Andrii O. Baliaba (Bucha)

Andriy Oleksandrovych Balaba was born on May 4, 1982, in Luhansk. There he completed his secondary education, after which he moved with his family to Bucha in the Kyiv region. Since 2014, Andriy Oleksandrovych went to defend Ukrainian lands from the aggressor, starting his journey with the volunteer battalion "Donbas." Later, in 2016, he decided to permanently connect his life with military service and signed a contract with the operational assignment battalion named after Hero of Ukraine Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky. According to his wife, the guardsman prioritized his comrades until the war was over. Andriy dreamed that his son would live in a free country, which is why he decided to stay with his unit until the final victory over the occupier. In January 2022, Andriy Balaba went on another rotation to the East of the country, and on February 24, a full-scale invasion began. The guardsman carried out combat missions in the village of Oskil in the Kharkiv region. On March 15, 2022, as part of a reconnaissance group, Andriy Oleksandrovych monitored the flights of enemy military aircraft. He identified the approximate trajectory of the enemy targets' movement and passed this information to the air defense units, resulting in the destruction of two KA-52 helicopters, which significantly weakened the air fire support of the enemy troops. On March 23, during reconnaissance, Andriy's group discovered and detained a Russian aviation pilot. On March 30, around 12:00, Andriy Balaba congratulated his wife on her birthday and continued to carry out his combat mission. At that time, the enemy began a heavy mortar shelling. The defender was killed instantly; enemy shrapnel hit him in the lung and heart. For personal courage and selflessness demonstrated in defending the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath, conscientious and impeccable service to the Ukrainian people, Sergeant Andriy Oleksandrovych Balaba was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" of the III degree.