Oleksandr M. Hrechka (Turyst)

Sergeant Oleksandr Hrechka (call sign Tourist) was killed on February 6, 2023, from wounds sustained during enemy assault on the positions of the Ukrainian military near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region. The fighter was 36 years old. Oleksandr lived and worked in Kyiv. He graduated from the Borshchiv Agrotechnical Professional College as a carpenter-parquetist and construction technician. In 2007-2008, he served in the military. In peacetime, he worked as a security guard, courier, and picker. In 2015-2016, he participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Luhansk region as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When he returned from the war, he met his future wife. Together they were involved in volunteering. In his free time, he embroidered with beads and cross-stitch, and made matches products. During the full-scale war, the man took up arms for the second time to protect Ukraine from the occupiers. He served in the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians. He was a rifleman-medic. "Sashko was an extremely bright, loving, sensitive and kind man who always put his own needs second. A patriot of the country, he did not avoid mobilization in 2015 or 2022. When he was in the Anti-Terrorist Operation, he was writing a book that he did not have time to finish and publish due to the full-scale invasion. He was a big fan of Andriy Kuzmenko's work. He embroidered a portrait of the singer in cross-stitch and often loved to quote his work. After the end of the war or demobilization, Sashko wanted to buy his own home. He dreamed of expanding his family. He planned to travel, publish his book, and officially register the embroidery creativity he was engaged in together with me. When he called me or wrote from the zero positions, often under bullets and shells, he managed to joke, recall funny stories and say: "Everything will be fine! Together to Victory! How are you?" - said the warrior's wife Nadiia. The hero was buried at the Berkovetske cemetery in Kyiv. At home, he was awaited by his mother, wife, relatives, friends and his beloved cat Tyhra.