Andrii Brik was born on February 14, 1987 in the village of Derman Druha, Zdolbuniv Region.
He died at midnight on June 8, 2015 near the village of Hrechyshkyne, Novoaidar District, Luhansk Region, as a result of a gunfight between his reconnaissance group and a reconnaissance group of “Luhansk People’s Republic”.
He had a mother, a wife, and two small children.
Andrii was buried in the village of Derman Druha, Zdolbuniv District, Rivne Region.
By Decree of the President of Ukraine on January 16, 2016, he was posthumously awarded the Medal for the Ukrainian Military Service “For personal courage and high professionalism demonstrated in the defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath”.
Publications about Andrii Brik
Citizens of Zdolbuniv met the deceased compatriot Andrii Brik standing on their knees
It was such an emotional and dramatic ceremony when the deceased warrior was taken to his home town. The grief came to the ancient rebelling Derman Village. During the Second World War, more than a thousand brave soldiers who were brought there joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Today the Hero and the defender of this village arrived home. The enemy is the same as seventy years ago. Tears of mothers, wives, sisters, and ordinary people were also the same as hundreds of years ago… People kneeled in front of the body of Andrii Brik in Zdolbuniv, and in many villages like Zdovbytsia, Uizdtsi, and in Kunyn. Residents of the district were kneeling with tears, prayers, and grief. They were everywhere: on the roadside and near the gates of their houses, in the high grass. There were old grandparents, young boys and girls, small children held by their young parents. In the village of Uizdtsi, the family stood near their house with flags of Ukraine and Azerbaijan. It is the best sign that Ukraine’s victory over Russia is very important for both Ukrainians and other nations which live in our country.
How
ever, the worst grief suffered people in Derman Village. It was dark when the convoy arrived in the native village of Andrii. People lit candles. Pupils stood near the school and nuns also stood near the monastery. It is worth mentioning that nuns together with others met the Hero on their knees, even though the monastery is subordinated to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
When the flowers were blooming in June, people in Derman Village buried their Hero… They gathered around the village club. Sworn brothers from the 130th separate mechanized brigade also came to the funeral. People from all over Ukraine came to pay their respect to the Defender of Ukraine. Unfortunately, a religious disagreement couldn’t be avoided. Everyone discussed why a church subordinated to the aggressor country would perform a funeral service over the Ukrainian soldier. Nevertheless, in the morning priests of the Ukrainia
n Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate came to the village club and prayed for the peaceful repose of the soldier’s soul. It was the right decision for the place where religious communities aren’t united. Andrii had defended all fellow villagers regardless which patriarchy they belong to.
The funeral procession came to Holy Trinity Cathedral in the center of the village and then to the cemetery. On the Derman hills, soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army are buried. Those soldiers who seventy years ago had defended their Motherland from the invaders the same ones that today are ready to march to our cities, towns and villages. And only because Andrii and his sworn brothers fought in the East, the war hasn’t reached our homes.
However, the war is near us. The war is in the mother’s grief, in the widow’s fate of Andrii’s wife, in eyes of his orphaned children. We have to remember every defender. We ought to pray for the peaceful repose of deceased soldiers’ souls and to help their families. We ought to remember and help soldiers that are still at war by volunteering them money or food.
Ivan Bukhalskyi, the sworn brother of Andrii, was near Andrii’s mother during the whole funeral day. It was so scary and sad to look at how he warmheartedly supported his sworn brother’s mother. We heartily wish long life to our defenders. May Lord protect you from such events when you have to support mourning mothers at the funeral of your friends.
While we remember our defenders — they will defend us.
We are to preserve the unfading memory of Our Hero!
