While performing a combat operation behind enemy lines, Ukrainian athlete and brave defender Yurii Balanchuk was killed.
He was born on September 9, 1987, in Kyiv. This is where he took his first steps in sport. First, he took up Greco-Roman wrestling and trained under the guidance of Honored Coach of Ukraine Mykola Fetisov. He competed in Kyiv and Ukrainian championships. He also tried other sports. He won club competitions in jiu-jitsu and took the third place at all-Ukrainian combat sambo tournament. His wife Yulia, with whom he had been living together for more than 10 years, found out about all these diplomas for winning sports tournaments after his death, coming across them among her husband’s documents. Yurii didn’t like to talk much about himself, and he didn’t consider third place as an achievement.
He worked in the sports sector, even though he graduated with a degree in publishing. He studied to become a massage therapist, worked as a coach and wrote programs for healthy eating. Yulia recalls that her husband never refused anyone to give his helping hand. She remembers clearly one of the toasts which was proposed at Yurii’s birthday, at the beginning of their relationship. “Yura is the person you call and say you can’t find the right size grinder. And he will definitely find it for you”, were the words of a friend at the festive table.
When the full-scale Russian invasion began, Yurii and his wife were away from home. Yulia recalls that for the first few days she could not accept her husband’s decision to go to war, but then on the third day she agreed. When he returned to the capital, he did not even come home, but went straight to the military office. He joined the territorial defense forces. Until mid-April 2022, he defended the capital, and then fought in Kyiv region and held the border with Belarus. On January 18, 2023, Yurii joined the ranks of the «Artan» special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. He had been dreaming about it for a long time. He wanted to prevent young 18-year-old boys from going to war. He fought for the next generations and the future of a free Ukraine, having only a year of service in the army as a young man.
Together with his comrades, he repeatedly performed combat operations behind enemy lines. It was the same on that ill-fated day. On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Yurii and his comrades were on a mission in the temporarily occupied Crimea. When it was 3:58 a.m., Yulia suddenly woke up and felt that something had happened to her beloved. The only thing she could do then was to pray with all her might and believe that he might be wounded, but he was definitely alive, and they would meet soon. But at 12 p.m., when Yurii was supposed to call, he didn`t get in touch… The day after the operation, on Thursday, he was supposed to come home on vacation. He promised to tell his wife everything, even how he got the call sign “Babakh”. Ironically, they did meet on Thursday, but not that day, but on January 25, 2024, at his funeral. All this time, until January 15, he was considered missing until DNA testing was conducted…
At home, his beloved wife and her son, who, although not Yurii’s own, loved him like a son, were waiting for him to the last…
While Yurii was still alive, he was nominated for the Medal for Military Merit, but he couldn`t receive it personally. Posthumously, the Hero also received the DIU’s highest honor, the Star of Glory, and was awarded the Presidential decoration “For Defense of Ukraine”.
In February 2024, the open Thai boxing championship of Poltava region was held, which was dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the «Artan» special unit, including Yurii Balanchuk…