Oleksandr Bondarenko died in action, according to the BBC, but it is not yet known how he came by his death. Mr Bondarenko\u2019s friends reportedly said only that \u201cdeath caught up with him in a battle\u201d. Former colleagues and friends have paid tribute to Mr Bondarenko – who was known as Sasha or Sashko – as an \u201cextraordinary man\u201d and \u201ca human with a will of steel\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Bondarenko is understood to have volunteered for Ukraine\u2019s territorial defence when Russia launched its invasion last February, first working in communications before becoming part of the military. According to the BBC, Mr Bondarenko \u201cwas in charge of special projects for leading Ukrainian communications agency, RMA\u201d at the beginning of the war. Vasyl Samokhvalov of RMA described him as \u201ca human with a will of steel…A human with the clearest motivation…A human with the best music playlist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former head of the BBC\u2019s Ukrainian Service, Maciek Bernatt-Reszczynski, said the corporation was extremely lucky to have him on the Kyiv team: \u201cIt was always new challenges with this extraordinary man. Including the last, heroic one, to defend his country from aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bondarenko was originally from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n
He reportedly worked as a journalist for the corporation\u2019s Ukrainian Service from 2007 to 2011, after starting his career in Ukrainian local radio and moving to television.<\/p>\n
He worked for the BBC as a news reporter, presenter, and editor of radio programmes in Ukraine\u2019s capital Kyiv, before going on to work at other news outlets and later moving into communications.<\/p>\n
Marta Shokalo, BBC Ukraine\u2019s editor-in-chief, told the BBC: \u201cI look at our photos together and can\u2019t stop crying even though I can only remember our carefree days in the Kyiv office and how we laughed together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bondarenko was also a keen athlete and skilled swimmer, described by those who knew him as \u201cbrilliant at everything\u201d.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: This news item was lifted from Yahoo News.<\/p>\n
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Oleksandr Bondarenko died in action, according to the BBC, but it is not yet known…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[89],"yoast_head":"\n