Oleksii P. Zozulia (Lotchyk)

Senior lieutenant Oleksii Zozulia (call sign Pilot) was killed on March 31, 2022 in Mariupol, Donetsk region. He flew to help his comrades in the besieged city. He was killed during an enemy assault on the "Sosna" position. In April, the defender would have turned 52 years old. Oleksii was born and raised in Cherkasy. He studied at the local school No. 6. From childhood, he was passionate about sports and cars. He loved animals very much. After school, he entered a flight school. In 1992, he obtained the qualification of a civil aviation pilot. After graduation, he returned to his native Cherkasy. He worked at the airport. He flew An-2 aircraft. He raised his son Ihor on his own. The boy was 9 years old when his parents divorced. He remained with his father. In 2003, Oleksii remarried. In 2011, a son Artem was born in the marriage. In the fall of 2014, Oleksii voluntarily joined the "Azov" battalion. After a year, he returned to work as a pilot. He was engaged in forest patrolling and parachuting of paratroopers. Immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion, Oleksii joined the local territorial defense. Then he went to Kyiv, where he joined the special operations forces unit "Azov". At first, he fought in the Kyiv region. At the end of March, he flew by helicopter to help his comrades in the Mariupol occupied by the invaders. There he accepted his last battle. "On March 28, my father's voice was not the same as before. There was anxiety in it, and I even thought that my father was saying goodbye to me. I understood where he was going. At that time, the Russians were leveling Mariupol to the ground, where his comrades from 2014 were. And I saw how important it was for my father to get there. And although years have passed since his discharge from service, he did not forget about "Azov", it was his second family. He missed the guys, valued those who had been fighting the Russians for years. They met periodically, these were soulful meetings. My father always told me who of his guys had grown in position, who had received what rank," said his son Ihor. "He was an example to me in everything. I tell my children that their grandfather is a real hero. Like all other volunteers who made the decision to fly voluntarily to the occupied city, knowing that it was a one-way ticket," Ihor added. The defender left behind two sons and grandchildren. His elder son Ihor is also a pilot. He is engaged in the transportation of wounded soldiers by helicopter. Oleksii's relatives still could not bury him. He is in the status of missing.