Recently, the Tournament in Memory of Border Guard Vasyl Poliakov started at the Main Training Center for the State Border Guard Service.

Recently, the Tournament in Memory of Border Guard Vasyl Poliakov started at the Main Training Center for the State Border Guard Service.

At the opening of the tournament, the Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Sergii Serdiuk made a point that, the tournament became an international one, the partners from NATO joined. Major General Serdiuk, noted that in this competition special-purpose servicemen should demonstrate their endurance, the ability to make personal decisions and act as a team. He wished the participants an interesting competition.

Nineteen teams from three countries take part in the international competitions organized by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Among the participants are representatives of KORD and TOR special units of the National Police of Ukraine, Alpha of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service, as well as special units of the Republics of Lithuania and Latvia. The Border Guard Agency of Ukraine is represented by the teams of the DOZOR detachment, rapid response border commands and C-type BG divisions.

On the first day of the competition, the participants overcame the “reinforced obstacle course”. The length of the strip is 1600 meters of rough terrain, where you have to overcome 14 tests with the movement of heavy objects, overcoming various obstacles in the swamp, sand etc. The best result on this lane was shown by the team of the DOZOR, which overcame the distance with all the tests in 16 minutes 29 seconds.

But the results in these competitions are not the main thing, said the head of the DOZOR detachment Maksym Balahura. ‘One of the main moments is to honor the memory of our serviceman,’ said Colonel Balahura, and reminded that the cup is traditionally presented to the winners by Vasyl Polyakov's parents and family.

It will be recalled that Vasyl Polyakov is a fighter of the DOZOR detachment, who died heroically in the war with the Russian occupiers near Dovzhansky. On July 11, 2014, border guards came to the aid of servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose BCP was fired upon by terrorists. Sergeant Vasyl Polyakov, a 23-year-old soldier from Odesa, was the first to jump out from the armored fighting vehicle to help the wounded. It turned out that he no longer needed help, and Vasily decided to at least take the body. At that moment, an armored fighting vehicle was fired a shot from a manned antitank rocket (MAR), which took the life of 29-year-old senior sergeant Anatoliy Lutsk. Vasyl Polyakov tried to get to the second armoured vehicle, but this attempt was interrupted by an enemy shot that hit the defender of Ukraine in the back of the head.