuated, his influence lingers as a catalyst for the recruits’ hardening. The conversations reveal the war's grim truth beyond training.

Captain Bystrov leads the company out to deliver supplies to a distant Soviet outpost and confronts a Mujahideen force led by Akhmed. The skirmish is short but brutal, exposing the fragility of the outpost. It marks the transition from training to live-fire combat.

The next day, Vorobey shoots and kills Akhmed after discovering him by accident, a stark moment of personal action amid the broader war. The action heightens the tension and sets the tone for the ensuing battles. The soldiers continue to press on under mounting pressure.

The company establishes a steadfast outpost on Hill 3234 as part of Operation Magistral and fights to defend the passing convoys. A brutal Mujahideen ambush inflicts heavy casualties and tests the 9th company’s resolve. The hill becomes a focal point of days of brutal combat.

Stas falls asleep on guard and is beaten by veterans; he is later shot in the back by a village boy and dies, underscoring the tragedy of the war. In retaliation, Soviet forces unleash a BM-21 Grad bombardment that devastates the nearby village. The massacre weighs heavily on the survivors.

Over the ensuing months, Khokhol, Kurbashi, Chugun, Vorobey, and Pinochet fall in battle. The 9th company’s ranks shrink as more comrades die around Hill 3234. The survivors cling to a dwindling hope as the fight continues.

With ammunition dwindling, Lyutyi and Afanasiy hold the last line as Mi-24 helicopters arrive to finish off the remaining attackers. Lyutyi becomes the sole survivor and, realizing the war’s futility, tears the lucky medallion from his neck. The moment foreshadows a broader disillusionment with the conflict.

On February 9, 1989, Lyutyi is seen departing Afghanistan on a BTR-70 convoy. He narrates the collapse of the Soviet Union, Dygalo’s death from a stroke, and the futility of the war, yet asserts that the 9th company earned its own personal victory. The film closes on the memory of their solidarity in the face of collapse.