Volodymyr Yu. Ryzhak (Machete)

Volodymyr was born on December 21, 1989, in the city of Smila, where his parents, both teachers, began their working lives. In the early 1990s, he moved with his parents to the village of Sharyn in the Uman district, where he spent his childhood and youth. In 1996, Volodya entered the 1st grade of the Sharyn educational complex, where he studied until the 9th grade. Later, he enrolled in the Uman Agrarian Technical College. He was sensitive not only to people; he cared about all living things. He had many friends who supported him in all his endeavors and respected him. He was passionate about modern music—he wrote and performed songs, and was known by the pseudonym Dr. DemOn. Since the end of 2013, Volodymyr actively participated in the events of the Revolution of Dignity. He did not tell his parents anything, but they later learned that their son was among the activists of the capital's Euromaidan. Initially, Volodymyr was responsible for the food block (it was his initiative to organize a hot kitchen), and then he was wherever he was needed the most. He explained to his mother that he could not act otherwise and would defend his native land to the end. During the fire in the Trade Union House, Volodymyr returned there five times, rescuing people from the flames. And when the "Berkut" surrounded the Ukrainian House, he broke a window and led about 100 people out of the building. At Euromaidan, the guys from Afghanistan gifted Volodymyr a machete, which he never parted with until the end; that's how he got his nickname, and later, in the ATO area, Machete became his combat call sign. At Euromaidan, Volodymyr met a girl named Olga, with whom they moved to Lviv after the revolution, planning their wedding for the fall. However, after the annexation of Crimea and the announcement of partial mobilization, Volodymyr decided to go to the front as a volunteer and joined the newly formed BPSMOP "Shakhtarsk" in Dnipropetrovsk. Having spent about three months in the ATO area, despite being registered in the battalion as a civilian employee (this became known only after his death), Volodymyr performed the duties of a sniper and machine gunner, participating in combat operations, including searches and neutralization of armed terrorists. After Volodymyr's death, his father, Yuriy Ryzhak, joined the ranks of the National Guard of Ukraine's operational battalion named after Hero of Ukraine Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky. From an article in the newspaper "In the Name of the Law" No. 7 dated February 19, 2015: "…While the reservists load their tactical backpacks, a tall, slender fighter of about 45 remains to guard the weapons and property near the vehicle. Blue kind eyes and a sincere smile. I meet a man who turned out to be my fellow countryman from Cherkasy. Senior soldier of the reserve Yuriy Ryzhak was recently assigned to the battalion, although since the summer, the former driver of a Kyiv minibus had been delivering aid to the guards in a volunteer vehicle. But on August 2, a tragedy occurred that turned the man's worldview upside down, forcing him to take up arms: in Dokuchaevsk, Donetsk region, his 25-year-old son Volodymyr, a fighter of the special police patrol battalion "Shakhtarsk," was killed by a sniper's bullet; he was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage III degree. In his small homeland in the Uman district, a memorial plaque was installed in honor of the fallen hero on the school building where Volodymyr studied and where his mother works as a history teacher, the photo of which his father shows me on his mobile screen… Yuriy Volodymyrovych admits: the decision to go to the front was not easy for him and his family. His wife and daughter, a student, were categorically against it due to the fear of losing another loved one. "I almost had to run away from home. I barely convinced them, promising that I would serve as a driver and take care of myself. But what can I say about myself, there are more deserving people who are worthy of this," the man says, adding at the end. "Just don't think that I went to fight for revenge! I just don't want anyone's children to die…" Volodymyr's name has been entered into the Book of Memory of fallen employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Cherkasy region and immortalized on the obelisk to fallen policemen, which is installed in the courtyard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In our battalion, in the mortar platoon, there is Yuriy from Uman. He is the father of 24-year-old Volodymyr Ryzhak ("Machete"), who died in the ATO. After his son's funeral, Yuriy, whose call sign here is Herko, immediately went to the front line. He became a mortar man. On each shell he sends to the separatists, he writes with a marker: "For my son from father," "From Herko for Machete"… Herko gave us the opportunity to send a "greeting" to the rashists and for the fallen Heroes from Chernivtsi… Yuriy Ryzhak, Volodymyr's father, combatant: "Son, you are the best. When at the age of four you won a push-up contest at the village community holiday, doing forty-two push-ups, I was happy and proud of you. When at seventeen you silently put on the body of your friend's deceased father your graduation shoes, I was shocked when I learned about it a few years later, but I was proud of you. In general, when I saw your friends wearing things just bought for you, I was a bit upset because times were tough, but I understood and was happy that you are my Son! Who would take off his last shirt or shoes and give them to a friend, just to make him feel good. When I heard your musical works and listened to the lyrics of your songs, I was excited and proud of your talents. When I first saw your drawings, I was impressed by the depth of your Soul! When you went to Maidan and lived there until its end, I initially tried to dissuade you, telling you that the authorities were manipulating human weaknesses once again, but you were unyieldingly convinced that this would be real, and you convinced me along with hundreds of thousands of people I saw on Maidan, namely people who felt their Human Dignity and stood up to fight against it; this was no longer a nation of the subdued, but a nation of the Free! When you pulled people out of the Ukrainian House, and then, breaking through the ceiling on the second floor, led hundreds of people out of there, who jumped onto the garages, leaving it surrounded by Berkut and saved thanks to your courage and ingenuity, I was proud of you, paralyzed with fear for you. When you went to Lviv and helped restore the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, I was impressed by your talent and was proud of you! When I heard from you, "I'm going as a volunteer," I tried to dissuade you, but I knew in advance that I wouldn't succeed, as I heard such decisive and reasoned responses from you, not from just a young guy, my Son, but from a true Warrior in Spirit… When you gave the Little One the helmet just bought for you, motivating: "And no one will buy it for him…", I was proud that you are My Son! Paralyzed with fear for you, when you first entered Pisky, not bending down and not letting the barrel of your machine gun cool down, I was again happy to have the honor of having such a Son, a True Warrior! When the day before… on my "Wolf, be strong!" I heard: "You be strong…", I was again proud of you and I do not stop doing so today. I do not stop thanking God for having the Honor of being your father! Son, you are the best!"