Causing Destructive Losses to the Enemy: the Story of the Hero of Ukraine Vitaliy Hrytsaienko
High fighting spirit, loyalty to the Military Oath, courage, endurance, nobility. It is with these words that the defenders of Mariupol, a ruined city, are associated in Ukraine and the whole world, from which the efforts of the regular army of the Russian Federation have little left...
Among the dead defenders of Mariupol is the deputy commander of a separate special detachment “Azov” for combat and special training, Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Gritsaienko, nicknamed “Gogol”, who volunteered to join the ranks of the unit in the early years of the then undeclared Russian-Ukrainian of war.
Poltavchanin, a military professional of the highest rank, who earned officer's shoulder straps with his combat work. On February 27, 2022, warships of the Russian Federation began shelling the coast of the Sea of Azov in the area of Mariupol with further attempts to land a naval landing. One of the first battles was received by the marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who repelled three attempts by the invaders to step ashore. Having suffered heavy losses, they were forced to retreat to conduct a regrouping. The covering of the departure of the brothers and the temporary maintenance of the coastal boundaries was entrusted to a group of soldiers of the OSP of NGU “Azov”, which included Senior Lieutenant Gritsaienko.
Over the course of 48 hours, they heroically repulsed four landing attempts by the enemy's naval landing and inflicted significant losses on it. In particular, senior lieutenant Gritsaienko personally destroyed 9 invaders. On March 1, the enemy made another attempt to break through the defense of Mariupol. From the side of the village of Kalinov in the Luhansk region, 9 tanks and about a company of enemy life force advanced. The unit under the command of Vitaly Gritsaienko gave a worthy rebuff to the unknown guests. During the battle, Gogol destroyed an enemy tank from RPG-22, and from small arms, about two dozen Russian infantrymen. His subordinates also acted professionally and in a coordinated manner — three enemy tanks were burning within a minute after they entered the battle.
Realizing that they would not cross the guard line, the occupiers made an attempt to bypass their positions from the flank, but it was there that the Azov fighters had placed antitank mines in advance, so three more Russian tanks were destroyed. The rest tried to retreat, however, well-chosen positions and clearly distributed tasks allowed the guards to “demilitarize” the rest of the enemy's armored vehicles. The enemy column was completely defeated.
On March 15, senior lieutenant Vitaly Gritsaienko was again tasked with blocking the movement of enemy forces — according to intelligence, they were insignificant, up to a platoon. Around 11.00, the guards counted 12 units of armored vehicles of various types, including three self-propelled artillery installations, two Grad rocket systems of volley fire, and the number of enemy fighters amounted to about 2 companies.
Despite the significant superiority of the enemy in life force, the troops entered the battle. Taking the invaders by surprise, in the first 10 minutes they destroyed three BTR-8, four Tiger armored vehicles, one Rys armored vehicle and three dozen Russian soldiers. For two hours, before help arrived, the guards held their positions, and after good work of artillery boldly went into counterattack and forced the enemy to retreat. In that battle, Senior Lieutenant Gritsaienko personally destroyed 2 BBM “Tiger”, to the detachment of the life force, and after a counterattack captured a Russian officer. On the night of March 18-19, a group of soldiers “Azov”, which included senior lieutenant Gritsaienko, made a successful raid into the rear of the enemy.
As a result, our fighters destroyed an enemy command post, blew up one rear depot and one ammunition depot. Also, our soldiers destroyed 1 tank, 2 BTRs and about a platoon of enemy manpower, mostly officers.
Unfortunately, the price of this brilliant operation was the life of a brave officer. During a fierce battle, he suffered severe injuries, from which he died. For personal courage and heroism in the defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the Military Oath by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 201/2022 dated April 2, 2022, Senior Lieutenant Hrytsaienko Vitaly Nikolaevich was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine with the award of the Order “Golden Star” (posthumously).
Press Service of the National Guard of Ukraine
