31-year-old Oleksandr Spasonov single-handedly found and got a bulletproof vest, a machine gun, and a grenade – and became a partisan, defendeding the town of Trostianets. 52-year-old Victoriia Ivanova also helped defend the city. Until February 24, she was a florist, and then she was an artillery spotter. Meanwhile, not far away, in the village of Boromlia, 30-year-old athlete Serhii Pronevych was exploring enemy positions at night and passing all the data to the Armed Forces. These people gave their lives for Ukraine. Read more about their stories, as well as about the people’s defense of Sumy region.
“When you’re at home, you know everything.” About the peculiarities of national defense
During the occupation of Trostianets, the Russian military mutilated a museum of local history, a chocolate factory, a district hospital, robbed an emergency station, and shot a funeral bureau car. Sometimes, people who died had to be buried in city yards.
Yevhen gathered local volunteers. He communicated a lot. He formed a squad of people ready, in his opinion, to accomplish combat tasks. Information about the partisan movement was passed on by word of mouth. Most of those who volunteered had nothing to do with the military until February 24.
The defenders set up ambushes, kicked Russian soldiers out of local premises, reported on the movement of Russian equipment, and neutralized it. Thanks to residents, more than a hundred units of enemy equipment were destroyed in Trostianets.
On March 21, they went on the most difficult mission, which the local residents (both the territorial defense and the partisans) performed together with the Armed Forces of Ukraine – the liberation of Trostianets. Volunteer Oleksandr Huliuk is one of those who helped the soldiers of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade Kholodny Yar to enter the city. He recalls: “We had been living in ravines and forests for about a week until we got the order to attack. There were 10 of us, locals. We were divided into groups consisting of one local and 5–8 soldiers of the Armed Forces. We went head-on,” recalls Oleksandr.
On March 21, there was a clash with Russian soldiers who occupied a large part of the city. On that day, Oleksandr’s comrade Ivan Martynovskyi was killed, and he himself was wounded.
Five days after the first offensive attempt, Trostianets was liberated from the occupation by the forces of territorial defense partisans and the 93rd separate mechanized brigade Kholodny Yar.
Oleksandr Huliuk says: “Without local volunteers, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the defense of Trostianets would have been much greater, because they did not know the area well. We showed them on the map and told them where the Russian occupiers were sitting – in the premises of which enterprises, in which buildings. Information about their movements was constantly transmitted. When you’re at home, you know everything.”
Mobile power plant operator Oleksandr Spasonov. “I am not a coward, and I will not leave the town”
Oleksandr was 31 years old. He was born and grew up in Trostianets. Here he met his future wife Valeriia, whom he married in 2016. A year later, the couple had a son, Akim.
“Sasha would always help me with the child: he would bathe the baby, change his clothes, and lul him. He was a loving father, he wanted to enjoy every day with his son, to see how he grows,” says Valeriia Spasonova.
They studied at the same school with Sashko (“Sashko,” “Sasha” are Ukrainian diminutive for the name “Oleksandr”). Oleksandr was a popular guy, Valeriia recalls. He was a good leader but had a soft nature.
“My Sasha is a leader, proud, impatient, stubborn. Fair, strong in spirit. And at the same time – vulnerable and kind, with a big loving heart,” Valeriia says.
“He was a person you could rely on in any difficult situation and never worry that he would let you down,” adds Akim’s godfather Oleksandr Skrybka.
In Trostianets, Spasonov worked as a driver of a mobile power station on the railway. He was interested in numismatics, in addition to coins, he also collected unusual lighters and matches. But most of all the man was fond of cars and motorcycles. He was often compared to Schumacher.
On February 24, 2022, Oleksandr was the first to wake up to the sound of a siren.
“He opened the window and said, “Has it started?” His eyes were wide open, and I could see fear in them. I have never seen him scared before. However, despite his fear, Oleksandr remained calm,” Valeriia recalls.
From the first days of the war, Oleksandr Spasonov began to help the local people.
“Whoever needed something – Sasha delivered it on foot, if, of course, there was an opportunity to get it. He usually did everything on his own,” says Sashko’s younger brother Valentyn Spasonov.
