ArmyInform received answers to these questions during an interview with Colonel Vasyl Rumak, Head of the Training Department at training…
Oleh Dashchenko had a unique profession for Ukraine — he was a rice breeder.
The man was an incredible patriot, so at the beginning of the ATO he joined the ranks of the 17th Motorized Infantry Battalion of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, where he fought for several years. He also served for a long time as a junior inspector of the 1st category of the security department of the Kherson pre-trial detention center and in other institutions of the State Criminal-Executive Service.
And in August 2022, he mobilized again into the same battalion where he had gained combat experience. He took part in the defense of his native region. He was killed during a combat mission on October 8 of the same year in the village of Davidiv Brid in the Beryslav district. He was only 40 years old. Only in December 2023 was Junior Sergeant Dashchenko buried with honors.
Escape from occupation: a journey through 32 enemy checkpoints, burned-out cars, and the bodies of murdered Ukrainians
Our hero was originally from Skadovsk. At school, he loved exact sciences — this came in handy when he served as a fire direction specialist during the ATO, and later during the full-scale war.
“He pursued me for a long time — several years. He nurtured our love carefully, like capricious Ukrainian rice. We got married, had a house and a business in Oleshky”, — says Dashchenko’s wife, Tetiana Viktorivna, who now lives in Odesa with their two sons — 14-year-old Oleksii and 4-year-old Illia.
In addition to being a medic, Tetiana is also an experienced dog handler. Before the occupation, the family had registered a kennel with 32 dogs — huskies, Jack Russell terriers, chihuahuas, Samoyed dogs, and beagles. Vaccinations, care, vitamins, premium food, maintaining pedigree standards — it was endless work. This was the couple’s life’s work, which had motivated them for more than 10 years. Tetiana says that Oleh helped her immensely: she would not have managed alone. He had welded metal enclosures himself, constantly looked after the lawn, and walking the dogs was also his responsibility. These achievements, nurtured by daily hard work, were the last thing they wanted to surrender to the occupiers…
When the full-scale invasion began, Oleh was at the pre-trial detention center on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River. On 23 February, he went on his 24-hour shift and didn’t manage to return home before the Russians were advancing in columns. At home in Oleshky, he had awards from the ATO/JFO, certificates, and his army uniform…
“Oleh called and ordered: ‘Tania, throw everything into the septic tank!’ He slowly recalled what was where, and I took everything, my hands shaking, but I did it. All I could think was: ‘God forbid there’s a search, we’ll be in serious trouble! And the children are at home, oh Lord!..’ The prison staff weren’t allowed to leave, they were pressured into cooperating with the occupation administration. They were psychologically pressured, gathered in one room, and their brains were constantly washed with propaganda. That’s how we ended up on different sides of the Dnipro. On the fifth day of that ordeal, he managed to escape, knowing the back routes. His friend lived near the Dnipro market. Oleh rented a room from him. When he succeeded, he called: ‘I’m already at Dmytro’s!’” — Tetiana recalls.
The Dashchenko family carefully planned their escape to Ukraine-controlled territory, because former ATO members were listed by the Russians. Tetiana’s father once ferried her across the Dnipro to Kherson. There she and Oleh waited for a transporter for a week…
“During the journey, Russians stopped us at 32 checkpoints. Our younger son Illia, who was almost two, ended up saving us. It was scorching hot, and he was crying and fussing so much that he could stir pity even in the occupiers. They barely checked us, and in a day we reached Dnipro. Along the way, we saw horrors: shot-up cars everywhere, bodies of murdered people. In Dnipro, using the savings we managed to take out, we bought a house — we hoped we’d be able to evacuate our kennel. But it was in vain: our life’s work and our animals remained in occupation”, — she says with pain.
