A loyal comrade, a courageous soldier of the heroic 95th brigade – Ivan Otroshko, was killed by an enemy sniper’s bullet. Ivan is now eternally 21 years old. The editors of the UA2DAY publishing house ask you to support the petition on awarding the title of “Hero of Ukraine” to Ivan Ivanovich Otroshko:
Address of Ivan Otroshko’s mother to all of us:
“On July 11, 2024, my son would have turned 21, but while performing a combat mission, a bullet from a Russian sniper ended his young life…
A few hours before his own death, soldier Ivan Otroshko saved the life of another soldier. Then, handing over the wounded for evacuation, he took command of the combat group and heroically repelled another attack, frantically destroying the enemy landing force. Such actions made it possible to hold the defense line, preventing the occupiers from penetrating deep into the positions of the Armed Forces and avoiding a possible encirclement of our units.
A shy, silent boy with huge plans for the future, he dreamed of serving in the elite assault troops since school. After graduating from the Brovary Vocational Lyceum, as soon as he turned 18, Vanya signed a contract and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces. He served in the dream 95th separate airborne assault brigade. As a military machine gunner, since November 2021, he served in the ATO zone. He met the full-scale invasion in the trenches near Donetsk. Later, as part of the unit, he moved to the front line near Izyum, where, on March 25, 2022, he received a shrapnel wound. After four consecutive surgeries, nine fragments were removed from his hip. Having recovered relatively quickly, he returned to the defense of the country at the end of June. On July 11, on his nineteenth birthday, he received a severe acubarotrauma in battle – he lost the ability to speak. Long-term treatment in the west of Ukraine did not give the expected results, so the doctors of the Lutsk hospital recommended to “write off” to the reserve. Ivan did not want to hear it. Considering his thirst to help everyone and everything, the son did not agree with these recommendations and re-passed the VLC in the city of Zhytomyr. According to the conclusion, he received the status of “limited suitability”.
Having lost hope of serving in the landing forces, Ivan noticeably began to fade, while looking for any options for further return to combat formation. Despite a pronounced speech defect (stuttered too much, practically could not speak), he was transferred to the 164th battalion of territorial defense in the city of Pryluky. Over time, with the help of doctors, relatives, friends and hard work on himself, he was able to partially recover. Being in the status of “limited fitness”, he wrote a report on the readiness to serve on the front line. As part of the 119th brigade, he moved to the defense of the Bakhmut direction, where he received the call sign “Demon” for his special timbre of voice. The demon is the personification of a noble, brave, reliable and indomitable defender of his country, a fighter for truth and justice.
After long-term participation in the battles near Beilohorivka, the unit in which Ivan served was withdrawn to the Chernihiv region, on the border with Belarus, for recovery. Here he did not stop working on himself: he maintained his physical shape, studied the theory of military affairs, made trips to pass the combat obstacle course – he dreamed of raising his military status to the rank of a platoon commander. March 1, 2024 – another trip to the East to deter the enemy in the Avdiiv direction.
April 12 – our last phone conversation. His heart sank from the premonition of something bad… On April 15, 2024, while performing a combat mission, Vanya received a non-life-threatening bullet wound (shot by a sniper, hitting the front part of the head).
At the funeral, when I met Ivan’s brothers, I learned a lot about my son’s military exploits. Here are some of them:
Even in the first days of the full-scale invasion, during one of the enemy’s air raids, many of our soldiers were injured and some were killed… Ivan together with his comrades evacuated the “three hundred”. After rendering aid, he returned again and again to the line of fire. Despite the high danger to his own life and the caution of his brothers, he answered: “We must take the “two hundred” too! Everyone should go back to their mother!”.
From the words of the combatant, it became known that Vanya was the personification of iron nerves, iron endurance, and iron character. So, on one of the most difficult days of the war, when the enemy was actively conducting combat offensives, their positions were under heavy fire pressure. The battalion suffered losses, a panicky mood and depression could be felt on the radio. And then the voice of a twenty-year-old young man was heard on the air, with a timbre peculiar only to him: “The tourniquets are applied, the bleeding is stopped, the wounded are stable and they are waiting for the evacuation team. I continue to hold back the enemy,” it was a machine gun with the call sign “Demon”. His words seemed to inspire the military and they repulsed the enemy with dignity.
And this is not an isolated case. Ivan constantly inspired his brothers with his courage, willpower, restraint, physical training, endurance and perseverance. Despite all the difficulties, injuries and other horrors of the war, he always returned to the formation and continued to repel the invaders. Despite the possibility of being released from military service, he said: “Who but me.”
This is not surprising, because the standard for Ivan has always been his father – a man of word and honor. And in the war, the son became an example for the father. It was the patriotism of Ivan’s son that inspired my husband to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and since the first days of the full-scale invasion, he has been defending our country as part of the third mechanized battalion, a separate presidential brigade named after Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.
My son was, is and will be the pride of our family, our friends, acquaintances and, I am sure, many Ukrainians.
I have the honor to address everyone with a brief history of the life of Otroshka Ivan Ivanovich, who is forever 20 years old…
Eternal and bright memory to the Heroes of the heavenly system, who gave their lives for each of us, for the future of Ukraine! Earthly bow and God’s protection to all who at this moment stand in defense of the freedom and independence of our country!
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!“
