One of the best Su-25 pilots: Story of life and heroic peril of Vladyslav Rykov – photo

Vladyslav Rykov, a 30-year-old from Luhansk Oblast who became one of the best Su-25 ground attack jet pilots and kept the Russian occupiers at bay, lost his life on 7 February, when a Russian missile struck his fighter jet. Source: the Command of Ukraine's Air Force Details: When a future pilot was six years old, he survived an attempt on his life.

Quote by the Air Forces Command: "Luhansk Oblast, bandits, a shooting.

The boy was saved by Yurii Pokusaiev, a law enforcement member. Everyone else died: Vlad's younger brother, their mother, and Yurii's colleague. Local resuscitators were sceptical but Vlad survived."

More details: When Yurii Pokusaiev learned that the boy had no other relatives, he applied for guardianship of him. "My son and I would always spend time together at air bases. We flew a light aircraft when he was a schoolboy.

The sky was his passion! Then I created the Aviation Training Cadet Centre for Vlad and his friends. It still operates, and a lot of today's heroes are its alumni.

When the time came to choose a university, he didn't even hesitate since there was only one option for him, the Kharkiv National Aerospace Institute," Yurii revealed. Vladyslav was 28 when the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine started. "(He fought in) Kharkiv, Kyiv, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast, [destroying] Russian fighter jets and air defence systems.

Vlad's professionalism, stress resistance and will for victory saved him many times! The Russians were convinced that "aviation doesn't exist in Ukraine anymore"! But they were wrong.

Vlad masterfully killed the occupiers and destroyed their equipment!", the Air Command said. After the beginning of the full-scale invasion father and son worked in the same sector: Vlad flew a combat fighter jet, while Yurii was a part of a civilian air patrol. Yurii recalls that sometimes their takeoffs were almost simultaneous.

Vladyslav Rykov wth her daughterAll photos: Ukrainian Air Force Command

Vlad had an interesting alias, MAGIC.

He earned it thanks to his masterful piloting style. "I saw him as a future commander in the event of my death. He covered me: not only in the sky, but also in life, he was always by my side.

We solved all the problems together and talked to each other a hundred times a day," says Lieutenant Colonel Rostyslav Lazarenko, Vladyslav's commander, the Hero of Ukraine. Vladyslav Rykov was a full holder of the Order of Courage and one of the best Ukrainian ground attack pilots. On 7 February, he conducted his last, 385th sortie.

"It was an ordinary day of combat. A typical task was to destroy the enemy. Vlad and I shook hands.

He took off. He only had 17 minutes left to live," Vladyslav's commander recalls. The missile hit Vladyslav's attack aircraft right in front of him.

"An R-37 missile, which the occupiers had not used for a long time, left him no chance. It was a split second. Vlad did not have time to say anything on the air," Lazarenko continues.

The commander is convinced that it was revenge because the day before, the pilots had beaten the Russians quite hard. The man hoped to the last that Vlad had miraculously managed to eject. "He was very precious to me.

I decided a long time ago to protect him, at least to try to. But how can you protect someone in war?", the commander asks. The pilot's father, Yurii Pokusaiev, regrets that Ukrainian pilots will be flying F-16s without Vladyslav - his son dreamed of modern aircraft that would better protect Ukraine.

The pilot had a wife and a young daughter, Mira.

The commander promises that he will always support them. "We agreed with Vlad a long time ago: if one of us dies, the other will take care of his family. Vlad loved his girls very much, and for a year and a half after the [full-scale] invasion, he hardly saw his family and was very upset about it.

So he rented an apartment relatively close to the unit's location and finally started hugging them more often," the commander concludes. Vladyslav Rykov was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel. The pilot was buried on the Alley of Fame in Vinnytsia, the city where he had never lived, but dreamed of settling down with his family after the victory.

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