You're reading: At least 24 servicemen killed during Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operation

Ukraine’s halting anti-terrorist operation to bring the restive Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts under government control was launched on April 13, and continues in fits and starts, amid several suspensions for negotiations with Kremlin-backed separatists.

The main focus has been Donetsk Oblast, home to 10 percent of Ukraine’s population. The Kyiv Post counts 24 Ukrainian soldiers killed, slightly higher than the official count. Officials say more than 75 soldiers have been wounded. In particular, the separatist-held Sloviansk has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting and the most casualties, with 11 killed there, seven in Kramatorsk and six in Mariupol. Here are the victims:

Gennadiy Bilichenko, 42.

Gennadiy Bilichenko

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Alpha special operations unit officer was killed near Sloviansk on April 13, the first day of the nation’s anti-terrorist operation. Bilichenko worked at the center for special operations in anti-terrorism operations in Poltava Oblast for more than 20 years. Vitaliy Yarema, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, said Bilichenko was killed on the outskirts of Sloviansk when armed men opened fire on officers who were negotiating with civilians. “Bilichenko’s death was instant,” Yarema said.

Serhiy Panasyuk

Serhiy Panasyuk, 28.

A paratrooper of an air cavalry brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, he was killed on May 2 during a blockade of Sloviansk suburbs. Russian-backed separatists, who used civilians as a live shield, opened fire on Ukrainian soldiers. Panasyuk leaves a fiancee in Zhytomyr Oblast. Panasyuk was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter, Nataliya Oleksandrovych, a classmate, recalled. “Serhiy was one of the first volunteers when the mobilization starts. He’s our hero. And it’s a tragedy he never could marry and have children,” Oleksandrovych said.

Five members of a Ukrainian helicopter crew died while patrolling Sloviansk. It was shot down by a portable air-defense system, a high-tech piece of equipment.

Killed were:
Ruslan Plokhodko, 39, commander. The Kharkiv native left two children, including a 10-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.

Serhiy Rudenko

Serhiy Rudenko, 35, commander. He leaves a wife and 3-year-old daughter.

Oleksandr Sabada

Oleksandr Sabada, 34, squadron leader. Sabada leaves a 3-year-old son.

Mykola Topchiy

Mykola Topchiy, 40, crew’s flight engineer. The Kharkiv native leaves a 10-year-old daughter.

Ihor Hrishyn, 39, flight engineer. He leaves two daughters.

Oleksandr Anishchenko

Oleksandr Anishchenko, 44

Deputy commander of the SBU Alpha special operations unit in Sumy Oblast. The Sumy native had been working for the Alpha unit for more than 14 years. Anishchenko was killed in Sloviansk by a grenade while he tried to rescue his injured comrade. Olga Raputa, an SBU spokeswoman in Sumy Oblast, recalled him as a responsible person who never raised his voice. Anishchenko’s 22-year-old daughter was planning to get married soon.

Viktor Dolinsky

Viktor Dolinsky, 34 

A grenadier instructor of Ukraine’s National Guard. He was killed on May 5 when insurgents opened fire on his armored vehicle near a Sloviansk checkpoint. “He didn’t want me to know where he’s serving now,” Dolinsky’s mother, Hanna Dolinska, was quoted as saying. “He didn’t tell us he was going to the east.” He leaves a 12-year-old son.

Ruslan Luzhevsky, 38

Ruslan Luzhevsky

The member of an SBU Alpha special operations unit training squad. Luzhevsky was a master of personal combat and marksmanship. He was shot twice in the head while a group of Alfa officers left the city of Kramatorsk on May 5. The group was surrounded by armed separatists. “Luzhevsky was a leader since his childhood,” Viacheslav Khrul, Luzhevsky’s classmate, recalled. “However, he never showed off and helped to improve sports infrastructure in his native town (Voloshynivka village in Kyiv Oblast),” Khrul said. He leaves two sons.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry also reported that Dmytro Kovalenko, a contract army soldier, was killed in Sloviansk on May 2.

Petro Kovalenko, 20

Petro Kovalenko

A paratrooper from Vinnytsia Oblast, was killed trying to rescue his comrades near Sloviansk. He was killed by a grenade. He had an earlier brush with death, but wrote “guys, the bulletproof vest saved my life,” on his VKontakte page two weeks before his death. “Petro always wanted to join Ukraine’s army and finally his dream came true,” Dmytro Savchenko, Kovalenko’s classmate, recalled. Local authorities have named one of the streets of his native village in his honor.

Mykhailo Yermolenko, 38

Mykhailo Yermolenko

A warrant officer, was killed in Mariupol when Ukrainian forces clashed with Russian-backed separatists at the port city’s police headquarters. Yermolenko was a member of a local patrol. Viktoriya Gutz, a police spokeswoman, said Yermolenko was a “sympathetic and fair” officer. “It’s a great loss for us.”

Bohdan Shlemkevych, 21

Bohdan Shlemkevych

A Ukrainian National Guard soldier, was killed in fighting in Mariupol on May 9. Shlemkevych was born in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. He planned to become a priest like his brother, but joined the army two years ago. He served in Lviv and volunteered for the National Guard. He trained in Kyiv and Donetsk before moving to Mariupol a day before he was killed.

Rodion Dobrodomov, 29

A member of the National Guard’s Azov unit. He was killed in Mariupol. Dobrodomov was an active EuroMaidan activist. He leaves two children.

Serhiy Demydenko, 41

Serhiy Demydenko

A National Guard battalion chief from Dnipropetrovsk. He was killed in Mariupol while going to the local police station when his car came under fire. 

Oleh Eismant, 39 

Oleh Eismant

A National Guard rifleman was killed near police headquarters in Mariupol on May 9, a week before his birthday. 

Viktor Sayenko, 41

Viktor Sayenko

Head of the Mariupol road traffic police, was killed on May 9 in his hometown. Days before the bloody standoff, he sent his wife and three children out of the city. “He was fond of sports and liked to spend time gardening,” one of Sayenko’s friends, Oleksandr, was quoted as saying. “And Viktor liked his native town very much.”

Six paratroopers of Ukraine’s 95 air cavalry brigade were killed during an hour-long battle with pro-Russian insurgents on the outskirts of Oktyabrske, some 20 kilometers from Kramatorsk on May 13. 

Vadym Zabrodsky, 34, deputy chief commander. Zabrodsky’s two daughters lost their father.

Vitaly Dulchyk, 28, commander. Dulchyk joined Ukraine’s Armed Forces during the mobilization. He leaves a wife.

Vitaly Dulchyk

Oleh Savytsky, 39, grenadier. He left a wife and two children.

Vitaliy Rudiy, 29, commander. He leaves a wife.

Oleksandr Yakymov, 21, head gun trainer. Yakymov married at the end of 2013 and leaves a pregnant wife.

Oleksandr Yakymov

Serhiy Khrushch, 39, gun trainer. His three children lost their father.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]