A sapper at the call of the heart, which aims to help people tread their native land without fear
Life is always full of unpredictable changes and trials, and the story of how a rescuer became a sapper is a vivid example of this. Meet: 28-year-old sapper Maxim Tomko, who dared to embark on an extraordinary journey and dedicate his life to saving others from a deadly railway.
Maxim has always been purposeful and dedicated to the rescue cause. He graduated from the National University of Civil Defense and worked for a year in the field of civil defense in one of the units of the State Emergency Service. Yet his heart gravitated toward another. Maxim felt a strong vocation to help people walk without fear on their native land, so he decided to change his specialty to a sapper.
He studied various types of explosives, practiced in the search and mining of dangerous objects, learned to react to stressful situations. Maxim learned to work with various detectors and equipment, and his experience and skills were constantly growing. And so he rose to the position of Chief of the Pyrotechnic Works and Underwater Demining Group of the Humanitarian Demining and Pyrotechnic Works Detachment of the Interregional Center for Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response.
A year before the full-scale invasion of the Russian occupiers into the territory of Ukraine, he performed combat missions in the area of the Joint Forces on the line of battle near the city. Soledar. Conducted inspection of contaminated GNP territory in combat areas, seized and defused explosive munitions and mines.
However, according to him, the really hard work was still ahead. It began on February 22, 2022. During the Great War, he already led pyrotechnic calculations more than 400 times, with the forces of which more than 2,200 enemy munitions, explosives and mines were neutralized. Among them were cassette elements and combat parts of the Grad and Smerch rocket systems, anti-tank mines, artillery shells, mortar mines, grenades.
Maxim's work is extremely necessary. Because the enemy left many minefields in Kharkiv region, mined buildings, roads and power lines. Each step, each action helps to return normal life to the inhabitants of the deoccupied settlements of the Kharkiv region, protecting them from danger. He saw the horrors of war, but together with his team he did everything possible to make the world safer.
Every meter of land he deems is a step towards Victory!
State Emergency Service of Ukraine
