Oleksandr M. Zaichenko

Born on October 3, 1975, in the city of Kyiv. Graduated from high school in Kyiv. In August 2014, he was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served as a rifleman-assistant grenade launcher of the 3rd separate airborne battalion "Phoenix" of the 79th separate airborne brigade of the High Mobility Airborne Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A0224, city of Mykolaiv). From November 2014, he participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. On February 4, 2015, a reconnaissance group of 30 soldiers, including soldier Zaychenko, set out in three armored personnel carriers and a jeep to conduct search-strike actions in the area of the village of Shyrokyne in the Volnovakha district of Donetsk region. Upon entering the village of Shyrokyne, the unit fell into an ambush by pro-Russian militants and was fired upon with anti-tank and small arms. A shot from a grenade launcher hit the lead reconnaissance vehicle - the jeep, where soldier Zaychenko was located, resulting in his death. Sergeant Bohdan Havel also died alongside him, and two other servicemen were injured. With their lives, these soldiers saved 10 fighters in the armored personnel carrier that was following the jeep and allowed the main group to withdraw from the fire zone and regroup. He was buried in Kyiv on October 8, 2015.