Ukrainian soldier awarded Hero of Ukraine title for spending 343 days at positions without break

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine and the Order of the Gold Star on Captain Oleksii Mykhailov, alias "Botanik" (Nerd).

Source: a decree by Zelenskyy; Brigadier General Pavlo Palisa, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on social media

Details: Mykhailov, a service member from the 3rd Mountain Assault Battalion of the Zakarpattia unit – Ukraine's 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade – stayed in the contact zone for almost a full year without relief – 343 days in total. He arrived at the positions on 1 April 2025 and left on 8 March 2026.

Palisa said: "His combat record includes the Zaporizhzhia front, the defence of positions, some of the most difficult battlefield episodes, and 343 uninterrupted days at the positions. Under his command, the unit held its sector, repelled enemy assaults and retained its positions."

What is known about Oleksii Mykhailov?

Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia (UP.Life) recently told the story of Oleksii, the company commander who spent 343 days at frontline positions without a break.

Oleksii, 37, is from Luhansk Oblast. He received the rank of officer while studying at V.N. Karazin National University in Kharkiv, where he completed military training.

He joined the armed forces at the end of 2020 and later signed a one-year contract that was due to end in June 2022 – but in February, Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine began.

Not a single member of Oleksii's company is a career soldier. They are all former civilians. Yet during the defence of the Orikhiv front they have repelled every Russian assault and held every position.

Oleksii (alias "Botanik") said he had tried to make life at the front easier for his soldiers, as poor living conditions, lack of proper food and the unchanging surroundings put significant psychological pressure on them and can trigger minor conflicts.

"To minimise this, I tried to rotate people – moving them from one position to another," he said. "And it helped."

Two of the soldiers died: one at the position itself (he lay down to have a rest after duty at an observation post and never woke up – his heart stopped), the other immediately after leaving the combat zone (he, too, lay down, on a bed in a village in the contact zone, and never woke up – he died of heart failure). Both were over the age of 50.

"Ideally an infantryman would spend a month in combat and a month recovering in a frontline village. But the way things are at the moment, this is completely unrealistic because we don't have enough people," Botanik complained.

After his combat deployment, Oleksii was granted leave – a "full" 15 days . He was home for his daughter's 10th birthday, and he gave her a bike and taught her how to ride it. Then he went back to his unit.

"I see my primary role as a commander as minimising personnel losses – ideally ensuring there are none at all," Botanik says. "But unfortunately in war, and in the infantry, that's not possible. As for my personal motivation, I don't want my loved ones, my daughter, to see what I see – explosions, bombs, destroyed villages, death. That's why I'm here."

Background: Earlier, Zelenskyy conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine on Oleksandra "Vyrva" Davydenko, a National Guard servicewoman who previously worked as a journalist. She is the first woman in the National Guard to be awarded the title.

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