Oleksii M. Hrechanyk

Oleksiy Mykhailovych Hrechanyk was born on March 31, 1993. He began his professional career in the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in August 2015. In 2021, after completing special training, he was certified and appointed as a section commander. On his very first day in the position, Oleksiy underwent "combat baptism" when, under his leadership, the unit extinguished a fire in the village of Pervomayske. The firefighters managed to contain the blaze of a wooden house, preventing danger to neighboring buildings. Despite being one of the youngest in the unit, Oleksiy earned respect among much older subordinates due to his personal qualities and professional skills. Oleksiy Hrechanyk was a man in his rightful place! On February 24, 2022, in the early hours of the full-scale military invasion of Russia into Ukraine... That day, every rescuer rushed to their workplace to be ready with their comrades to respond to emergencies related to Russian aggression. Oleksiy was hurrying to his unit as a private of civil protection service, section commander of the 34th state fire and rescue post of the 2nd state fire and rescue squad of the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Sumy Oblast. That day, enormous columns of enemy equipment moved through Sumy region, explosions echoed in different parts of the region, and street battles ensued. Danger lurked at every turn; despite this, Oleksiy hurried from his home village of Kucheryvka to his unit in the town of Esman in the Shostka district to begin his official duties. On the way, he encountered Russian soldiers, after which contact with him was forever lost. That same day, Oleksiy's body, shot by the enemy, was found next to his car on the roadside. When the Russians took the emergency worker's life, he was only 28 years old, with many plans and dreams ahead. Colleagues recall that Oleksiy was wholeheartedly invested in his service. Due to Russian aggression, two daughters born in 2018 and 2019 were left without a father, and a large team of rescuers in Sumy lost a reliable colleague and an irreplaceable professional in his field. For personal courage and selfless actions demonstrated in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and for his loyalty to the military oath, Oleksiy Mykhailovych Hrechanyk was posthumously awarded the Order of "For Courage" of the 3rd degree.