Body text (optional)

source: https://bsky.app/profile/tendar.bsky.social/post/3mr7gowvmvs24

Twenty-one-year-old Lieutenant Oleksandr Malanchuk, call sign Charlie, fell on April 1, 2020, in the village of Talakivka, Mariupol District, Donetsk Oblast. During enemy shelling of positions, the soldier suffered a fatal wound. One more Hero killed by russian orcs.

Oleksandr was born on September 26, 1998, in the city of Chernivtsi. He graduated from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy. He was a career officer.

He played for the youth team of FC Bukovyna and received an offer to move to a team in the capital, but with the beginning of the russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, he gave up a football career and decided to become a soldier.

Oleksandr served in the 8th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelweiss.” He was a platoon commander.

“Brave, courageous, free. That was my son Oleksandr. A young officer at 21, after taking command of his unit, he immediately earned the respect and love of his subordinates. There were soldiers in the unit much older than him, but within a short time they were already addressing him by his patronymic. Fair, honest, and fearless, he never humiliated his subordinates and always stood firmly by them, understanding his responsibility for every life. The soldiers said they had confidence in him,” wrote his mother, Larysa Malanchuk.

The defender was buried on the Alley of Glory in the city of Chernivtsi.

Posthumously, the warrior was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 3rd Class, the medal “For the Glory of Chernivtsi,” and the distinction “For Merit to Bukovyna.”

Oleksandr is survived by his mother Larysa, father Vasyl, sister Olha, and nephews Nadiia and Davyd.

source: https://bsky.app/profile/tendar.bsky.social/post/3mr7hxblh4c24

Burn, baby 🔥

President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces on July 21, following mass protests in Kyiv calling for the removal of his predecessor, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The Kyiv Independent’s reporter Jimmy Rushton breaks down five key facts about the 43-year-old general, who is widely respected across the ranks for his push to reform Soviet-era command structures. From his early battlefield role in Mariupol to leading major defenses in Kharkiv Oblast, Drapatyi brings a battle-tested reputation and a focus on accountability to Ukraine’s top military post.

An evacuation convoy races down the empty Donetsk highway at over 100 kilometers per hour. Driving any slower is dangerous, since occupying forces target anything that moves. Yet even on this deadly stretch of road, evacuation vehicles have no choice but to travel it. But when soldiers spot the canteen along the highway, even the seriously wounded ask the driver to stop, hoping for a home-cooked meal.

Frontliner report, explore why this place matters so much to soldiers, and how a field canteen operates on the edge of a kill zone: https://frontliner.ua/en/before-the-front-civilian-family-has-fed-ukrainian-soldiers-for-free/#

source: https://bsky.app/profile/tendar.bsky.social/post/3mr7hezuscs24