Vitalii O. Blazhko (Khvat)

Vitaliy Olegovych Blazhko (call sign Khvat) was born on July 22, 1989, in Odesa. In his youth, like many other future volunteers, he was an activist of the patriotic movement. In particular, in 2011, Vitaliy became one of the founders of the local branch of the organization "Patriot of Ukraine," which soon became the basis for the creation of the Armed Assault Battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov." After school, the young man studied at a civilian university for some time, then left it, served his mandatory military service, enrolled in the Kharkiv Academy of Internal Affairs, switched to part-time studies, and went to work in the Odesa police to be able to help his parents. He joined "Azov" in the spring of 2015 when the unit participated in battles for the village of Shyrokyne in the Donetsk region. In "Azov," Vitaliy found his true calling. He was an exceptional warrior, as evidenced by his call sign (Khvat) and his combat awards. Major Blazhko was a full cavalier of the orders "For Courage," the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of the 3rd degree (posthumously), and a Hero of Ukraine awarded the Order of the Golden Star (posthumously). He had an award firearm—a Makarov pistol, which he always kept with him. A living memory of Khvat in "Azov" is the sniper unit he created in the summer of 2015. Initially, it was a platoon, which was expanded into a sniper group in 2018. Khvat was immensely dedicated to this unit, serving as its unchanging commander. He trained and mentored new snipers, dedicating all his time and enthusiasm to the work. One of the fighters from the unit led by Vitaliy, currently a platoon commander in the sniper company of the Azov Operational Brigade, Captain Artem Serednyak recalls: "From late autumn 2015 to spring 2016, Khvat worked on creating an effective sniper unit. He conducted classes, shared experiences, and lived with us at the training ground. At the same time, he addressed issues regarding the appropriate weapons for our platoon. At that time, I was 19 years old, and I realized that my place was among these people, that this was the very unit I wanted to join, and this was the commander I was ready to follow into fire and water." Every "Azov" member who knew Vitaliy remembers him as an officer who did not like to command from headquarters but always sought to be on the front lines with his fighters. Khvat personally took on the most challenging tasks and then analyzed the work in detail with his subordinates, noting what needed improvement and what mistakes to avoid in the future. As a result, the snipers of "Azov" successfully executed increasingly complex tasks, and the group earned a reputation as one of the most effective sniper units in the Joint Forces Operation area. Most operations conducted by "Azov" snipers were conceived and matured in Vitaliy's mind, and he personally participated in planning every outing of his fighters. Comrades recall that they were often daring and almost always unexpected for the enemy. "Positional warfare was not for Khvat. He did not like to sit still, so our unit often moved from one direction to another, constantly planning and conducting operations in the gray zone. We appeared where the enemy did not expect us and inflicted losses on them. We destroyed the enemy along the entire front line—from Stanytsia Luhanska to Shyrokyne, being in the hottest points at that time, such as: Pisky, Avdiivka, the outskirts of Donetsk Airport, the Svitlodarsk Bulge, Dokuchaievsk, Maryinka…," Captain Serednyak recounts. Little is known about Major Blazhko's personal life: he was not married, had no children, and was the only child of his parents. He had a girlfriend, but shortly before the full-scale invasion, they broke up—this is almost all that his comrades can tell. It was not that Vitaliy wanted to hide anything or did not want to talk about his personal life; it was just that the topics of war, sniper affairs, the present and future of Ukraine, and state-building weighed much more for him. A source of solace for Vitaliy was his passion for space and photographing the starry sky. He purchased an expensive professional telescope and camera, and when he had a few free hours at night and the weather was clear, he would go to the fields to observe the starry sky and photograph it. Often from such outings, Vitaliy returned at dawn, inspired and filled with new impressions. He posted photos on his Instagram page under the nickname Astro_tactic_ua. But most importantly, Khvat was always a model of resilience for the fighters of his unit. Vitaliy was wounded several times, yet each time he returned to the front lines in the shortest possible time. His first injury—a shrapnel wound to the back—occurred in 2015 during the battles in Shyrokyne. After receiving treatment in the hospital, Khvat returned to his unit within a few days. Before the full-scale invasion of the Russians, Vitaliy sustained several more injuries. As a result of one of them, which occurred in the Svitlodarsk Bulge in the spring of 2019, the soldier had both feet amputated. He refused to apply for disability status because he would not have been able to hold a combat position, and less than three months after his injury, he rejoined "Azov." He continued to perform combat tasks using carbon prosthetics fitted in the USA. This quick return surprised even those who had fought alongside Vitaliy for several years. "We did not expect that he would return to duty so quickly and could not comprehend the power of the combat spirit, the desire to destroy the enemy that he demonstrated," Vitaliy's comrades recall. From the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion, Vitaliy Blazhko held the defense of Mariupol. Snipers had been preparing for a great war long before it began: developing and practicing new tactics, anticipating the enemy's probable actions. The fighters of the sniper group recall that thanks to Vitaliy's experience, sharp mind, and analytical abilities, they were able to prepare well for what awaited them in the besieged city. From the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Khvat's group was blowing up bridges on the way to Mariupol, setting ambushes for the occupiers to slow their advance and buy time to strengthen the city's defenses. As long as he could, Vitaliy was constantly alongside his fighters. One day, his prosthetics broke, but he continued to move between the sniper positions on the broken ones. When the Russians entered the city and the intensity of the fighting increased, Khvat became the "eyes" of the snipers: he conducted reconnaissance using a drone, coordinating the actions of his fighters and indicating where the enemy was located. He continued to plan operations for the group that were very painful for the occupiers. For the effectiveness of the snipers' work in occupied Mariupol, he was exceptionally awarded the military rank of "Major." One day, as a result of a Russian airstrike, Khvat sustained new shrapnel wounds and, despite all pleas, refused evacuation from the city by helicopter when it was still possible. The soldier chose to stay with his brothers in arms until his last breath. On May 8, 2022, a Russian aerial bomb hit the Azovstal bunker, where Ukrainian defenders were located. The explosion killed many people, including 18 fighters from the sniper group of the separate special forces unit "Azov." Among the fallen was Major Vitaliy Blazhko. For the defense of Mariupol, Blazhko Vitaliy Olegovych was posthumously awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of the 3rd degree, and on August 24, 2023, he was posthumously awarded the title of "Hero of Ukraine" with the Order of the Golden Star.