Yurkevych Andrii M (Hrizli)

On April 18, 1982, in the family of Mykhailo Safronovych and Vira Yefremivna Yurkevich, a son, Andrii, was born. Andrii's childhood was spent in the picturesque village of Bilozirka in the Lanivtsi district of the Ternopil region. Later, the family moved to the city of Ternopil, where on September 1, 1988, Andrii Yurkevich entered the 1st grade of Secondary School No. 13, which he successfully graduated from in 1999. He obtained higher education at the Ternopil Economic University in the Faculty of Finance and Credit, graduating in 2005. In the same year, another important event occurred in Andrii's life: on October 15, he married Zhiluk Khrystyna Mykolaivna. His economic education allowed Andrii to engage in entrepreneurial activities at the company "Maksymum." The socio-political situation that developed in Ukraine in December 2013 forever changed the situation in the country and the fate of many of its citizens. Together with the protesters in Kyiv, who supported Ukraine's European choice, was Andrii Yurkevich. After a short rest, Andrii returned to Maidan in February 2014 and became an active participant in the events on Instytutska Street, as well as a witness to the shooting of protesters on February 18-20. Andrii Yurkevich, Ternopil, May 30, 2014, an excerpt from the book "My Revolution": "What happened on February 18-20 largely determined the course of subsequent history. The struggle, its achievements, the deaths of patriots, their heroism, the elementary feeling of a brotherly shoulder, especially from a complete stranger who protects you from a bullet with their body, changed each of us. Indifference and apathy were driven away. The sense of truth and justice was sharpened. And it proved once again that the impossible is possible. The conscious position of each of us, if consistently and unwaveringly defended, will surely resonate in the hearts of such fighters. No matter how skeptically those who did not stand with us in the same ranks, those who were afraid to sacrifice their lives, health, and often just banal comfort for the sake of defending those global values on which the world stands, treat our aspirations — we can no longer be stopped. Whether Maidan stands for 10 years or is dismantled for souvenirs tomorrow — it is not so important, because the things for which it fought are within each of us. Maidan is not tents, barricades, tires, and cocktails; Maidan is us, the people who carry its ideas and are ready to fight for them, to defend them even at the cost of their own lives. The values for which human blood has been and is being shed only increase in weight and find more and more new followers. The process cannot be stopped." It was from the events on Maidan that Andrii Mykhailovych Yurkevich forever linked his fate with the fate of his homeland. And already on June 16, he signed up as a volunteer with the call sign Grizzly in the Aidar battalion, where he served as a squad commander. On September 5, 2014, Yurkevich Andrii Mykhailovych did not return from a combat mission near the village of Vesela Hora in Luhansk region. Khrystyna Yurkevich, October 20, 2014: "When after the 40th day you stand at the grave of your beloved, you come to understand that this is not a terrible dream, not a mistake or a silly joke, that there is no longer a wonderful person with me and I am left alone, so in the future I will have to learn to live anew. And however painful it may be, nothing depends on me and I can change nothing, since the choice has been made in Heaven! As long as we are alive, we have a million options and possibilities to get out of any situation, but not in this one, although I am alive and healthy. It comes to the understanding that everything else is just banal things, completely unimportant in life when you lose your other half… My world turned upside down on September 5 after the terrible call with the incomprehension of what I heard… How could this happen? How? This is a ceasefire! A cessation of fire. And in response: 'That's it. Grizzly is no longer with us…'. I had been waiting all day for a call, and I will never forget our last conversation the night before the tragedy, that you would soon come home for a few days. But it was not meant to be. You came back forever. Your words are etched in my memory, that this is your last War and you would never leave your family again, and of course, as always, your tender, but already last words of love… I am grateful that 5 days before the great trouble, we even managed to talk on Skype, to see each other. I, as always, boasted about my new outfit and various purchases, and he just smiled and said that I was funny. It is hard to convey in words how anxious our last summer was: waiting for a call, a message, or any news, when the feeling that the mobile phone 'stuck' to you and you try not to talk to anyone else, because suddenly your other half will call. And it all started on June 16 around 11:00 PM. My beloved told me that he was going to ATO. Nothing held him back — neither tears, nor pleas, nor begging. Everything was in vain. In response, I only heard that he had firmly decided for himself that he could not stand aside from the events that are shaping our future. Unforgettable words: 'I love you more than life, but my place is there… If I stay home, I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror, I won't be me, people are dying there!'. After talking all night, he left around 5:00 AM, and I felt trouble then… Indeed, it is hard to find words to convey what kind of person my husband was. He was fearless, brave, looked at things realistically, would never leave anyone in trouble, would never let anyone down, and always saw things through to the end. Andrii had a terrible willpower, led a healthy lifestyle, and practiced free fighting. My beloved was a revolutionary with a huge heart, who sacrificed not only his own comfort, money, a happy family, love, but gave the most precious thing he had — his life, for our future, for our peace, for our Ukraine. We always believed that the greatest wealth in the world is a happy family… In an instant, I lost my most valuable treasure, my other half, my family… Appreciate your wealth, believe me, it is truly the most precious and important thing in the world! I am very grateful to God for that period of 13 years (of which 9 were married) that I felt such happiness — to be loved and to love, and my Heavenly Knight will forever remain in my heart and his boundless love for me gives me the strength to live on… Thank you for everything! Eternal rest… Heroes do not die!"