Oleksandr V. Hoshylyk (109-th)

Soldier Oleksandr Hoshylyk (call sign 109th) was killed on October 7, 2022, in battle for the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk region. In September, the defender turned 27 years old. Oleksandr was born in the city of Dolyna in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He worked in the IT sector. He was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity, for which he was charged under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, hence he chose that particular call sign. After Maidan, he immediately went to war. He participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) as part of the "Donbas" battalion. On August 17, 2014, he arrived in the city of Ilovaisk, where he was encircled by the Russian army. He managed to escape with seven other fighters. In five days, they covered almost 85 km. In 2015, he was awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree. After demobilization, Oleksandr presented his collection of poems written during the war, titled "Bridge to Eternity." He maintained a Facebook page featuring his creative work called "Damn Molfar." With the onset of the full-scale war, the 109th went back to the front. "Sasha turned only 27 in September. He was a Ukrainian IT genius. He worked as a programmer in one of the coolest startups in the world... An absolutely unique mind and a sincere soul. In one evening, Sasha could master any new topic: from WordPress to project management," wrote his friend Larysa Artyuhina. "He was one of the closest, most important. One of the few whose life I would, without hesitation, exchange for Crimea, Donbas, and the rest, if I had such a choice. He was a mathematical genius, a programmer, and he beat our entire tent in chess blindfolded... He was one of the best I knew. Perhaps better than anyone reading this post. He was definitely better than me..." wrote comrade Dmytro Riznychenko.