Plyashnik Anatoly Ivanovich

A doctor fights with his mind and knowledge, not with weapons.

Anatoly Plyashnyk is primarily a doctor, not a soldier.

Helping, treating illnesses and injuries is a job he has been doing for more than 30 years, regardless of where he was.

First there was a war that he did not choose. He, like thousands of conscripts in the Soviet army, was sent to fight in distant Afghanistan without their consent. That is how Anatoliy Plyashnyk became a medical instructor who provided medical aid to the wounded on the battlefield. His “weapon” became knowledge, accuracy and speed of movements and analysis of the situation in order to save and take care of the health of others.

Then there was training at a medical institute to become a doctor and provide medical care at the highest professional level. And also a calm, orderly life filled with care for the family: parents, wife and daughter. Ordinary everyday joys and difficulties, meetings with friends and trips to relatives.

“Boys need to be treated by someone. I can do it, that’s why I will go to serve in the Armed Forces,” Anatoly Plyashnyk informed his family of his decision to become a military doctor again. Despite his rather respectable age and health problems, he chose the path of helping the defenders of Ukraine.

Thus began a war for him, which he chose. By chance, in February 2022, he found himself in Mariupol as part of the medical company of the 36th Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilinskyi.

Anatoly Plyashnyk’s old parents are waiting at home, from whom every day of uncertainty about the fate of their son takes months of their life. And also – a wife, a daughter and a small grandson, who really needs a grandfather for important children’s joys.