Oleksandr L. Harkusha (Shalanda)

Senior sailor Oleksandr Harkusha was killed on January 8, 2024 in the city of Vyazma (Russia). He was in custody in pre-trial detention center No. 2. Oleksandr was 55 years old. He was born in Mykolaiv, where he grew up and studied. He first went to school No. 40, and then to school No. 32. Before his military service, he worked as a worker-mechanic at the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Plant. Later in civilian life, he was a driver. He drove KamAZs, went on trips around Ukraine and abroad. He loved to spend his free time with his family. From May 2015, he signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As part of the 36th separate marine brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilinsky, he defended the Motherland during the war in the East. The full-scale invasion caught the man in the village of Sopyne in the Donetsk region. Then there were battles for the city of Mariupol. Oleksandr held the position of driver in the same brigade. On April 11, 2022, he was taken prisoner from the territory of the Ilyich Mariupol Metallurgical Plant. "He was calm, sociable. You could always ask him for help," said his brother Vadym Harkusha. The body of the fighter was returned to Ukraine in February 2024. Oleksandr's brother went to identify him in Kyiv. And on March 2, the defender was buried in his hometown. Oleksandr is survived by a daughter and his brother with his family.