A year out of reach. The story of the Crimean warrior Oleksandr Kravchenko

On April 15 this year, a former civil activist, since 2015 - a defender of Ukraine Oleksandr Kravchenko would have celebrated his 34th birthday. on April 17, 2022, he lost contact with him. According to his comrades-in-arms, his last place of residence was the outskirts of the village of Novotoshkivske in the Luhansk region. Since then, there has been no clear confirmation of Oleksandr's fate, and his name is not on any lists of dead, captured or missing soldiers

A fourth-generation Crimean, Oleksandr Kravchenko was born in the village of Zhuravlivka, Simferopol district, Crimea, where he received his secondary education at a local school. The boy was raised by his mother: he did not know his father, a native of Poltava region. As a child, Sashko did not associate himself with Ukraine in any way - until his worldview in the sixth grade was influenced by the same Ukrainian language and literature teacher who taught his mother. And thanks to the lessons of Ukrainian history, the boy finally got rid of the myths of Russian propaganda about "Russian brothers" and "one people." At the age of 17, he began to switch to Ukrainian in everyday communication, inspired by watching a press conference of cultural figures who were on a tour in support of the language at the time. This was followed by watching Ukrainian educational and music programs on satellite television

In general, a normal life is a measured life - work with breaks for rest and leisure. But in the fall of 2013, an ordinary young man from a Crimean village working as a loader at a meat processing plant became involved in the Revolution of Dignity that was sweeping the country: he participated in the events on the Maidan in Kyiv. Later, on January 17, 2014, he joined the Euromaidan-Crimea movement, prompted by the signing of the infamous "dictatorial laws" by the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. In addition to participating in the actions, there were many different things to do - transferring food and communications equipment to blockaded Ukrainian military units and being assigned to their direct defense, writing patriotic slogans and hanging Ukrainian flags on the buildings of official institutions at night, and even demolishing Lenin monuments in some Crimean villages

After the Russian occupation of Crimea in the spring of 2014, Sashko remained loyal to his homeland and his principles. He became an activist of the public initiative "Ukrainian Cultural Center in Crimea", which aimed to preserve Ukrainian culture in the occupied region

On March 9, 2015, during an action dedicated to Taras Shevchenko's birthday in Simferopol, Oleksandr Kravchenko, along with other activists, was detained by the occupation "police" for using Ukrainian state symbols, which the Russian invaders declared extremist. Then the photos and drawings of the Crimean "police" leading a guy in an embroidered shirt, with a Cossack herring and a blue and yellow ribbon on his jacket to the police station went viral

At this action, Sashko first met its organizers Leonid Kuzmin and Veldar Shukurdzhiev: the men went through a theatrical performance performed by Crimean "judges" who, in their "verdicts," called the Ukrainian flag "prohibited symbols" and Shevchenko a "Russian poet" who lived when the state of Ukraine did not exist. From the occupation "Railway District Court" in Simferopol, Oleksandr Kravchenko received a "sentence" of 40 hours of correctional labor, which he did not serve

A few days after the "trial", the activist was detained again when he gave an interview to Polish television. In the "Center "E" - the so-called "Department for Countering Extremism" - he was suspected of conducting "extremist activities" and threatened with deportation, after which he was advised to "deport" himself. This he did on April 15, 2015. His friends helped him get to Zaporizhzhia

A couple of weeks after being forced to leave his homeland, Sashko, who had been engaged in volunteer activities during this short period, joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - responding to an announcement from the local military enlistment office inviting "patriotic citizens" to military service. He was afraid that he would not be accepted because he was underweight and had only had experience with weapons in school military training. However, after a month of training at the Shyroky Lan training ground in Mykolaiv region, he was trained as a rifleman. Later he served on the second line of defense in Donetsk region in the 42nd separate motorized infantry battalion, and then in the 1st mechanized company of the 34th battalion of the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Kosh Ataman Kostyantyn Hordiienko. He was promoted from soldier to sergeant, and had the specializations of "machine gunner" and "combat vehicle commander - squad commander". He took part in the ATO and JFO in eastern Ukraine, including positions near the Donetsk airport, where he installed Ukrainian flags on the runway almost close to the location of Russian terrorists. He went into battle with the call sign "Krym" in honor of his native land, the liberation of which he dreamed of. In 2015, Oleksandr Kravchenko was awarded a certificate of merit for his excellent service in the ATO, determination and courage in the fight against terrorism

In August 2016, the 'Krym' fighter, who was serving in the Armed Forces under contract at the time and planned to extend it, became a part-time student at the Humanities Institute of the Volodymyr Vernadsky Tauride National University, which resumed its activities in Kyiv after the Russian occupation of Crimea. In order to enroll, Oleksandr had to restore his lost school certificate. He had to combine his studies in history with participation in battles, for which he received well-deserved awards from military and civilian structures - the medal of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "ATO Participant", the medal of the UOC-KP "For Sacrifice and Love for Ukraine" (2017), the medal of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists "For Honor and Courage. Donetsk" (2018), medal of the Commander of the Joint Forces "Joint Forces Operation. For Valor and Loyalty" (2020). At the end of 2021, cooperation with the university had to be interrupted due to personal circumstances

Since the establishment of the Veterans Council at the Crimean Regional Council of Ukrainians, on April 29, 2021, Oleksandr Kravchenko has served as one of its deputy chairmen as a representative from Simferopol. In the same year, he was awarded the gratitude of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea for his high professionalism, personal contribution to the defense of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, fruitful work to protect the rights of residents and internally displaced persons from the temporarily occupied territory of the AR of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, on the occasion of the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of the AR of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol

On May 22, 2022, the President of Ukraine issued Decree No. 358/2022 "On awarding state awards of Ukraine", where among the names of the soldiers awarded for personal courage and selfless actions in the defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath, was the name of Senior Sergeant Oleksandr Kravchenko, who was posthumously awarded the Order "For Courage" of the III degree. Whether he was our friend "Crimea" or just a complete coincidence in name and rank, it is impossible to say at this time. We are hopelessly waiting for news

Vitaliy SOLONCHAK

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Sources of monitoring:

Golos Kryma News Agency. https://voicecrimea.com.ua

Vikna News (YouTube channel). https://www.youtube.com/@ViknaSTB

Uriadovyi Kurier newspaper. https://ukurier.gov.ua

Illustrations:

The main photo shows Oleksandr Kravchenko (first from left) at the Euromaidan-Crimea rally in Simferopol. March 2014. From the archive of the Krymska Svitlytsia newspaper
1. From the archive of the Voice of Crimea
2. From the recording of the STB TV channel's story of 24.07.2015. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L9_Gr4r8dA
3. Alexander Kravchenko (first from left) with Crimean activists near the building of the occupation "Railway District Court" in Simferopol. March 2015. Source: Voice of Crimea. URL: https://voicecrimea.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/after-court.jpg