Ivan M. Havrylenko

Gavrilenko Ivan Mykhailovych was born on February 14, 1990. He studied at school No. 2 in Verkhniodniprovsk. From 2008, he served in the elite naval infantry troops in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. He was a scout of the 1st reconnaissance platoon in the 1st separate battalion of the naval infantry. He took part in the resistance to the occupation of Crimea in 2013-2014. During the attempted annexation of the peninsula, he remained faithful to the oath and the people of Ukraine, and in 2014 he signed a contract in Mykolaiv, where the 1st separate Feodosia battalion of the naval infantry was relocated, where Ivan Gavrilenko held the position of deputy platoon commander. He directly participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation and the Joint Forces Operation. In the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he returned from abroad. In March 2022, he took part in the defense of the Kyiv region (the cities of Irpin, Bucha) as part of the 10th detachment of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, participated in ambush and sabotage actions in the enemy's rear and air operations to the occupied Mariupol. During the complete blockade of Mariupol, Ivan Gavrilenko, as part of the crew of Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, repeatedly carried out unprecedented and extremely dangerous sorties to the "Azovstal" plant surrounded by the enemy. He carried out the first successful evacuations from the encirclement and air breakthroughs with reinforcements, medicines, means of communication and weapons. During his last combat sortie on the night of April 5, 2022, the Mi-8 helicopter in which Ivan Gavrilenko was on board was shot down by Russian invaders. The officer, trying to reach the Ukrainian forces, stepped on a tripwire and was taken prisoner. For several weeks he was in very serious condition, having suffered combined injuries to both legs and a fracture of the right tibia and 60% body burns. He was treated in a military hospital in the occupied Melitopol, but without receiving proper medical care, he died in captivity on April 22, 2022. The farewell and requiem for Ivan Gavrilenko took place on May 28, 2022 in the center of Verkhniodniprovsk, Kamianske district, Dnipropetrovsk region. He was buried in the Alley of Glory of the Central Cemetery of Verkhniodniprovsk.