When there was an opportunity to leave occupied Trostianets for a safer place, his wife would persuade Sashko to evacuate, but he would refuse. He said: “I am not a coward, and I will not leave the town.”
“It was always difficult to dissuade him from something, he used to be principled from childhood. He used to do it as he thought about it,” says his brother Valentyn.
During the first week of the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr repeatedly tried to get the weapon, but would always fail. One day he came home and told his wife: “I signed up.” That is how Spasonov announced that he had become a member of the partisan movement. He managed to get a bulletproof vest, a machine gun, and a grenade. At night, when he slept, he kept the weapon next to his bed, and during the day he put it in his niche.
Oleksandr was patrolling the area where he lived — Marshala Rybalka Street. He communicated information on the movements of the occupiers to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He also accomplished combat missions.
The commander of the partisan movement Yevhen “Surgeon” recalls: “From Trostianets, Russian soldiers shelled Okhtyrka. Usually, the enemy started artillery preparation at 9:00. So, I also planned all the attacks around this time. On March 11 at 10:00, four of us worked. Oleksandr and another guy had a machine gun. They covered the roads and the left flank. My neighbor and I attacked from a ravine between the trees with a grenade launcher and a machine gun. The Russian military set up observation points on the roofs of buildings. Our shots hit exactly one of these roofs."
The comrades managed to eliminate two Russians. Then Oleksandr returned home.
“He told me then for some reason: “It’s not for nothing that the Ukrainian national anthem has the words: soul and body shall we lay down for our freedom,...”. I don’t know what happened to me at that moment, but I felt something. Still, Oleksandr reassured me: “Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” Valeriia recalls.
On the same day, a Russian sniper shot Oleksandr Spasonov in Trostianets. He died near the street where he lived.
“Since the mobile connection was unstable, before setting a combat mission, I always fixed a gathering time for debriefing after the operation. Sasha did not come at the agreed 4:00 PM. At 6 PM, we received information that he was shot...” recalls “Surgeon”.
Oleksandr’s body was given to his mother only on March 13, after long persuasions. On the 12th, Valeria’s wife made her husband’s last will come true and took their son away from the war.
Now Valeriia and baby Akim are living in Germany. After the end of the war, they plan to return to Ukraine. They are very homesick.
Valeriia is having a hard time losing her husband, in particular because she could not say goodbye to him. The woman says that she lives for her son. She keeps all materials about Oleksandr so that in the future, when Akim grows up, she can tell him about his father’s feats.
"With Sasha, my son and I would feel as though behind a stone wall. That’s who he is – my real husband. He wanted to give all his love. We have been through a lot together. I wanted to spend my whole life with him,” says Valeriia Spasonova.
Florist Victoriia Ivanova. “She was impossible to hold back”
Victoriia was born and raised in Trostianets, studied at the Lebedyn Pedagogical School. For some time, she lived in Lithuania, where she worked as a kindergarten teacher.
In Lithuania, Victoriia met Ihor Ivanov, who was serving in the army there. The couple fell in love and got married. They had a son. In 1993, the family moved to Trostianets. Victoriia lived with Ihor for 32 years.
Her husband still affectionately calls her “Vita.” When I asked him what his wife was passionate about, he said “My Vita was passionate about life.”
In Sumy Oblast, the woman worked as a saleswoman in a grocery store, later as a waitress and a bartender. However, her greatest passion was flowers. Together with her husband Ihor, the couple grew them, setting up a greenhouse near their house. They offered their plants to local shops and sold them independently. Victoriia studied the varieties and techniques of growing flowers on her own.
“Our whole garden was planted with flowers! Not the usual onions or potatoes, but flowers,” Ihor recalls.
On February 24, the couple was taken by surprise – an acquaintance called in the morning and asked: “What’s up with you – are the tanks already moving?”
:We couldn’t believe it then. Well, what we have here: a chocolate factory, and that’s it,” Ihor recalls.
