Oleksandr is one of the best air defense soldiers of the "West" Air Command. He is a lieutenant colonel, commander of the anti-aircraft missile division. From the first day of the russian full-scale aggression, it has demonstrated impressive effectiveness and courage in the battles for the sky. Began to fight on the Buk M1 anti-aircraft missile system.

On the morning of February 25, his combat calculation hit its first target - a russian helicopter that was approaching the Gostomel airport.

- After the defense of the airport, we were tasked to go to the Kyiv region and protect the sky of the capital from enemy aircraft. Already during the march, they made a stop and destroyed a russian plane. They worked in various areas around the capital: from Vasylkovo to Svyatoshyn. Two more helicopters were shot down near Svyatoshyn, Oleksandr says. - Then they took up positions 10 kilometers from the battle line and covered our troops from there.

During the first, most difficult month of the war, during the defense of the Kyiv region, his self-propelled fire installation destroyed twenty enemy targets. These are airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles of the occupiers.

- One night, two Su-34s were destroyed in just one hour. How do you feel when you shoot down a Su-34 with a full complement of bombs that it is going to drop on our infantry? A feeling of joy and satisfaction. And still peace. I reacted very calmly to everything. And he calmly performed combat work, - recalls Oleksandr. - You should not worry and create a nervous atmosphere around. And you always have to be careful. Underestimating risks is the first step to failure. The most destroyed target during our stay in the Kyiv region was the russian Mi-28 helicopter. How did we win in anti-aircraft battles? Thanks to endurance, cunning and cold calculation. They were in an ambush, did not reveal themselves, were involved in the work only when they received information that the target was in the zone of our defeat. After that we had about 30 seconds to detect, capture and destroy her and leave our position as quickly as possible. Because right away enemy planes fired anti-radar missiles at us. Then we also learned that the best medicine for all diseases is adrenaline in your blood from everything that is happening around you. During the first month of the great war, we did everything on adrenaline. At an air temperature of minus 15 degrees, with wet feet, they sat in a cold self-propelled fire installation for days with breaks for rest in a frozen dugout. We could not start a fire and unmask ourselves. And no one got sick. Didn't even cough.

Subsequently, Oleksandr's unit was relocated to the south of the country in the Odesa region. Here, anti-aircraft fighters destroyed ten cruise missiles and attack UAVs of the russians. After completing the mission in the south, his division went abroad. In a training center in Germany, the rocket engineers quickly mastered a new anti-aircraft missile complex and returned to the Motherland.

- We have already destroyed 45 air targets at this complex. This is in half a year. So far..., says Oleksandr. – The most effective anti-aircraft battle – seven destroyed cruise missiles for one enemy missile-aircraft strike. We had two such cases. We spend one rocket on one target. That is, the efficiency is one hundred percent. We even managed to destroy six enemy missiles with five of ours. The russian missile exploded after being hit by our missile and destroyed another cruise missile with its fragments.

In total, Alexander has 75 destroyed enemy targets. For his combat work, he was awarded the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytsky third, second and first degrees, the Order "For Courage" of the third degree and the medal "For the Defense of Ukraine".

📸✍🏻 Air Command "West"

Ladies, I think he might be single.