Ivan A. Heraimchuk

Ivan Andriyovych Heraiymchuk was born on October 13, 1981, in the village of Kodnya, Zhytomyr region. Since the late 1990s, he served in the internal affairs bodies. In recent years, he worked as an inspector for patrol police response in the Korosten District Police Department in Zhytomyr region. "We studied in the same class, but we started dating only after school. Although, probably since the 8th grade, my friends told me that Ivan was in love with me. I remember once I was absent from school for a week because I got sick, and when I returned, he bombarded me with questions: 'Iryna, how are you? What happened?...'. And then, already in the 10th grade, he ran every morning specifically through my street just to talk to me," recalls the wife of the fallen police officer, Iryna Heraiymchuk. "At graduation, our whole class made wishes and wrote them down so we could gather together in five years to check what came true. I also left my girlhood dream along with everyone else. But, to be honest, I later even forgot about it. But Ivan did not. He sat behind me when we were writing, and I think he read it. I wrote: 'To marry a police officer and have two children - a boy and a girl.' Ivan, despite his father's wish for him to become a student at an agricultural college, enrolled in the Donetsk Institute of Internal Affairs. Iryna came to his oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people already in love and eagerly awaited the short vacations. After finishing village school, the boy initially found studying challenging, especially with French, which he couldn't overcome by himself. But he managed here too - he got a job as a laboratory assistant in the foreign language classroom and managed to pass the exam. So, finally, in July 2003, Ivan Heraiymchuk began his service as a senior inspector of the road patrol service of the traffic police battalion of the Directorate for Traffic Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region. "We managed the second part of my wish together," the woman smiles through tears. The couple has two children - 16-year-old Vladislav and 5-year-old Violetta. "He knew how to negotiate with them about everything in the world. He could understand children almost without words, with just a glance: what they wanted, why they were capricious, how to raise them..." Iryna shares. "My father taught me, probably, the most to respect work. Now no job scares me - I can say for sure that I know a lot, and what I don't know, I know how to master. He taught me to drive a tractor and understand technology," Vladislav continues the conversation. "If dad had a day off, we would immediately go to the village. There was always something to do there. He was serious, very responsible, hardworking, and kind! The best dad in the world!" Mom Halyna Volodymyrivna shares that about 1.5 years ago, the father passed away suddenly, and Ivan took on all the responsibilities for her and the plans his husband had made: "Whenever he had a day off or a free moment, he rushed to the village. In that year, he did almost everything in the household that his father wanted but couldn't finish. And he always consoled me: 'Mom, don't worry, everything will be fine...' He was very kind... We raised him, taught him, thinking he would help us in old age..." On that day, February 26, 2022, the man called his wife about five times. The conversations were short, but according to Iryna, it was important for her just to hear her husband. He was worried and asked her to pack up and leave Zhytomyr immediately, as he was more than a hundred kilometers away and couldn't take them to a safer place himself. "To be honest, on the first day, I couldn't understand why he was demanding and asking me to leave at the same time. Like everyone else, I just didn't fully realize that the war was right here, just here... But he insisted: 'Take the kids and go immediately...' We left in the first days of March, and only because he begged us... But he still remains close: his soul is near, I always feel him... He also knows that he did not die in vain. He died for his homeland, for the future of our children, so they could be happy..." recalls his wife. In the evening of February 26, Ivan Heraiymchuk and his colleagues went out to check reports of light signals being directed towards the aggressor from a fire tower in the village of Zalissia, Korosten district of Zhytomyr region. There were less than 20 km to the border with Belarus, from where the Russian horde had already invaded Polissia. When the police tried to detain individuals at the scene, they opened fire and began to flee in a vehicle. The pursuit yielded no results, and on the way back, the police fell into an ambush. The service vehicle near the village of Yazberyn, close to the town of Narodychi, was shot at point-blank range. From the injuries sustained, police major Ivan Heraiymchuk and his comrade died on the spot. Two other police officers were injured. Ivan Andriyovych's colleagues remember him as a reliable friend and responsible colleague: "I have known him for almost 20 years. He was my mentor and always said: when making decisions, always follow the principle: do it humanely first, and then by the rules. He was very humane and a true patriot. For us, he is a hero!" says Andriy Yatsko, senior inspector of the preventive activity department of the National Police. "I joined the service only because I had seen Ivan Andriyovych since childhood. He lived next door, and I watched him come home in the evening and leave for work in the morning. He was so kind and brave! For me, he was a very strong example and motivation to become a police officer," says Vladislav Tretiak, a police officer in the police activity sector No. 1 of the Korosten District Police Department. "I had the impression that every driver in the Narodychi community knew him, from 16 to 80 years old. Road safety was his direct area of responsibility. He was strict with those who drove under the influence and had the right words for those who ignored seatbelts or helmets. He knew how to communicate with everyone so they understood why they had to face punishment or why they should never do such things again," recalls Oleksandr Kulish, head of the police activity sector No. 1 of the Korosten District Police Department. For personal courage and selfless actions demonstrated in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and loyalty to his military oath, police major Ivan Andriyovych Heraiymchuk was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" of the third degree.