At 9:00 AM, the first column of enemy vehicles drove past the Ivanovs’ house. The couple did not plan to leave Trostianets. Both began to help the Armed Forces. First, the movement of enemy equipment was filmed on camera. Tanks and armored personnel carriers moved along Lunin Street, where they lived, every day. The Ivanovs’ house is six meters from the track, so all the Russian equipment was clearly visible.
“My Victoriia even went out to the Russian military and told them to return home. She had a combative nature,” Ihor says.
In the first days of the full-scale war, Victoriia, a flower grower, joined the activists who collected information to adjust the fire of the Armed Forces. Under the leadership of district deputies, activists shared information about the movement of Russian equipment. Victoriia transmitted voice messages about everything she saw to the Viber group. Ihor helped her.
“We counted together tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other equipment. Names and numbers were transmitted. I didn'’ join the Viber group. Vita told me: “The less you know, the better you sleep.” She was capricious, but always responded to requests for help. It was impossible to hold her back,” says Ihor Ivanov.
Later, Victoriia counted enemy equipment in the center of Trostianets. She delivered food to the elderly, and at the same time kept calculations. Photos of the equipment, data on the personnel and all the coordinates were transmitted to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On March 13, Ihor Ivanov saw Victoriia for the last time. Around 6 PM he went to the greenhouse, and when he returned, his wife was not at home.
“She said that she would go to the Russians to campaign for them to surrender,” the man recalls.
Ihor was looking for a wife. He even went to the Russian checkpoint. “I asked them if they had seen such a woman, showed them the photo. They said they saw her, but they made her go back,” says Ihor.
There was no information about Victoriia Ivanova for more than two months. Ihor hoped that his wife was alive, perhaps in captivity.
On May 19, 2022, Victoriia would have turned 53. “I set the table that day and mentally said: “Vita, hold on.” A few minutes later, they called and informed me that they had found a woman who looked like my wife,” Ihor recalls.
Victoriia’s body, buried in the ground, was found by an employee of a grain elevator on the territory of the enterprise. Ihor recognized his wife by a characteristic scar on her body, by her hair and clothes. It turned out that the Russian military had exposed Victoriia. They found photos of the movements of their equipment in her phone. The husband does not know where and how Victoriia was kidnapped. It is known that the woman was tortured and killed on the territory of the elevator.
Victoriia was buried at the Trostianets cemetery, many townspeople came to say goodbye to the hero. On November 21, 2022, the florist was posthumously awarded the 3rd degree Order for Courage.
Currently, Ihor Ivanov remains in Trostianets. He says that he is learning to live without his wife, and it is extremely difficult for him. He keeps living in the name of his son and grandchildren who are living abroad.
“I live simply, that’s all,” says Ihor. “As for the flower business, I don’t have that streak. To build it, to work with my hands – it’s a “yes”... But the flowers... Vita would constantly read about them on the Internet, order seeds..."
In the spring, Ihor Ivanov plans to decorate the grave of his beloved Vita, wishes to replace the photograph, and install a fence.
Track and field athlete Serhii Pronevych: “As long as I have the strength – I’ll keep stopping them”
“His character was not easy, and he always confidently reached the goal,” says about her son Antonina Pronevych, whom we met in Boromlia. This is a village near Trostianets. Antonina’s son, Serhii Pronevych, died while helping the Armed Forces defend his native land from the Russian invaders.
Serhii was 30 years old. He has been involved in athletics since the eighth grade. He had flat feet, but he dreamed of becoming a professional athlete, and there was no stopping him. “From childhood, he was very confident,” says Antonina.
After school, Serhii acquired the profession of repairman and turner. For some time, he worked as a bartender, and later he started training children at the Trostianets Sports School. In his spare time, he made wooden crafts, helped his mother at work in an agricultural company, and repaired their house on his own.
In 2017, Serhii decided to serve in the army and joined the sports company of the Odesa National Guard for a 18 months.
“He was fired up about the idea of joining the security forces, and military training was required there. I told him: “Come on, go, you haven’t been there yet,” recalls Antonina Pronevych.
