Oleksandr Oksanchenko
Oleksandr Yakovych Oksanchenko, nicknamed the Grey Wolf, was a Ukrainian fighter pilot and city councilor in Myrhorod. He was a colonel in the Ukrainian Air Force who won awards in several air shows before retiring in 2018. In 2022, he returned to resist the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was killed by a Russian S-400 missile during the Battle of [Kyiv (2022)|battle of Kyiv]. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Gold Star.
Early life
Oksanchenko was born 26 April 1968 in the village of, Pokrovske Raion in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and attended his local secondary school until 1985 before commencing military aviation training. He graduated from the Ivan Kozhedub National [Air Force University|Kharkiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots].Career
Oksanchenko joined the Soviet Air Force in 1989. He worked as an instructor pilot, later rising to the position of deputy commander responsible for flight training of his unit. During the annexation of [Crimea by the Russian Federation], he was stationed at Belbek Air Base and was in combat in Crimea and the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone.From 2013 to 2018, Oksanchenko was a display pilot of the Sukhoi Su-27 for the Ukrainian Air Force, logging over 2,000 flying hours. In 2016, he flew in the Malta International Airshow. He was the winner of the 2016 and was presented with a trophy from the Slovak Air Force commander. In 2016, Oksanchenko was honored as the Myrhorod person of the year. In 2017, he won the As the Crow Flies Award for the best display at the Royal International Air Tattoo. In 2018, he won best pilot at the. Oksanchenko was a colonel when he retired in 2018.
He was a member of the Strength and Honor party in Poltava Oblast. Starting in November 2020, he served as one of the deputies in the Myrhorod city council.
Oksanchenko came out of retirement and resumed active duty during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On the night of 25 February 2022, he was killed by a missile while defending the skies over Kyiv.