On April 13, 2014, the first battle of Ukraine’s War of Independence took place: Ukrainian soldiers repelled an attack by a Russian sabotage group led by FSB Colonel Igor Girkin. For the first time, our defenders engaged Russian aggressors in battle.
Around 9 a.m. near Semenivka, not far from Sloviansk, a vehicle belonging to the SBU’s “Alpha” Special Operations Group was ambushed by terrorists, who began shooting the “Alphas” at point-blank range.
Paratroopers from the 3rd Company of the 80th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were stationed nearby, came to the aid of the special forces.
The soldiers had orders not to open fire, but Company Commander Vadym Sukharevsky, nicknamed “Borsuk,” took responsibility and entered the battle. Soldier Mykola Lavrenchuk, the gunner of the BTR-80, was the first to reload the machine gun—which had been unloaded on the brigade commander’s orders—and the first among the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel to open fire on the enemy, supporting the fighters of the SBU’s “Alpha” special unit. Machine-gun bursts from the APC managed to suppress the enemy’s fire, and they retreated. Only six “Alpha” fighters and Sukharevsky’s APC took part in the first battle of the War for Ukraine’s Independence.
On that day, SBU Colonel Gennadiy Kuznetsov, SBU Colonel Oleksandr Kuksa, and Ministry of Internal Affairs officer Roman Selikhov sustained serious injuries; SBU Captain Gennadiy Bilichenko was killed.
For personal courage and heroism demonstrated in the defense of Ukraine’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity, loyalty to the military oath, and unbreakable spirit, by Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 543/2014 dated June 20, 2014, Captain Gennadiy Vasylovych Bilichenko was posthumously awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd Class.
The battle on April 13, 2014, marked the transition to active combat operations in the War for Ukraine’s Independence.