Oleksandr A. Popov

In military service since 2002, from 2004 served under contract in the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade (military unit A0666, Chornomorske, Odesa region). In 2004-2005, he served in Iraq as part of the 81st Tactical Group of the Ukrainian peacekeeping mission. With the onset of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014, he carried out tasks in the area of the anti-terrorist operation, fought in the border zone: in Marynivka, Stepanivka, near Savur-Mohyla. He was wounded, and after treatment in the hospital, he served at his permanent station, during which he collaborated with volunteers, helping the families of fallen comrades. Later, he returned to the ATO zone. He collaborated with the Odesa online publication "Dumska" — for some time in 2014, he was a freelance war correspondent. He also worked with the NGOs "Ukraine is Us" and "Public Safety Council" (Odesa), where volunteers delivered vehicles to the ATO through Oleksandr. In total, he went through three rotations in the combat zone in Eastern Ukraine.