Oleksandr Borysovych, our friend “Polyak”, Uncle Sasha
He didn’t really like being photographed or taking part in our video shoots — he would say, “Why me? I’m too boring, let the younger ones be in the frame.” He never spoke about his many awards, although he earned quite a few in his lifetime. He was a quiet harbor for everyone around him: even when the world was loud — his presence made you feel calm.
“He always chose the toughest routes and the hardest evacuation points. He could spend several days with the crew waiting in a nearby house for an evac — in the cold, in uncertainty, under shelling. He never complained. He could serve several rotations in a row without rest. And then quietly drive home alone — without emotional farewells or loud goodbyes. A few words and a glance were enough for him — he understood everything I meant, and even more. Sometimes we would sit quietly together on a bench near the building in Lyman. Smoking and saying nothing. There was a quintessence of cosmic calm in him, of unspoken pain, of ultimate self-sacrifice, and a kind of fatherly warmth so rare to find at the front. It felt as if he carried some loss inside him that was eating him up. And he was always a shoulder you could lean on. He lived for evacuations, lived through those he saved. He lived to save lives.”
former PDMSh press officer, Yuliia Kostenko-Pukha
Dr. Oleksandr Polyakin, a surgeon and PDMSh volunteer from Odesa region, passed away after a severe combat injury. For nearly three months, we fought for his life. During the full-scale invasion, “Polyak” went on more than twenty rotations with the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pyrohov, where he provided medical care to wounded soldiers.
Oleksandr Borysovych served as Head of the Surgical Department at Rozdilna Multidisciplinary Hospital. He is survived by his loving wife and two daughters, who have also dedicated their lives to medicine.
An unspeakable loss and immense pain for the great PDMSh family and for all of Ukraine. Brother “Polyak”, Honor! We remember everything.
Video by: Nazarii Holub, Dmytro Bondarenko, Suspilne Odesa
Video editing: Dmytro Zhuriev