Serhiy Shvachko is an officer, who has served in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since he was 17. In the summer of 2014, Shvachko was the communications chief for the 51st Separate Mechanized Brigade.
In August of that year, he was tasked with restoring Ukrainian control to Ilovaisk. Ukrainian soldiers had been storming the city on a daily basis since the start of the month and, on August 18, after the Donbas battalion’s arrival, Ukrainian units captured half of Ilovaisk territory, up to the train station.
