The Markelov brothers both had square, rectangular faces with the deep eye sockets, large noses and bulbous features typical for Slavic peoples, except that the elder Markelov had a bushy beard.
After graduating from high school, the two brothers joined the army. They were former residents of western Ukraine. Since childhood, they followed their father to hunt wolves and foxes in the trails of the Carpathian mountains.
The training was hard and tiring, but the two men were like fish in the water.
Most of the training was carried out in the home army camp. For the two brothers, who had been climbing mountains with their parents since childhood, there was no physical obstacle and all they easily passed every mission.
Their physical strength, good learning ability, and excellent marksmanship were later noticed by the Ukrainian special forces. Both of them were selected to join.
