Taras “Tapik” Ovechko is a fan of the football club “Kryvbas” (Kryvyi Rih), representative of the team “Kryvbas Support Group”.

Taras Anatolyevich Ovechko was born on August 13, 2001 in the city of Kryvyi Rih. He studied at Kryvyi Rih special school “Inspiration”. After its completion, he entered the Kryvyi Rih Professional Mining and Electromechanical Lyceum, and later gained a profession in the Mining and Electromechanical Professional College.

Relatives recall that since childhood Taras was a sincere fan of football, especially the club “Kryvbas”, for which he dreamed of playing. This path was not possible due to a knee injury. He wanted to follow his father and godfather, who also played football. From a young age he attended almost all matches of Kryvbas. As a teenager, he began to practice Thai boxing, loved sports and always maintained good physical shape.

Taras first got into the fan sector in 2016, and at the same time joined the KSG team. At that time, Kryvbas played at the amateur level at the Spartak stadium. The first trips began to be carried out in the region. With the return of Kryvbas to the Second League, he began to travel all over Ukraine. In addition to football, he supported the fan sector of the basketball team BC Kryvbas, and also attended home matches of the national team of Ukraine.

With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, Taras began to defend his native state, although he studied then at the first year of KNU. In the fall of 2023, having passed all the standards, he went to study in the UK to master the basics of military affairs.

After returning to Ukraine, he was trained in Poltava, where he received the specialty of a communicator. After the division, he became an assault officer of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade, which performed combat missions in the Donetsk direction. Despite its young age, “Tapik” had already led an assault group into battle. He also worked on the evacuation, saving the lives of his comrades.

According to the memories of relatives and brothers, during almost every assault Taras suffered injuries, which gradually became noticeable. More and more often he was in the hospital. After numerous injuries, he was transferred to the position of drone operator in Kharkiv direction.

The brothers remember Taras as a purposeful and stubborn man. Even with vision problems or lack of experience, he was able to act through “I can't” and “don't want” because he had to.

Taras Ovechko died on July 7, 2024 while performing a combat mission in the area of the national park. Liptsi (Kharkiv region). In a month he should be 23 years old. He was awarded the Order “For Courage” of the 3rd degree (posthumously), the award of the Executive Committee of the Kryvyi Rih City Council “For Merit to the City” (posthumously).

Eternal glory to the Hero!

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