Danylo Sushko, a fifth grade student at the Tsiurupynsk (Kherson Oblast) grade school provided an example of patriotism, love of country and support for the Ukrainian army, the Department of Defense press service reports on its website, November 30.
Danylo donated all the money he had received on his birthday — UAH 4,000 — that he had been saving for a bicycle to the volunteers supporting the defense of the country. In his letter to the ATO (Anti-terrorist operation) soldiers Danylo asked them to win this war and to return alive and well.
The local activists of the Oleshkivski Savior civic association added other donations and purchased three bulletproof vests for the ATO soldiers. As became clear later, these very gifts from the young Ukrainian patriot saved the lives of soldiers during enemy fire in the Donetsk Oblast when they were delivering food and equipment to ATO soldiers at the front. They used the body armor to surround the cab of the truck. After the shelling, the vests had a great number of bullet fragments that could have caused irreparable damage to the driver. Thus the patriotic schoolboy saved the life of an ATO soldier.
Representatives of the clergy, volunteers and journalists came to thank the boy for his patriotic deed. The military chaplain, Father Ihor, related the story that the ATO soldiers had told him, gave the boy the photo of the saved driver, and conveyed the soldiers’ profound thanks. It so happens that the driver saved by Danylo’s bulletproof vest is a school bus driver in civilian life who now drives a military truck.
Danylo also was presented with photos of the soldiers in the bulletproof vests that had been purchased with his donation. Danylo said he would continue to support Ukrainian soldiers in the future. “Saving a life is worth much more than this money. I am very happy that my support saved a human life,” he said.
