Oleksii A. Kruhliak (Kruhlyi)

28-year-old senior soldier Oleksiy Kruhlyak (call sign Kruhlyi) was killed on April 21, 2022 during the defense of positions near the village of Trudoliubivka in the Kherson region. The defender received a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Oleksiy was born in the town of Novovorontsovka in the Kherson region. He graduated from the Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics. He settled in the city of Dnipro. Since 2019, he has worked as an operator at the company "Matrolyuksi". He loved to travel, discover new things, read a lot, played the guitar very skillfully, and sang in Ukrainian, Russian and English. In 2017-2018, he took part in the Joint Forces Operation. Therefore, when the full-scale war began, he could not remain on the sidelines. On February 26, 2022, he went to the military enlistment office in Dnipro with the words: "If everyone will be sitting at home on the couch, we will not win this war." He joined the ranks of the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade and went to the front. He held the position of a machine gunner. "Lyosha was a kind, sensitive, cheerful person. There were many plans for the future - to buy their own home, a car, have a child, see the surrounding world, other countries," said the civilian wife of the defender Olga. Oleksiy was buried in his native village in the Kherson region. He is survived by his mother Yulia Mykolaivna, his older brother Oleksandr and his wife Olga.