At a venerable age, he stood up to defend Ukraine. During a missile attack on Kharkiv, 71-year-old Volodymyr Hradusov was killed.
He was born on 20 April 1950 and has devoted his life to sports. Volodymyr Hradusov is a well-known and highly respected person in the sports community, a professor at the Department of Olympic and Professional Sports of the Kharkiv State Academy of Physical Culture. The department, where he worked, was founded in 1995. During all this time, Volodymyr headed it twice: from 2005 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2013.
He devoted a huge part of his life, 40 years, to practical work in the field of physical education and sports – from 1982 to 2022. He was happy to share his experience with young colleagues and pass on his knowledge at the advanced training courses for coaches in Donetsk region. He was also a judge and member of the Court of Appeal of the Automobile Federation of Ukraine.
On 24 February 2022, when the Russian full-scale invasion began, Volodymyr Hradusov was 71 years old, but this did not stop him from defending his hometown and Ukraine. He voluntarily joined the territorial defence forces of Kharkiv. From the first days of the offensive, the city was under fire, and the air raid alerts were almost unceasing. According to a rough estimate, Kharkiv region ranks second among all regions of Ukraine in terms of the number of alerts.
On 1 March 2022, the invaders attacked the city centre. The occupiers partially destroyed the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building with two missiles. At the time, there were fighters of the territorial defence forces, soldiers and volunteers. Unfortunately, the attack killed 31 people, including Volodymyr Hradusov…