Andrii M. Marunchak

Shoulder to shoulder with Oleg Mikhnuk at EuroMaidan, and later in "Aidar," the Afghan Andriy Myroslavovych Marunchak from Lviv region defended the integrity of Ukraine. His service in Afghanistan took place in 1985-1986. A sergeant, radio operator of the 1996th separate radio technical battalion of air defense. He returned with three wounds and a concussion, but he never shared his memories of what he experienced with anyone. He was nominated for an award, which he never received. To find out what kind of fighter Andriy was, we managed to locate his commander, who lived in Fastiv, Kyiv region. According to him, Andriy was a good soldier, reliable, fair, and brave. He was the same in life. After demobilization, he entered Lviv Ivan Franko National University. After the first year, to help his family, he had to leave his studies. He got married and raised a daughter and a son. In his native village, he built a house and found his place in construction. Currently, there are dozens of homes built by Andriy and his brother Petro in various regions of Ukraine. However, a quiet life was not for Andriy. He could not remain silent when human dignity was disrespected: he participated in the Orange Revolution, the Tax Maidan, and defended the rights of Afghan and Chernobyl veterans. From the first to the last day, he was a participant in the Revolution of Dignity at EuroMaidan, where he received another concussion. After the war began in Eastern Ukraine, together with Petro, he went to the ATO zone, becoming a fighter in the 8th "Afghan" company of the 24th territorial defense battalion "Aidar." They went there to teach 20-year-old soldiers, the "children," how to fight wisely to avoid unnecessary deaths. The men told their families that they were working in Zolotonosha. On August 13, 2014, the fighters of "Aidar," among whom were the Marunchak brothers, received the task: to liberate the village of Novosvitlivka in the Krasnodon district from militants. To secure their positions, the "Aidar" fighters were waiting for reinforcements from the side of Krasnodon when suddenly they heard the rumble of approaching machinery from the direction of Stanytsia Luhanska. Andriy, along with a comrade, went to meet them. But it turned out that these were enemy tanks, which opened fire. Bleeding, Marunchak managed to grab a grenade and throw it at the tank. As a result of the explosion, ammunition detonated in the combat vehicle, and the T-72 was torn to pieces. Meanwhile, our tank crew neutralized other enemy tanks. The burning machinery blocked the passage. The infantry of the separatists was destroyed, and the rest of the enemy armored vehicles retreated. If it weren't for Andriy, that Russian tank would have fired first, and everything could have ended much worse for the unit.