Andrii V. Shyrokov (Simianyn)

Andriy Viktorovych Shyrokov was born on April 12, 1970, in the city of Dymytrov, Donetsk region. The family moved to the city of Dnipropetrovsk, where Andriy received his education and worked. With the onset of aggression in Eastern Ukraine, Andriy Shyrokov applied to the Novokadatsky military enlistment office in Dnipropetrovsk with the intention of defending our state. However, he was not accepted, as they could not find in the database where he had served in the military and what specialty and rank he had (during the USSR, Andriy Shyrokov served in Germany in a reconnaissance unit). Later, Andriy applied to the "Dnipro-1" battalion but also received a refusal. Thoughts that Ukraine needed him did not give him peace, and he joined the ranks of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps "Right Sector." He underwent training at the "Desna" base. He received the call sign "Family Man" because he had a family and 5 children at that time. During training, Family Man proved himself to be a persistent, attentive, physically strong, calm, balanced, and motivated fighter. After completing military training, Andriy was sent to the village of Pisky and, as part of the 1st separate assault company of the 5th battalion of the DUC PS, entered Donetsk airport in October 2014. For the second time, Andriy Shyrokov entered Donetsk airport in November 2014, was wounded, and therefore returned home for treatment at the beginning of winter 2014. In the spring of 2015, he returned to his comrades. In the summer of 2015, Andriy Shyrokov was wounded for the second time. The group went out to inspect positions and stumbled upon a mine. Andriy was transported by helicopter to the Mechnikov hospital in Dnipropetrovsk. However, not waiting for a full recovery, he returned to his comrades at the positions in the "Butivka" mine. In the summer of 2016, part of the 1st separate assault company of the DUC PS "Wolves of Podolyany" joined the 54th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. All summer and autumn, they set up positions: "Needle," "Bud," "Deer," which are considered "zero" on the Svitlodarsk bulge. On December 18, 2016, while performing a combat mission in a fierce battle with representatives of illegal armed formations in the area of the city of Svitlodarsk, Bakhmut district of Donetsk region (Svitlodarsk bulge), Shyrokov Andriy Viktorovych was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" of the III degree.