Ivan T. Pidhurskyi (Sirko)

43-year-old soldier Ivan Pidhurskyi (call sign Sirko) was killed on July 15, 2023 near the village of Bohdanivka in the Donetsk region. During the performance of a combat mission, he received fatal shrapnel wounds. Ivan was born in the village of Tsyhany, Ternopil region. After school, he obtained the profession of a carpenter at the Borshchiv Vocational and Technical School. He served his military service. Later, he studied in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv, and obtained a master's degree in physical education and sports. Sport was an important part of his life, so he devoted himself to it professionally. Later, he founded the Dmytro-Baida Vyshnevetskyi School of Combat Hopak in Chernivtsi, and for 19 years he was a coach. On February 24, 2022, the man went to defend Ukraine. He served in the 107th separate brigade of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was a machine gunner in the 92nd battalion. He defended the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. "Ivan was very brave, he went as a volunteer on the first day of the war! A few weeks before his death, he said: if you want to, you can survive here (that is, at the front), but unfortunately... He loved me and the children more than anything. He was fanatically in love with his work, he raised more than one generation of Cossacks, reviews about him and gratitude from the parents of the children are still coming. The School of Combat Hopak continues to operate, we continued its work in memory of the man. Ivan was special, he never drank, never smoked, his whole life was in sports and the upbringing of patriotic youth. He himself was a great patriot, he hated the enemy. He said they need to be driven out of our land not for us, but for the future of our children. From the front, he called at the first opportunity, said that from all this horror he needs to hear us, that we inspire him... The children miss their father very much, I - his shoulder, support and love. I cannot come to terms with the fact that I have lost my husband-Hero forever!" - the warrior's wife Karina said. Ivan was buried in Chernivtsi. The defender left behind a wife, three children, relatives, friends and comrades-in-arms. The fighter was posthumously awarded the medals "For the Liberation of the Kharkiv Region" and "For the Glory of Chernivtsi", the honorary award of the Chernivtsi Regional Council "For Merits to Bukovyna".