“Flight of Galas. A tattoo artist from Kyiv took part in the secret mission of Azov in Mariupol and died during the breakthrough to Azovstal on September 28, 10:45 a.m. Share: Andriy Mishchenko against the background of burning Mariupol (Photo: Illustrator Yulia Osyk) 22-year-old Andriy Mishchenko (call sign Galas) laid down in Mariupol on April 17, 2022. In March, he flew with his brothers to a city surrounded by Russian troops. He was one of the participants of a secret special operation.”, — write on: ua.news
Andriy Mishchenko against the background of burning Mariupol (Photo: Illustrator Yulia Osyka)
22-year-old Andriy Mishchenko (callsign Galas) died in Mariupol on April 17, 2022. In March, he flew with his brothers to a city surrounded by Russian troops. He was one of the participants of a secret special operation. It was possible to find the defender’s body and bury it thanks to the efforts of his mother and ex-girlfriend.
The text about the hero was prepared by the Memorial platform together with the Heart of Azovstal project. All stories from the cycle “Mission — Mariupol” can be read in a separate special project.
Author: Kateryna Moskalyuk
“I didn’t know that Andrii would go to Mariupol”
“My sons, Nikita and Andriy, were mobilized on the first day of the full-scale war. I did not refuse them, no matter how much it hurt me. I always respected their decisions. However, I did not know that Andriy would go to Mariupol,” recalls Yuliya Mishchenko.
Yuliya is the founder of a charitable foundation, masseur and rehabilitation specialist. On February 23, 2022, she stayed late at work. Her office was in a new neighborhood of Kyiv, right near Buchi, and she decided to spend the night there. On the morning of the 24th, Andrii asked his mother not to go home. Their apartment was in Akademmistechko, at that time there were already explosions. Julia went to see her friend. There was no contact with my sons for three days.
On the fourth, Andriy called and told that he and his brother were enrolled in Azov. Nikita’s eldest son is a professional soldier. He graduated from the Ivan Bohun Kyiv Military Lyceum, fought since 2014. Andriy served one contract at his own will, and then worked in a tattoo parlor. This was his greatest passion, work and, at the same time, his life’s work – until the start of a full-scale war.
“My sons always felt sorry for me, tried to limit my excitement and did not tell me details about the war. They only said that they were alive and healthy, they asked not to worry,” says Yulia.
At the end of March 2022, Andriy Mishchenko, who had the call sign Galas, together with other volunteers flew to Mariupol, surrounded by the Russian military. Yulia found out that her son was there on April 7. She often called Andriy before that, but only heard on the receiver that the caller was out of range. Then she asked Nikita what was happening. He said: “Mom, Andriy is in Mariupol.”
The younger son recruited Yulia from the occupied city only three times.
“We didn’t speak even for a minute. Just a few words. I tried to ask him about the conditions, about the news. He never told me anything about himself. He just said: “Mom, don’t worry. Everything is fine!” This is our entire conversation,” says Yulia.
“Mom, just don’t cry”
Julia remembers very well the last meeting with Andrii. It was at the end of March, after the sweep of Buchi. Andriy has already decided that he will go to Mariupol, he managed to escape to his mother for a short time.
“Back then, he and I hugged so tightly… If I had known that this was the last time…” says the woman.
On April 12, 2022, Andriy was last able to get in touch. Julia recalls that her son’s voice was very sad.
“Andriy said: “I love you. If something happens to me, please don’t cry.” I try not to cry, but I can’t,” laments the mother.
On April 17, the eldest son sent Yulia a message: “Mom, Andrii is dead.”
Already after the funeral, she learned more details. The boys from Azov were gathered and informed about the upcoming special operation. Participation was voluntary. Nikita, who already had war experience, understood that, most likely, this was a one-way ticket. He dissuaded Andrii.
“Nikita said that the boys were gone when he woke up in the morning. Andriy flew with them,” says Yulia. She had no idea that her son was a scout, a stormtrooper and participated in a highly classified operation.
Andriy was buried on August 1, 2022 in the village of Baryshivka near Kyiv. His family is from there. The hero was met by a four-kilometer living corridor – people were kneeling and lighting lamps.
Together with Andrii’s mother and grandmother was his ex-girlfriend Sasha. She helped find the soldier’s body.
“He was in a great hurry to live”
Sasha met Andrii in February 2020 through a dating app. She lived in Mariupol, in 2013 she went to serve in the not yet reformed judicial police. She worked in a special battalion for the protection of judges, had many business trips in the Donetsk region. Andrii was serving near Volnovakha at that time.
“Andriy and I called, and our communication went very well. I’m a policewoman, he’s a military man, I have a lot of tattoos, and he did tattoos. We had many common topics to discuss. That’s how we talked about a relationship,” recalls Sasha with a smile.
Andriy appreciated people’s sense of humor and cooked very deliciously.
“Once we had a minor conflict. After him, I returned home, and he prepared me soup, pancakes with chocolate paste. We even watched the Desperate Housewives series with him,” says Sasha.
She met Andrii for more than half a year.
