Oleksandr S. Kuzmenko

Senior Lieutenant Oleksandr Kuzmenko was killed in action on April 15, 2022, while performing a combat mission in the area of Zelenyi Dolyna in Donetsk region. The 42-year-old officer received fatal injuries during a mortar shelling. Oleksandr was born and lived in the city of Lyman, Donetsk region, and stu at a local school. He graduated from the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" with a degree in "High Cross-Country Vehicles" and the military department. He also mastered the specialty "Management of Organizations" at the Intersectoral Institute of Postgraduate Education at the NTU "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute." He worked as an entrepreneur, had his own business: a workshop for the production of metal products and a store called "Kovalsky Dvir." In his free time, he loved fishing. From 2014-2018, he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and participated in the ATO/OOS. With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Oleksandr evacuated his family to Ivano-Frankivsk region and went to the military enlistment office in his native Lyman. He joined the ranks of the 111th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was the commander of the reconnaissance company. "My husband was brave, honest, responsible, a patriot of his country, always came to help. He was a loving father, a very intelligent and bright person," said his wife, Victoria. The defender was buried in Ivano-Frankivsk region, where his relatives settled. Oleksandr is survived by his parents, brother, wife, and two children: a 10-year-old daughter and a son who was not yet 2 years old.