Before the war, Oleksiy lived in Ivano-Frankivsk. His father was a police officer in the KORD unit. When the full-scale invasion began, their lives changed dramatically, as it did for thousands of Ukrainians. Oleksiy’s father stood up to defend his homeland, and fought with the enemy in Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia. When Oleksiy was about to turn 5, he only wished to celebrate his birthday with his father. But this will no longer be a reality. His father was tragically killed on the battlefield, just a day before the holiday. At such an early age, Oleksiy had to become an adult. Now he knows and values the price of our freedom, and his dreams of peace and a happy future for Ukraine will always remind him of the memory of his heroic father.