He said he was “going to the store,” but in reality he was going back to war
“I saw Oleh off to war twice. Each time I begged him not to go, but he was stubborn and cunning… In 2015, when I was on duty at the emergency hospital, he called me: ‘I’m at the military enlistment office, I’m going to fight!’ He deliberately chose that day so I couldn’t stop him! We didn’t speak for a month — I was furious and hurt. Our older son Oleksii was already 4 and kept asking where his dad was. Oleh sent him treats and ‘frontline gifts’ — the boy waited for them eagerly! Once, during leave, he was getting ready to return to the front when our son put a toy piano into his backpack — so dad could play it in Donbas for him. Oleh fulfilled the wish, recorded a video, even sang something. Our son watched that video with his dad and the toy piano countless times”, — Tetiana says.
As soon as he moved to Dnipro, the commander of the 1st Mortar Battery of the 17th Motorized Infantry Battalion, Staff Sergeant Bandurchenko “Kyparys”, offered Oleh to return to what he was good at. Everyone remembered “Hutsul’s” precise and flawless calculations — that was his callsign from the ATO. While the documents at the military enlistment office were being processed after his escape from occupation, Oleh sat in the kitchen manually calculating “on paper” the firing data needed by his comrades on the front line.
“Oleh tricked me the second time too, during the full-scale war. He said he was going to the store. In reality, he was sitting at the enlistment office with his bag and documents… ‘I left everything for you — even my bank card!’ — that was one of his ‘iron’ arguments”, — Tetiana recalls.
He was the best calculator of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in 2017
“Kyparys’s men won first place in 2017 at the Urzuf training ground for the title of the best mortar battery of the Ground Forces, and ‘Hutsul’ additionally earned the distinction of ‘Best Calculator of the Ground Forces.’ At the front they were successful as well: they learned to fire accurately, dig, camouflage, and build strong positions. Dashchenko worked masterfully with both electronic and mechanical fire control tools. Once in Donetsk region our devices started failing — they were less advanced back then. Oleh spent hours doing ballistic calculations manually for the ‘Molots’”, — says comrade Roman Liakh, call sign “Radyst”.
Oleh Dashchenko trained a lot whenever he could. He had excellent physical shape. Sometimes in the evening, with small breaks for various tasks, he could train on bars and pull-up stations for two hours. He also trained on the fire control panel — he always tried to stay in combat form.
“When the full-scale invasion began, Oleh returned to ‘Kyparys,’ and I became a paratrooper — my youth dream. Now I have titanium implants in my neck as a reminder of that dream… Oleh and I exchanged experience, equipment, and life hacks. The battery commander acted more like an administrator because ‘Hutsul’ took on solving many issues himself”, — Roman Liakh adds.
A woman’s intuition and care defeated someone’s negligence
“The last time we spoke was October 7, 2022, at 23:00. The battery was in Davidiv Brid. The next morning the Kerch Bridge was blown up; I rushed to call Oleh to share the good news. He didn’t answer. I called Bandurchenko — silence as well. I reached out to the battery medic, Yuliia. She said: ‘I can’t say this — I’ll write it.’ And in the message window I saw a forwarded post from a comrade asking how to tell me that ‘Hutsul’ and 10 other soldiers were hit by a rocket in the dugout and had no chance… They spent 12 days digging them out because the concrete slabs had collapsed, and they couldn’t bring in a crane due to constant shelling. I wanted to go there myself to dig. I kept hoping that there was a small gap and Oleh was breathing through it”, — Tetiana recalls the most horrific period of her life.
Gradually, the soldiers’ remains were recovered. Kyparys’s son told Tetiana that they had found his father. Later she was informed that her Oleh had also been found. It was devastating to hear — it destroyed her last hopes. Then a photo arrived from the Dnipro morgue — on the body’s leg was a tag with the name “Dashchenko”…
“But I immediately understood: it wasn’t him! The photo showed a large gap between the teeth that Oleh had never had. Later we learned that it was Yevhen Turianskyi. I found his wife Viktoriia on Facebook. She recognized her Zhenia, took him home, and buried her beloved — she thanked me for being attentive. And I waited for the DNA test results of the fragments labeled ‘Unknown.’ On the anniversary of Oleh’s disappearance, the investigator informed me that the results confirmed that those remains belonged to my husband. What they managed to find is what we buried…” — his wife concludes.
