Lviv Oblast bids farewell to Mi-24 crew killed during combat mission in December

On 18 February, Lviv Oblast bid farewell to servicemen from the 12th Brigadier General Viktor Pavlenko Separate Army Aviation Brigade who were on board a Mi-24 helicopter that crashed during a combat mission on 17 December 2025.

Source: Lviv Oblast Military Administration on Facebook

Details: The following servicemen were killed while carrying out the combat mission:

• Oleksandr Shemet, 55, born in Chernihiv Oblast, chief of air weapons and tactics. A Hero of Ukraine awarded the Order of the Golden Star, he was also decorated with the Order of Danylo Halytskyi and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 3rd Class. Shemet was laid to rest in Lviv.

• Dmytro Popadiuk, 28, flight engineer of a helicopter unit of a helicopter squadron. He was awarded the Order for Courage, 3rd Class. He was buried in Kalyniv, his home village in the Sambir district.

• Ihor Tohanchyn, 56, helicopter weapons systems operator of a helicopter unit of a helicopter squadron. He was buried in the village of Kornalovychi in the Sambir district.

• Yaroslav Sachyk, 25, born in Lutsk, flight navigator of a helicopter unit of a helicopter squadron. He was awarded the Order for Courage, 3rd Class. He will be laid to rest on 19 February in his home city.

Background:

• On 18 December, the press service for the 12th Separate Army Aviation Brigade reported that an Mi-24 helicopter crew had been killed while conducting a combat mission. The brigade described the incident as an irreparable loss for Ukraine's aviation and the country, but did not disclose the names of the fallen or details of the crash.
• Later, it was reported that the crew commander of the Mi-24 helicopter was Oleksandr Shemet. It was he who carried out the last successful aerial breakthrough to the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol in April 2022.

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