Five-day tournament among Border Guard Response Units which was dedicated to the memory of staff sergeant Vasyl Poliakov came to an end.

Yesterday on 15^th of November, a five-day tournament among response units dedicated to staff sergeant Vasyl Poliakov which took place at the training center of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, in Cherkasy, came to an end.

Member of Separate Operational Response Detachment, staff sergeant Vasyl Poliakov died heroically while defence of border crossing point «Dovzhanskyi» on 11^th of July 2014.

That day border guards received on an urgent request from Ukrainian Armed Forces unit which defended the area near Dovzhanskiy border crossing point, to evacuate seriously injured serviceman. APC under the command of staff sergeant Vasyl Poliakov went after injured man despite the continued artillery shelling. Being under heavy fire Vasyl left armoured personnel carrier and ran forward to save an injured soldier. Enemy noticed the effort of evacuation and redirected fire at our APC. Tragically, one of thousands bullets took the life of staff sergeant Poliakov.

For personal courage and heroism, manifested during the protection of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Poliakov Vasyl was posthumously awarded the Order of the President of Ukraine «For Courage».

18 teams took part in military-sports competition from all Border Guard special units. Vasyl's parents were honoured guests at this event and awarded the winners with the сup and memorable awards.

The Head of personnel training department Oleh Fihura congratulated the participants of the competition and noted: «These types of competition give an opportunity for border guards to obtain useful skills. The greatest victory is a self-conquest».

A delegation from the USA Embassy to Ukraine also visited the tournament.

«We really appreciate our cooperation with State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and, actually, with special unit «DOZOR». We are glad, that detachment is continuously improved and modernized», - Chief of unit Stefani Holms noted.

«Colleagues! During the tournament, you proved that in front of me standing the best - elite of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine! Each of you showed incredible spirit and endurance, honored Vasyl Poliakov and those Ukrainians who laid down for the independence. During the competition you had a unique opportunity to make a crash-test of your personality and physical abilities. And what is the most important, share valuable experience with your comrades. This competition is a great contribution to special units’ personnel selection. Therefore, I will be glad to see each of you in future while sсreening and later as a part of rapid response detachment », - Head of separate rapid response detachment colonel Maksym Balahura pointed out.