Serhii was the record holder of Ukraine: in 2019, he managed to run a marathon in full military ammunition weighing about 25 kilograms in 4 hours and 36 minutes. Relatives say that Serhii succeeded in everything thanks to his perseverance. He bought a car and renovated the house left by his father. Before the full-scale war, he built a bathhouse there, planted trees in the garden.
In January 2022, Serhii got a job at the Boromlia Village Council as a sports coach. However, he did not have time to recruit a group of wards. The war began.
In the first week of the full-scale invasion, Russian military aircraft destroyed the central part of Boromlia, hit a former kindergarten with a rocket, and damaged the local lyceum with an explosive wave. On March 9, they entered the village with several hundred pieces of equipment.
From the first days of the full-scale invasion, a self-defense unit began to be created in Boromlia. Boromlia village head Vasyl Romanika says: “Back in 2015, we set up a checkpoint at the entrance to Boromlia, a line of defense around the community. We also began to form lists of volunteers who would be ready to defend the village. However, we believed that it would not be necessary.”
Track and field athlete Serhii Pronevych joined the self-defense volunteers. However, when full-scale war started, he said he would act as a partisan.
Antonina Pronevych recalls: “On February 24, at 4:30 AM, I went to work, saw a glare on the street, and heard explosions. I ran to Serhii. He was already standing with his neighbors on the street. He looked extremely strained. I immediately understood that my son would fight.”
Serhii lived alone in his father’s house. At night, he scouted the situation around Boromlia and neighboring villages, covering tens of kilometers. In the morning, he transmitted information about the location of the enemy to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by phone. He also helped territorial defense.
Serhii spent the night from March 10 to 11 at his mother’s place. Until then, he had not told her about his activities, but then he showed her the videos and pictures he had taken during one of the reconnaissance missions on his phone. Antonina asked her son to stop.
But the dialogue was short.
“Calm down, you will later join the army. The bullet always runs faster than you,” said the mother.
“No, as long as I have the strength, I will keep stopping them,” answered the son.
On March 11, Serhii went on a mission – he was supposed to retrieve several anti-aircraft guns for territorial defense from a hiding place outside the village, near the television tower. That day he worked with a partner. They walked through fields and woods to the agreed place and suddenly saw a Russian checkpoint.
The comrades stopped in the forest lane and waited for the moment when it would be possible to sneak past the Russians unnoticed and run further – to where they were supposed to take the weapons.
“Suddenly, when the Russian cars drove, Serhii jumped out and ran to the other side by himself,” recalls the partner, who wished to remain anonymous. “Russian soldiers rushed out 20 meters away and opened fire in his direction. There were two shots, I heard screams.”
The comrade stayed in the forest, and later managed to get out of there unnoticed. Antonina Pronevych says that even that evening he tried to call her son on his mobile phone. A Russian soldier picked up the phone and started mocking him.
“The Russian military used my son’s phone, they even answered something in social networks on his behalf. Even after March 27, it seemed like Serhii was accessing the network. Eventually, we managed to block his page,” says Antonina Pronevych.
On March 27, Serhii was found a few kilometers from Boromlia – close to the television tower, near which he was with his partner. On the man’s right temple there was a mark from a blow, probably a buttstock. There were traces of rope or handcuffs on the hands. Relatives and friends of the man assume that he was held captive. He was tortured, and later shot. During the autopsy, a bullet was found in Serhii’s body, it damaged the internal organs and was stuck in the rib.
Serhii was buried at the cemetery in the village of Boromlia. On November 21, 2022, the President of Ukraine awarded Pronevych with the 3rd degree Order for Courage.
Antonina Pronevych keeps everything that reminds her of her son: photos, more than 70 medals and more than a hundred sports awards, articles in newspapers, and his handicrafts.
“I keep everything. Any newspapers, any reminders of where and when he used to run. Everything is written, everything is compiled. I took all the certificates and medals from the house where he lived. I try to preserve the memory of my son – in thoughts, memories, with the help of his things. I want everyone to remember him as fearless and persistent. He would have so many plans ... And now there are none. There is no son,” says Antonina Pronevych.
The text was prepared by the Memorial platform, which shares stories of civilians and fallen Ukrainian soldiers killed by Russia specially for ZN.UA