“The first thing I remember about Galas is how he easily lifted my 20-kilogram dog, says Sasha. – Once Andrii opened the gate – and the dog ran out into the street. He followed him and brought him in his arms. Andriy loved animals very much.”
Andriy wanted to have a family. I dreamed of my own tattoo parlor. He drew beautifully and embodied his talent in tattoos.
“Tattooing is both a hobby and a source of income for Andrii. He once drew a portrait of my sister with a simple pencil. He had the ability and desire to create something beautiful,” recalls Sasha.
They broke up with Andrii, but remained friends. Resting tku corresponded, but in 2021 they hardly communicated. So Sasha was surprised when she saw a message from him on March 15, 2022.
“He was young, in a hurry to live. He wanted to try everything, he wanted to do everything. Boys like him flew to Mariupol in helicopters, she says. — When he fired Gostomel, he sent a photo with a sheepdog. He said that he had given her to a shelter, but would take her back when he returned from Mariupol. I’m sorry I didn’t ask more about the shelter, otherwise I would have definitely taken the dog from there.”
“I believed that it would be possible to break through the blockade”
Sasha was able to read the message from Andrii the next day — March 16, when she finally found herself on the territory controlled by Ukraine. Before that I was in Mariupol. She served in the National Guard, where she transferred in 2020.
“I tell him: what is Mariupol? There is simply hell! The Russians aren’t shooting from underground there yet. And he tells me that he will fly with the boys by helicopter, – says Sasha. — In general, it all seemed like a joke to me. To get out of Mariupol to Berdyansk, we passed 25 roadblocks. I saw so much Russian military equipment. I imagine how much was still hidden there. It’s not like a helicopter, a fly won’t fly there.”
Sasha did not believe until the last that the Ukrainian military would be able to break into Mariupol. On the other hand, Andrii perceived the mission very optimistically.
“He said that they would break through the blockade. That they have good weapons and supplies. Young, hot… He just had no idea what was going on there. No one imagined,” says the servicewoman.
Until March 25, when the secret mission in Mariupol began, she communicated with Andrii every day. Then he sent word that they were departing.
Andriy went to Mariupol as a commander, there were 15 people under his leadership.
After some time, Sasha received a video from him, where he and his brothers go on a boat against the background of the pipes of the Azovstal plant. The boys managed to reach Mariupol, it was the first such operation. Helicopters brought medicines, food, weapons and took away the wounded.
“I found out later that some of my colleagues were taken out in this way. They are alive thanks to people like Andriy,” says Sasha.
Galas texted and called his mom and Sasha when he was around Starlink.
“At first, everything was positive, adrenaline and drive. He said that everything is fine, – says Sasha. – Then he had to hide civilians, the first three hundred were among his brothers. His moral decline began. He contacted less and less. I told him to advance to Azovstal, to his people.”
On the night of April 15, Andriy wrote to Sasha for the last time. She thought he had died that day as the boys had gone on a breakout that day. Later it turned out that he survived, but on April 17 there was another assault, during which many Ukrainian soldiers died, and Andriy was among them.
Recognized thanks to tattoos
When Yulia found out about Andrii’s death, she immediately called Azov’s patronage service. There, she was initially told that her son was considered missing. Only then did they confirm the fact of death.
Yulia Mishchenko began looking for opportunities to return her son’s body from occupied Mariupol. Fortunately, Sasha wrote to her. Her acquaintances remained in Mariupol. The girl asked them to find out about the place of death. A sunken Ukrainian armored personnel carrier was discovered in the Kalmius River, which was breaking through to Azovstal. In May, the Russians raised an Azov combat vehicle and filmed a propaganda video about it. The bodies of the soldiers who were in the APC were sent for exchange.
Yulia sent photos of Andrii to all Ukrainian morgues. Sasha also joined the search, communicated with the relatives of the soldiers killed in Mariupol.
“A girl who was looking for her husband’s body accidentally saw Galas in one of the Kyiv morgues. She sent me a picture of her arm with the tattoo. The picture was very blurry because the body had been in the water for a long time, but I recognized it right away. I called his mother – and we went together for identification,” says Sasha.
Andrii was recognized thanks to tattoos: a wolf from the series The Witcher on one hand, a rose on the other, the inscription Hardcore on the fingers and Bart Simpson on the leg. The defense’s father also came to the procedure. However, he never approached the body. He was not sure that it was his son, after the funeral he even asked for an exhumation.
Thanks to the patronage service, Azov Andrii was able to be buried on the day of recognition – August 1, 2022.
Julia collected most of the documents about her son’s service on her own.
“I did not work for half a year. I stood at the gates of the unit for several hours for someone to come out to me, – the woman recalls. – When they left, they didn’t even tell him his rank. All information about Andrii is classified.”
Andriy Mishchenko was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage III degree. On the president’s website, there is a petition to award him the title of Hero of Ukraine for the defense of Mariupol. The petition has collected more than 26,000 votes and is under review.
After the death of his younger brother, Nikita was demobilized. This decision was very difficult for him, says his mother: “I once got a photo of him with Andrii and his siblings. Of all those in this photo, only Nikita is alive.”