Oleksandr M. Zabolotnyi

Zabolotny Oleksandr Mykolayovych was born on July 15, 1980, in the city of Bilopillia, Sumy Oblast. In 2007, he graduated from Sumy National Agrarian University. During his military service, Senior Master Sergeant Oleksandr Zabolotny proved himself to be an excellent specialist, devoted to his military oath, military duty, and the task of guarding the state border. He always diligently performed his official duties, adhered to the legislative requirements regarding border control at checkpoints across the state border, and demonstrated initiative, perseverance, high organization, and discipline while performing his official duties. He was a participant in combat operations. In 2014, he took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), ensuring its conduct and defending the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine in the area of responsibility of the 3rd Border Detachment in Luhansk Oblast. On February 24, 2022, at the onset of the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, Senior Master Sergeant Oleksandr Zabolotny, as part of a group from the 5th Border Detachment, was dispatched to defend the city of Chernihiv, in the area of responsibility of the 105th Border Detachment. Oleksandr Zabolotny, along with his comrades, bravely engaged in battle against the superior forces of the aggressor, repelling enemy attacks and preventing the occupiers from entering the city of Chernihiv. After the liberation of Sumy Oblast from the occupiers and the return to the deployment location of the unit, the border guards regained control over the state border and began to establish Ukrainian positions on it. On May 5, 2022, Oleksandr Zabolotny, as part of the border patrol "Observation Post," carried out a combat mission to protect and defend the state border at designated combat positions and conducted surveillance in a specified direction on the outskirts of the village of Obody, Sumy Oblast. As a result of a combat encounter with an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group, he sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds that were incompatible with life. For his personal bravery and selfless actions demonstrated in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and his loyalty to the military oath, Senior Master Sergeant Zabolotny Oleksandr Mykolayovych was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" III degree.