Biography

He joined Plast on October 22, 2002. He belonged to the Orlany group of the 61st Dr. O. Tysovsky UPY troop, where he served as deputy secretary, group secretary, and clerk. In the troop, he was a troop judge, clerk, and treasurer. His mentor and liaison was Plast Senior Member Y. Leskiv, SM.

Andriy actively spent his youth in Plast—he traveled a lot, camped, and participated in various Plast activities.

In 2008, he became a cadet at the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University in Kharkiv, where he successfully completed his studies in 2012.

He did his military service in Ivano-Frankivsk, as part of the 114th Tactical Aviation Brigade. From 2014, he carried out missions in eastern Ukraine during the ATO and OOS, and was also a flight instructor.

After the full-scale armed invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, he carried out combat missions in eastern and southern Ukraine. Andriy was awarded for exemplary service and shooting down enemy equipment. He flew a MiG-29 fighter jet and had dozens of combat sorties.

Lieutenant Colonel Andriy Tkachenko died on March 8, 2024, while performing another combat mission in the skies near Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, when his plane was hit by an enemy missile.

The funeral took place on March 12, 2024, in Ivano-Frankivsk, where the deceased lived with his family. He was posthumously awarded the Iron Plast Cross No. 168.