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Maksym Vasylyshyn

Padzhero” — “Pajero”

9 November 2003, Lviv – 18 June 2022, village of Virnopillia, Izium Raion, Kharkiv OblastUAL Kyiv, 2020–2021

“He hurried to live, as if he sensed — oh, how little time he had been given — yet he still had so many ideas and plans to bring to life…” says his father, Roman.

Eighteen is when life is just beginning — so many decisions still ahead — but every beautiful story has its “but,” especially when your neighbor is a terrorist.

Maksym finished secondary school at the Lviv Military Lyceum named after the Heroes of Kruty (2019–2020), then studied at UAL. He never had time to complete higher education. On February 27, as a first-year student at the Lviv University of Trade and Economics, he left to defend the capital with the Azov Special Purpose Detachment.

“If we don’t defend Kyiv, we lose Ukraine.”

In just under four months of service, he changed his specialty (to UAVs), his position, and his brigade (transferring to the 93rd “Kholodnyi Yar”). At first, they didn’t want to send him east because of his age; his comrades recall he sat outside headquarters for a week, insisting.

In another world, that energy and grit would have gone elsewhere. Maksym never put down books on entrepreneurship; he burned for his craft and dreamed of building his own business empire.

Back in school, he repaired phones and laptops and ran ads. During the lockdown in Lviv, he sold over two hundred bicycles in a single month.

He found parts suppliers and was planning to manufacture electric scooters; he also sold used cars. His call sign was “Padzhero” (“Pajero”) after the vehicle he and his friends bought for the Azov Regiment. His next passion was construction. He hired crews himself, got to know developers, and in January 2022 opened his first office.

How much more he might have done — were it not for the russians. Even at the front, between battles, he kept sketching business plans, reading, and learning. He often said: “If you live a year and end up in the same place, that year was wasted.”

“I want every Ukrainian to know we can do anything if we strive for it. I want Ukrainians to be the standard others look up to,” Maksym said.

A volunteer initiative supporting defenders within the Ukrainian Leadership Academy community.

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A volunteer initiative supporting defenders within the Ukrainian Leadership Academy community.

moc.liamg%40mroftalpkytod

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