Ukrainian soldier from iconic bicycle-versus-tanks photo killed in action
A Ukrainian marine unit commander known by the call sign Bortsukha, who became famous in an iconic photo cycling toward Russian armored columns in the war's early days, has been killed in an airstrike, journalist Yuriy Butusov reported.
Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov announced on Facebook that a soldier known by the call sign Bortsukha (also called Borets by fellow fighters) was killed several days ago in an airstrike while serving as commander of a marine unit. The journalist did not disclose the exact location of his death or his surname.
Bortsukha became widely known after a photograph taken in the first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022. It shows him, then a member of the "Tengri" sniper group under Ukraine's Defense Ministry Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), riding a bicycle across a bridge toward Irpin, carrying an RPG-7 launcher and three rounds, heading to confront Russian armored columns advancing toward Hostomel, Irpin and Bucha. The photo was taken by fellow "Tengri" volunteer soldier Volodymyr Mironiuk.
Symbolic resistance
Butusov wrote that chaos and panic reigned at the time, with people fleeing and abandoning their cars, yet some chose to face the threat head-on — bicycles and grenade launchers against tanks, aircraft and ballistic missiles. According to the journalist, the will and mass heroism of such people changed the course of the battle, and of history, in Ukraine's favor.
The sniper group's commander, known by the call sign Tengri, gathered experienced veterans of the Donbas war and led them into the fight for Kyiv in the invasion's earliest days. Butusov described Bortsukha as one of the best soldiers of this war — strong, active, always ready to fight, and someone who inspired others through his own example.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued since February 24, 2022, while its war against Ukraine has lasted since 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea and launched fighting in the Donbas region.
