Albert H. Radchenko (Toiota)

Junior Sergeant Albert Radchenko (call sign Toyota) was killed on January 6, 2023 near the village of Novoandriivka in the Zaporizhzhia region. While carrying out a combat mission, the defender sustained multiple injuries. He was 47 years old. Albert was born and lived in Zaporizhzhia. He studied at school No. 40. Then he graduated from vocational school No. 6. He worked at the Zaporizhstal combine. He was a diver. Together with his friends, he cleaned the Dnieper River and released fish into it. He really wanted to travel, particularly to dive in the lakes of Norway. He loved an active lifestyle. He adored animals. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, the man joined the local Territorial Defense Forces. In April 2022, he transferred to the guard company of the Vasylkiv military commissariat in the Zaporizhzhia region. He served there together with his brother. "Our son had a knee injury - an artificial patella, but he himself went to the military commissariat and got into the army without a medical commission. We with the father dissuaded, but the sons said: 'This is our country, we need to defend it. Parents, you will not be ashamed of us, we are defending our own, you beloved, children, our country, our city.' When the Russians set fire to the wheat fields, they extinguished them, even though there was no order. They said that tears were flowing because the wheat fields were burning... When the village was bombed next to them, the sons evacuated the people. They gave food to those who remained. Albert always saved everyone: both on the front line and in life. He always helped everyone. He had no sense of fear. His passion was the Toyota car (hence the call sign). It was on this car that he went to fight. It was all pierced with shrapnel. And then Albert's wife gave his car to the military. At the funeral of her son, the mothers of the warriors he had saved were very grateful... His commanders thanked and apologized... Albert was a kind person, a very caring son, husband and father," Lyudmyla Radchenko said. "He was a man with a capital letter. From the first days of the war, he devoted himself to the defense of our Motherland. Thanks to people like him, Ukraine will withstand and win. Rest in peace, friend. Heroes die, but the memory of them is in our hearts..." his friend Oleksiy wrote. The defender was buried at the Right Bank Cemetery in his native Zaporizhzhia. Albert is survived by his parents, brother, wife, daughter and son.