He is one of what I call "silent heroes". From a breed of wholesome and sincere, broad-minded and humorous, from madly in love with football, which eventually became his profession, Viktor Ozhogin represents the older generation of my colleagues, friends and mentors — Oleksiy Semenenko, Yuriy Karman, Oleksandr Serdyuk, Mykhailo Revenko.
Communicating with Viktor (during my visits to Dnipropetrovsk or his infrequent, unfortunately, visits to Kyiv, behind the scenes of sports events, in the format of friendly gatherings or in football "shacks") is always a holiday. This will be confirmed by his colleagues and subordinates from the Dnipropetrovsk regional state television and radio company, and "accomplices" in taming the ball (among whom, by the way, there are real stars of "Dnipro", in particular, Vasyl Lyabik and Oleksandr Rykun).
Right now, though, not until the holidays. Especially him. After all, as in 2014, he volunteered for the war. Personnel with his experience and his character are truly the golden fund of the Armed Forces. However, despite his participation in the ATO/OOS and the rank of senior reserve lieutenant, in February of this year he initially received a formal refusal from the Military Commissariat: they say, he is already 63. I had to insist. The Shevchenko University journalism graduate never complained about anything, but about determination.
So he ended up in his battalion "Dnipro-1" of one of the units of the National Guard, where he holds the position of deputy company commander. I ended up where it is the hottest - in my native Donbas. He fought for Mariupol, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, today he solves combat tasks near Sloviansk.
A few days ago I was lucky enough to hear Viktor in a telephone conversation. “Brother, we will win, don't even doubt it! said to me. - I don't know exactly when exactly, but - we will win! Now these bitches will be chased away from Kherson, and there, as they say, it will continue!" His words brought tears to his eyes. And I really, really wanted to hug Victor the winner, who, without a doubt, knows what he is talking about.
Oleksiy Semenenko thanked him for the conversation with Ozhogin. Compatriots from Luhansk, friends in life, journalism and football, have a constant connection. Of course, as far as it can be in the conditions when one of them is at the "zero" mark, in hell itself.
From there - terrible videos of apocalyptic landscapes after racist "hail" and "hurricanes", impressive photos from the front: crossing the Siverskyi Donets in a fishing rubber boat; a "horn" mutilated by shrapnel from a machine gun that closed the heart; the ruins of the administrative building in Severodonetsk, where Ozhogin's unit came under fire, and Viktor himself was saved by... a filing cabinet, covering from above.
From there, exciting front-line stories: about a battle that lasted nine hours; about a skirmish with the Kadyrivians in a ratio of one to six, where Ozhogin's brother had a stroke right behind the machine gun; about getting out of the tactical encirclement near the village of Metolkine, when the enemy arranged a real fire bath, not giving the opportunity to take away the bodies of the killed.
From there, even the shortest text messages are desired, when anxiety about a loved one is replaced by the joy of his contact.
There are wishes for God's help, emoticons in the form of two folded palms. "Friend, we are praying for you!" "I know, friend! Thanks! This faith will help us come back! Hugs!"
And there is also the necessary material. From Viktor's daughter, Anna, and from his wife Oleksandra, who are looking for and finding opportunities to support the soldiers of their father's and husband's company through the "Journalist Initiative" fund, through the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, through volunteers.
Thus, thanks to the NSJU and its head Serhiy Tomilenko personally, a Subaru SUV got to the Ozhogin unit, one of those delivered to Ukraine by journalist colleagues from brotherly Lithuania. It was this car that was the last to cross the only at that time surviving bridge to the "big land" from Severodonetsk. In a few minutes, the bridge ceased to exist. And soon the four-wheeled "Japanese" ordered to live long.
"The car was blown up with a grenade," Viktor informed. — Punctured one wheel — did. And then came under mortar fire - right side again, both wheels. It had to be blown up. It's a pity, so many people wanted to help. Well, what do you do...”
This message from Ozhogin, shared by Oleksiy Semenenko, once again turned my mind upside down. A man who miraculously escaped death regrets the efforts of volunteers: sorry, he didn't save the car. Responsibility, decency, humanity, I don't know what level!!!
Such lives are priceless. Cars in the war are consumables. And the next "wheels" for Viktor and his soldiers are another example of truly popular support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Oleksiy Semenenko instantly reacted to the news from a friend. Together with Ozhoghin, they once studied at the journalism faculty, previously they dreamed of a football future together at the Luhansk Zora school, and later, in the 1980s and 1990s, they simultaneously reported on the matches of their favorite teams: Oleksiy - Dynamo Kyiv (where currently works as a vice-president), Viktor - Dnipro.
Oleksiy's dream of sending a friend to the front lines instead of the car lost in battle came true within two weeks thanks to the support of the charity fund of Dynamo Kyiv's partner Favbet Foundation (the charity fund, founded in 2020 by Favbet, implements initiatives in the field of education, health and sports development ; currently 95% of the projects are focused on helping the country and the army), the well-known volunteer Yuriy Tyra, the director of the documentary film studio of the Vechirnii kvartal holding Oleksandr Bragin and the manager of Dynamo Kyiv Taras Turkevich. A low bow to all of them: a Mercedes minivan from the football brothers will help Viktor Ozhogin and his fighters to more effectively perform tasks on the front lines.
More lives of soldiers of the Armed Forces will be saved, more of our citizens will be evacuated, and more invaders will be destroyed. The Ukrainian army has become a little closer to Victory...
Yurii Korzachenko