Kyiv defense hero Oleh Sobchenko killed in Donbas
On January 24, 2023, Ukrainian soldier Oleh Sobchenko, who distinguished himself during the defense of Kyiv in the spring of 2022, died in Donbas.
As informs Censor.NЕТ, Ihor Lutsenko wrote about this on Facebook.
He noted: "Cossack fate. Today, my brother-in-arms Oleh Sobchenko was killed in action while defending Ukrainian Donbas. He died like a hero. He was a Cossack, and he completed his Cossack journey gloriously.
It is difficult to write some words when you need to write as beautifully and strongly as Oleh lived.
We met on the Maidan, thanks to Tetyana Chornovol. During the events of the Firebaptism, a Berkut attacked the Maidan protesters in Cherkasy. Oleh's forehead was fractured, the bone was literally shattered. He was miraculously rescued from the hospital and taken abroad. Later, he received his first Order for Courage for those events.
Then, as part of a small group of volunteers, we went to war back in 2014, in April. Sobchenko fought for more than a year and a half in the first phase, was an effective sniper, and had good experience in contact combat. His knowledge and skills were invaluable in the first chaotic weeks of the great war. Thanks to him, I stayed alive then.
In general, we worked with him as an aerial reconnaissance crew for the first 10 months of full-scale operations.
I know that it was thanks to Sobchenko that Kyiv survived. When in March a group of Russian paratroopers tried to seize the Irpin dam near Kozarovychi, Oleh took command at the right time and figured out how to repel the attack of elite soldiers with those miserable means.
We then prevented the Russians from taking control of the water in the Irpin River, a river that later, thanks to the open dam, overflowed and helped to decisively defend the capital from the north and hold Moshchun.
Of course, for this, as well as for many other feats, Oleh deserved the title of Hero of Ukraine. We were then given the Order of Courage, which was also, of course, not in vain.
He was a Cossack who had been brought back to our time by some kind of time machine. He was a tough warrior and a lyricist at the same time: he loved songs, and he tried to know the entire Ukrainian spectrum, both folk and classical, and new songs, thoroughly. We shared rare songs with each other.
He loved women, looked at them attentively, but always emphasized his loyalty to his wife, a virtue so rare in our time.
He uncompromisingly played the role of my older brother, had a tough personality, and liked to quarrel at checkpoints. I don't have a very good temper either; we were constantly arguing, but we stuck together. Because when we had to go into the gray zone, I could only call him, and he could only call me.
His tough character, however, was combined with kindness. All the creatures of the dog and cat species that we rescued are his merit.
With him we went through the hottest battles of this war - Moshchun, Lysychansk, Bakhmut. But no matter how experienced a wolf of war you are, the current density of artillery fire mathematically gives you little chance. Eternal memory to the hero, may he rest in peace!"
The Facebook page of the National Military History Museum of Ukraine states: "Today, Oleh Sobchenko, who for many years worked selflessly to restore the memorials and graves of the Ukrainian People's Republic Army soldiers, died at the front. He was a member of the friendly team of the Heroics Charitable Foundation, which aims to preserve the memory of Ukraine's defenders a century ago. As a carpenter and mason, Oleh worked on the restoration of monuments with his own hands.
Oleh is a resident of Korsun-Shevchenkivske, Cherkasy region. On December 4, he turned 49 years old. He was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity and sustained numerous injuries during the confrontation in Cherkasy. In 2014-2016, Oleh fought in the volunteer battalions. In February 2022, he joined the 72nd Brigade named after the Black Cossacks, heroically defending Kyiv near Motyzhyn. He was the first of the combatants to collect valuable exhibits for our museum in March. We express our sincere condolences to the family and friends of this modest and hardworking idealist, as he is remembered."
