October 17, 2023
Soldier Alexander Patsalov, known as Lev, passed away on October 17, 2023, at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Clinical Hospital. Six days prior, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Verbove in Zaporizhzhia region, he sustained severe injuries as a result of enemy mortar shelling. On September 23, the fighter turned 27 years old.
Alexander was born and lived in the town of Kirnasivka in Vinnytsia region. After completing the 9th grade at the local school, he enrolled in Tulchyn Vocational School No. 41, where he obtained a profession as a forestry driver. He had an incredible voice, his singing enchanted from the first notes, and all the holidays in his town, the birthdays of friends and acquaintances, were incomplete without his songs. In 2014, he began working at the Kirnasivka poultry farm. In 2019-2020, he served in the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Later, he worked in various fields.
On February 26, 2022, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the National Guard of Ukraine to defend the Motherland from Russian occupiers. Initially, he served in military unit 3008, and in March 2023, he was transferred to the 14th Assault Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine “Chervona Kalyna.” He held the position of a machine gunner in the reconnaissance unit of the operational assignment battalion (on armored vehicles). He underwent training abroad, and in early October, he set off with his comrades to defend the Zaporizhzhia direction.
“He was always cheerful, lively, kind, understanding, the life of the party – that’s how his friends remember him and will remember him. My husband is a Hero, without exaggeration. I, like no one else, know about his patriotic views, love for the country, and his town, which he praised in songs until his last breath. According to his comrades, during evacuation and transportation to the hospital with severe injuries, Sasha sang a song about the red viburnum until he was put into an artificial coma. One evening we talked to Sasha about the war, and I asked him: ‘Why did you decide to volunteer during martial law, you’ve recently returned from conscription and now you’re back in the army again?’. And Sasha hugged me tightly and said: ‘In my life, there are three important people: you, mom, and brother. I don’t want anyone unknown to come to us and take our land.’ My husband is the best of the best. He fought bravely until the last seconds of his life. He never feared anything, was extremely brave and courageous. Comrades say he was a true warrior, a real lion in battle,” said the wife of the fallen soldier, Vitalina.
The National Guardsman was buried in his hometown.
Alexander is survived by his mother, brother, and wife.