Serhii O. Balanchuk (Biasha)

Former Dynamo Kyiv footballer Serhiy Balanchuk was killed in action in July 2022 near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast during an artillery shelling. He was 47 years old. Serhiy Balanchuk was born in Kyiv, stu at school together with future famous footballers Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Vladyslav Vashchuk, and Serhiy Fedorov. He played football at the Dynamo Youth Football School. Along with adults, he played for Kyiv's Dynamo, Dynamo-2, Dynamo-3, CSK ZSU, Israeli Maccabi Haifa, Poltava's Vorskla, and Kharkiv's Metalist. After completing his playing career, Serhiy Balanchuk received a law degree and worked in his specialty, and was also a judge of the arbitration court at the Association of Ukrainian Banks. Friends describe Serhiy as calm, educated, sensitive, and a good friend who never refused to help. He loved football and children very much. In April 2022, the former footballer decided to defend the Motherland and went to the military commissariat. He was mobilized into a motorized infantry brigade, with which he went to the front lines of Donetsk. "He wrote to me in May. He reported that he was already in the army. I didn't expect it, of course. Serhiy Balanchuk, and suddenly - the army. We corresponded for two hours. About what - I don't know. About everything. About what's happening. About the war. About people. About life," wrote on social media Serhiy's childhood friend and former colleague, footballer Vladyslav Vashchuk. Serhiy Balanchuk left behind three children, parents, and a sister.