Oleksii O. Yefremenko

38-year-old soldier Oleksii Yefremenko (call sign Tourist) died on June 5, 2023 during the assault on enemy positions near the village of Levadne in the Zaporizhzhia region. A tank of the enemy opened fire on a column of six vehicles, one of which the soldier was in. Oleksii was from the city of Zmiyiv in the Kharkiv region. He lived with his family in the village of Butivka. He graduated from Zmiyiv School No. 1 and Kharkiv Mechanical Engineering College. He was a furniture assembler by profession. He was a sports enthusiast. He loved volleyball, beach volleyball, and cycling. The man stood up to defend his homeland at the beginning of the full-scale war. Since March 2022, for about a year, he served on checkpoints. For several months, he slept in a car in a sleeping bag, set up a folding chair and a table next to it, and stretched a camouflage net over the car. That's how he got his call sign. Then he joined the ranks of the 23rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He held the position of a shooter. "Liosha was bright, cheerful, and optimistic. The first thing they say when they remember him is kindness. He was a good friend and could always find an approach to a person. He was also very family-oriented. He had a keen sense of justice. When he was drafted, he said he was going to protect Ukrainian families. He said he didn't want a Russian tank to be in his hometown and village..." On that day, June 5, as a result of the tank shelling, one comrade-in-arms was killed on the spot, and three more were wounded. The man had his leg blown off, he was given first aid. But they had to leave the wounded and run. Liosha couldn't get out of the car. The guys kept shooting until the car burned down with them...," his wife Viktoria said. Oleksii was cremated. His ashes were scattered over the cliffs in his native Zmiyiv. The hero left behind his mother, two brothers, wife, and daughter. The military man was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.