Vitali Klitschko's militant deputy mayor of Kyiv, Andriy Kryshchenko, led the resistance in 2014, preventing the occupiers from quickly capturing Horlivka. Those events effectively marked the beginning of Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation.
Military man Kirill Sazonov reminded about this and showed a video about those events 12 years ago.
Twelve years ago, footage of the heroic resistance in Horlivka spread across Ukraine. Military personnel brought in from Russia, supported by local drunks, stormed a police station. The then-chief, Andriy Kryshchenko, tore the tricolor from the roof and, together with several colleagues, shot back at the terrorists, preventing them from seizing weapons.
– recalls Kirill Sazonov, a blogger and active military serviceman.
The first attempts to storm the building were repelled by militiamen loyal to Ukraine, led by Kryshchenko, on April 12. On the evening of April 14, when part of the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs department betrayed their oath, the building was captured. From that day on, the Russian occupation began in the city, and the Anti-Terrorist Operation began in Ukraine.
“The bloodied Kryshchenko barely fought off the enraged crowd. When in other cities in the East the cops almost completely went over to the enemy's side, he became a national hero, a defender of the Ukrainian flag,” Sazonov recalled.
Fighting in the Horlivka direction lasted until approximately 2024. Horlivka is separated from the front line by about 20 kilometers. The “hero city of the DPR” was devastated and looted. None of the separatists who helped capture Horlivka stayed in the city: Russia used them and threw them in the trash, wiped them out at the front, and tortured them in basements.
And Kryshchenko later became deputy mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko and mobilized into the army. He is currently the deputy commander of the 4th brigade of the Rubizh National Guard and is fighting near Horlivka.
“He did not disappear from this story somewhere in the offices. He is fighting near Horlivka, in the Dobropil direction. In essence, he returned to where it all began, but in a different role and with different experience. Against the backdrop of daily tragedies, spring 2014 is already history. But it is important to know it. Sooner or later it puts everything in its place,” Sazonov wrote.