Probably, many people remembered the little girl Anya in an army blue beret, who danced at the head of the column of the Airborne Assault Forces of Ukraine at the Independence Day Parade in 2020. Then her father, Ruslan Borovyk with the call sign "Baghdad", walked in those ranks.
The life path of this courageous and hardened man was extremely rich, bright, and real. Ruslan twice served in peacekeeping missions in Iraq (hence his call sign), an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity. When the war began in 2014, he told his wife Liudmyla that he must definitely defend the country, knocked on the thresholds of the military registration and enlistment office every day, nervous because of refusals.
He began his service in the ATO zone in November as a grenadier soldier, junior sergeant, squad commander and deputy platoon commander of the 1st company of the 90th Separate Airmobile Battalion of the 81st Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Highly Mobile Landing Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He received his baptism of fire in the village of Pisky, from where the unit entered the new terminal of the Donetsk airport. Ruslan told his wife that there were fierce battles, losses every day, the frost was fierce, they were fighting on adrenaline, there was no food and they didn’t want it, and they were drinking water by melting ice.
“Baghdad” was wounded during the assault on enemy sniper positions in a monastery near the airport. The paratroopers were supposed to hold out until morning, thereby distracting the enemy’s main forces from the terminal. Six of our soldiers fought in the middle of the field, but because of dense mortar fire, they had to retreat. It was then that a machine gun bullet caught up with Ruslan.
Borovyk took photographs throughout his time at the front. Already in the hospital in Kyiv, he met a volunteer who advised him to publish a book-album about the hellish battles for the airport. Then, in 2015, a collection of his photographs, “DAP,” was published. Later, his personal exhibition was held in the building of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, and then, in June 2020, the photographs were presented at the photo exhibition “Heroic Defense of Donetsk Airport (2014–2015)” in the National News Agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform). These unique images depict indomitable men, who would later be called “cyborgs”.
Ruslan Borovyk was awarded the Order “For Courage” of the third class (2016), the breastplate “For Military Valor” and “For the Defense of Donetsk Airport”.
Since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion, he has returned to the ranks of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The platoon commander of the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade, Ruslan Borovyk, was killed on April 30, 2022, in a fierce battle near the city of Izium, Kharkiv region. He was awarded the medal “For Military Service to Ukraine” and the Order “For Courage” of the second class (posthumously).