Eduard Nezhenets was a man with a big heart who loved his family and Ukraine more than anything else.

These were the only two passions in his life – his beloved wife with a little daughter and devoted military service to his Motherland. And it was difficult for him to find a compromise between these two passions.

Eduard was born in the village of Vysokopillia in Kherson region; he was born into a large family with three brothers and a beautiful sister.

His father passed away early and his mother was seriously and frequently ill, so Eduard actually had to raise his younger brothers and sister. Since he was a teenager, he has been looking for part-time jobs to literally feed his family.

After graduating with a degree in economics and being employed at several jobs, Eduard joined the Ukrainian army as a volunteer in 2014.

In 2015, he managed to fulfil his plans and join the Ukrainian Marine Corps unit in Mykolaiv. It was the unit that in a few years would find a shelter in the Azovstal fortress.

Eduard met his wife in 2016, when he was on military service in Mariupol.

After his marriage, he entered the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy in Lviv in 2017, and the family moved to Lviv, where his cherished daughter Milana was born.

During his military service, he managed to visit ATO combat zone in Donetsk sector, served near Chernihiv, and when the full-scale invasion of 2022 happened  Eduard was in Lviv region.

Lieutenant Eduard Nezhenets trained new recruits at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre. He admired the way military affairs were improving in Ukraine and was able to pass on his enthusiasm of this craft to the younger soldiers.

 

On the fateful 13 March 2022, four Russian missiles hit the territory of the training ground, and Eduard’s body, like many other soldiers who were there at the time, was found under the debris only in the evening.

Since then, the life of his wife Yulia has been divided into ‘before’ and ‘after’.

Not a single day passes without tears, and even a year after his death, Yulia still wonders if it was a terrible mistake or a nightmare.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a nightmare, and the terrorist country is viciously and ruthlessly killing Ukrainians every day, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are doing their best to stop the invader at the cost of their own lives.

His wife Yulia aimed to preserve the memory of her husband, a lieutenant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose life’s goal was to defend his homeland, and who gave his life for it.

This daily pain – it tortures me, it does not let me forget about it even for a day, but I know that I have to live for the sake of our daughter, who Eduard adored so much that he tried so hard to protect her from Russian occupants who came to our house!

Even dead, he is more valuable than millions of them alive (russians)!

He lived his life with dignity, honour and love for his family and Motherland, says his wife Yulia.

Lieutenant Eduard Nezhenets is buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery next to his comrades-in-arms.

Awards received: 
Badge «ATO Participant»
Badge «War Veteran – Combatant»
Medal «For Defence of the Motherland»
Order «Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Cross» (posthumously)