"VNUK"

Oleksii was born in Dnipro and had been part of the Dnipro football fan movement since 2005. He took part in the Revolution of Dignity. After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he immediately volunteered and joined the 98th Battalion. He served on the Zaporizhzhia axis. During the assault on Neskuchne, he was assigned to evacuation duties but instead joined his brothers-in-arms in the assault. After transferring to the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, he took part in battles near Bakhmut and in the city itself, serving both as an infantryman and a grenade launcher operator. In many different situations, he proved himself to be a true warrior and patriot of Ukraine. In Bakhmut, using an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, he destroyed an enemy machine-gun position, allowing the infantry to hold their position. During the 2023 counteroffensive near Bakhmut, he worked on dangerous sectors near Andriivka. Using a grenade launcher, he repelled and stopped large-scale enemy assaults. At the position, he also took part in evacuating and assisting wounded soldiers. His BMP-1 hit a TM anti-tank mine, but he immediately began helping his brothers-in-arms and the driver-mechanic, who had suffered critical injuries. He sustained numerous concussions but repeatedly returned to the ranks and continued carrying out his duties. After his last concussion and prolonged treatment, he was transferred to UAV operations, carrying out surveillance, fire adjustment, and strike missions with dropped munitions. As a pilot, he continued destroying the enemy. He took part in the battles for Avdiivka and its outskirts, as well as on the Kharkiv axis. He served as commander of a UAV squad in a fire-support company and participated in offensive operations on the Kharkiv axis. Oleksii was a sincere and honorable person, always smiling and positive in any situation, both in civilian life and at war. He was killed near Novovodiane after being struck by an enemy FPV fixed-wing drone.