1992–2024
Pavlo Petrychenko
Civic activist and aerial scout
His petition against online casinos won more than 25,000 signatures in under a day. Pavlo Petrychenko, a Kyiv activist and Euromaidan participant, served from 2022 as an aerial scout in the 59th Brigade. Killed in 2024; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
Key accomplishments
- Took part in the Euromaidan and was one of the founders of the “Who Ordered Katia Handziuk?” movement; organized rallies in support of the activist Serhii Sternenko
- Built up Serhiy Prytula’s volunteer center in Kyiv (2022)
- From April 2022, an aerial reconnaissance specialist in the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk, later commander of a drone squad
- Author of a petition to restrict online casinos (2024) that gathered more than 25,000 signatures in under a day
- Order for Courage, 3rd class (2023); Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star (posthumously, 2025)
25,000 signatures in a day
At the end of March 2024 the aerial scout Pavlo Petrychenko started a petition on the website of the President’s Office to restrict online casinos. He was convinced that online gambling was doing great harm to society, and to soldiers in particular. In under a day more than 25,000 people signed it.
An activist from Kyiv
Pavlo was born in Kyiv in 1992 and graduated from the Kyiv Economic University. He was an active participant in the Euromaidan, one of the founders of the “Who Ordered Katia Handziuk?” movement, and organized rallies in support of the activist Serhii Sternenko. He worked as a project manager, and in March 2022 he helped build up Serhiy Prytula’s volunteer center.
Eyes in the sky
In April 2022 Pavlo was mobilized into the Armed Forces. He served as an aerial scout in the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk: flying drones, he spotted enemy equipment and troops and adjusted artillery fire. He helped liberate the Kherson region, defended the Donbas, and later became commander of a drone squad. In 2023 he was awarded the Order for Courage, 3rd class.
Pavlo Petrychenko was killed on 15 April 2024 near Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region, a day before his 32nd birthday.
How he is remembered
Pavlo was buried at Askold’s Grave in Kyiv. In 2025 he was posthumously made a Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star, and in the capital’s Darnytskyi district Volgo-Donska Street was renamed Pavla Petrychenka Street.
