Oleh A. Burlaka (Olesh)

Oleg Anatoliyovych was born on July 5, 1972, in Donetsk, and later his family moved to the village of Oleksandrivka in the Marinka district of Donetsk region. After graduating from high school in 1989, he was drafted for compulsory military service, which he completed in a training tank division located in the village of Desna in the Kozelets district of Chernihiv region. In 1991, he entered the Donetsk Higher Military-Political School, but in 1993, together with several friends, he submitted a report for expulsion from studies and was discharged to the reserve. From 1993 to 1995, he studied at the Donetsk Open University, and from 1996 to 2005, he worked at one of the mines in Donetsk region. In 2006, he started his own small business, manufacturing furniture. In March 2014, he signed up as a volunteer at the local military commissariat. On September 10, 2014, he moved his family to Chernihiv, and on September 14, he signed a contract for service in the military reserve of the National Guard of Ukraine, taking the position of squad commander in the special forces battalion of the National Guard "Donbas." At the beginning of 2015, he was reclassified in the unit as being called up for military service by mobilization.