The story of the policeman Alexander Filonenko, who helped to destroy the enemy in the Kharkiv and Donetsk directions
From the first months of the full-scale offensive of the Russian army, thanks to the received aerial intelligence data on the routes of the movement of the occupiers, conducted by the Poltava police, the Ukrainian Defense Forces effectively eliminated their disguised guard posts and military equipment.
Oleksandr Filonenko, a senior inspector of the special police battalion of the Poltava region's Main Directorate of Police, was wounded during one of the aerial reconnaissance operations in Bakhmut in February 2023, after being hit by mortar fire from Russian troops.
One of the mines exploded near the premises where the policeman worked. Oleksandr is undergoing rehabilitation and believes in the undisputed victory of Ukraine over the aggressor.
At the beginning of the enemy invasion, the police major, together with his colleagues, helped guard security in Poltava region, identified supporters of the enemy and saboteurs, escorted buses with elderly people, women and children evacuated from the eastern regions of Ukraine and Sumy region.
Since May 2022, as part of the consolidated battalion of the National Police of Ukraine “West”, participated in the liberation of the occupied territories of the Kharkiv region, and then the Donetsk region. It was there, during the liberation of settlements, that the GPS coordinates transferred by Alexander helped the Armed Forces to destroy the enemy's trenches, trenches, guard posts and equipment.
“Drones were extremely helpful when the occupiers went on the offensive against the positions of our Armed Forces. The artillery covered them well! Tanks, infantry, and buildings with command posts were destroyed. I do not talk about ordinary mortar calculations at all... They were destroyed by drops from drones, and by artillery fire,” Alexander recalls.
Law enforcement officers entered the de-occupied settlements immediately after the military. The police were supposed to check every yard, house, basement, forest strip and other places.
Thus, Oleksandr Filonenko was one of the first policemen to see the liberated outskirts of Kharkov, the village of Pytomnik, the cities of Izyum, Volchansk, Kupyansk, as well as many villages of the Kharkiv region. In September last year, his detachment, together with the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, broke into Donetsk region — he performed the tasks of the Defense Forces in Liman and Bakhmut.
In the memory of the policeman, what he saw in the de-occupied territories was forever imprinted:
“The road to Izyum is minibuses and cars that the occupiers took from people, littered with looted dishes, household appliances, clothes. But they could not get it out, they remained on the road... As they entered the city... houses were destroyed, communications destroyed, mass burials of people buried and shot.”
Police officers shared with local residents their own supplies and first aid kits, helped to contact relatives.
“As we drove, we took a bag of bread and handed it out to people... A week later, the first volunteers appeared, who began to bring food and generators little by little, and also installed Starlink. After half a year of harassment by the invaders, people finally got a connection,” says Oleksandr.
Currently, the officer, who has been the “eyes” of the military and law enforcement officers for a long time, is undergoing a rehabilitation course after surgery, but knows that his case is continued by professionals.
National Police of Ukraine
