Serhii V. Dovhenko

Lieutenant Serhii Dovhenko (call sign Courier) was killed on January 11, 2023 near the village of Pishchane in the Kharkiv region. The car in which the defender was returning from a combat mission came under enemy mortar fire. The defender was 23 years old. The soldier was born in the city of Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). He earned a bachelor's degree from the Ukrainian State Aviation Academy in the field of "Emergency Services and Aviation Transport Safety". He completed military training. After studying, together with his father, he started his own business in the field of transport and postal services. He worked at the Kropyvnytskyi branch of "Nova Poshta". He was a courier by car. He dreamed of a career at the major airports of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Kyiv. On April 7, 2022, Serhii joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He defended the country as part of the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade. He was the commander of an anti-aircraft missile platoon. He was awarded the "Veteran of War" badge and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 3rd degree (posthumously). "His passion was work. Even if he had a day off, he could work instead of me or the drivers. He had time for rest and communication with friends and his beloved in the evenings. He did not even come on leave from the front, he said: 'I cannot leave my guys.'" Before the full-scale war, the son proposed to his beloved, but did not have time to get married. Serhii was kind, sensitive, sincere. He met challenges with his head held high, with positivity and determination... Cheerful, prudent, sociable, sensitive, sincere, kind, courageous. This is how he was and how he will remain in our memory," said his father Vitalii and mother Olha. The defender was buried in the Alley of Glory of the Far Eastern Cemetery in Kropyvnytskyi. Serhii is survived by his parents and brother.