Andrii O. Shcherbanivskyi (Panda)

Senior Sergeant Andrii Shcherbanskyi (call sign Panda) was killed on March 22, 2023, while performing a combat mission near the village of Lyman First, Kharkiv region. The defender was 44 years old. Andrii lived in Kyiv. After graduating from school, he entered the radio engineering faculty of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where he obtained the qualification of radio engineer-designer-technologist. He served his conscription. He was passionate about athletics. He had dozens of successful finishes in marathon races. He had a personal record of covering 42 km in 2.5 hours. In civilian life, he worked in companies in the electrical engineering field. He was the organizer of athletics and triathlon competitions, a fan of the sports movement and an active lifestyle. In 2005, he founded the first professional marathon club in Ukraine "Taras Bulba" and, together with his club members, held running events in Ukraine. Participant of European and World Championships - first as an athlete, and then as an administrator (took teams to competitions abroad and was the organizer of the Ukrainian Championships). In 2013, the man co-founded the public organization "Association of Skyrunning of Ukraine". After 2014, Andrii was drafted for a year into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He took part in the ATO. On the first day of the full-scale war, without hesitation, he again took up the defense of Ukraine. He served in his native 3rd separate special purpose regiment named after Prince Sviatoslav the Brave. As part of his unit, he carried out combat missions in various parts of the front. He held the position of operator. "Andrii loved to travel very much. Especially in the mountains. Every year, in any season, he went on hikes in the Carpathians. They were native to him, almost like home. He knew everything about them. He composed tourist routes for colleagues and gradually taught them to love the mountains. In 2012, he conquered the proud Elbrus. Andrii wrote fantastic and humorous stories for magazines. His works were published in the magazine "Dnipro". He was a polyglot. During the pandemic, Andrii improved his English. He began to learn Romanian, repeat German and Italian. He also took cybersecurity courses in English. The main principles that Andrii repeated in his family: learn foreign languages and do sports, even not professionally, the main thing is regularly," wrote the fallen warrior's wife, Olena. The soldier was buried on the Alley of Heroes of the Forest Cemetery in Kyiv. At home, Andrii was awaited by his mother, wife, daughter and two sons. The serviceman was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.