Orest Mykhailovych Hrytsyuk, born on December 17, 1988 in the city of Netishyn, Khmelnytskyi region. He is a psychologist by education. Since 2017, he joined the ranks of the patrol police, worked as a psychologist. Orest is a very sensitive person with an high sense of justice, he is ready to help anyone in need. One day he decided to help children with severe forms of oncology, so he became a regular visitor to the Okhmatdyt center, where he was a monthly donor of platelet concentrate and whole blood. In June 2021, he resigned from the ranks of the police and continued to develop in his profession. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia, he actively tried to be useful and help in everything he could. At first, he enrolled in the ranks of the Territorial Defense of the city of Netishyna, and later in April 2022 he already served in the ranks of the Armed Forces. The desire to save human lives and the skills of tactical medicine gave him the opportunity to serve as a senior combat medic. In the summer, he went with the unit to the zone of active hostilities in the Donetsk direction to rescue people. Orest and his comrades were everywhere, both in the positions and in the trenches and in rare moments of rest. I remember how I received a photo from him with the caption “in between my actions at the position, I try to rest, but first I go to give injections to my falcons”, that’s how he called his comrades. The guys who were with him said that they were lucky to know Orest and to have a medical psychologist in the unit in the same person. Orest has an amazing ability to attract people, everyone who knows him or has met him at least once in his life will remember him and speak of him as a wonderful, bright and incredibly energetic person. The last conversation on the phone was on August 7, on the eve of our wedding anniversary. He called because he was not sure if there would be a connection later, because the situation in his direction was very difficult, the enemy was shelling the positions with everything they had. A short conversation about how we love each other, how we love our son and how we all look forward to the day when we can be together again. And then there was silence for a few days…..and on August 15, 2022, he contacted his parents and said “I am alive. I am in captivity.” Our struggle for Orest began from that day. A bunch of instances, letters, bureaucratic red tape……and all this has been going on for 9 long months. The only thing that helps not to lose one’s mind is the belief that we will surely bring him home, we will hug him again, the son will see his father again. And also the stories of the discharged servicemen, that Orest will help the boys even in the conditions of captivity, is comforting.

Orest returned home on April 26, 2023 as part of the exchange of military prisoners of war