Andrii V. Hovera

Andriy Vasylovych Hovera was born on February 22, 1974, in Weimar (Germany). In 1995, he graduated from a higher military educational institution and later served in the border guard, holding various positions. Throughout his many years of service, the officer courageously and impeccably fulfilled his official duties, applying maximum knowledge and skills to the task of protecting the state border of Ukraine. He was a participant in combat operations. For the first time after being discharged from military service, Andriy Vasylovych was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2014, at which point he took up the defense of Ukraine's borders and performed tasks directly in the area of the Anti-Terrorist Operation. From the first days of the large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Andriy Hovera voluntarily once again took up the defense of Ukraine. Since March 18, 2022, as part of a combined unit of the 1st Border Detachment, he performed combat tasks and participated in measures to repel and deter the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Maryinka direction of Donetsk Oblast. Thanks to his combat experience, the officer quickly organized the actions of subordinate personnel, and the unit under his direct command moved between positions while avoiding enemy fire. On March 21, 2022, at 9:00 AM, in the area of the village of Slavne in the Maryinka district of Donetsk Oblast, the enemy shelled the positions of the border guards, during which Lieutenant Colonel Andriy Hovera was killed by a mortar strike. For personal courage and selfless actions demonstrated in the defense of the state's sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as loyalty to the military oath, Lieutenant Colonel Andriy Vasylovych Hovera was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" of the III degree.