“…in Those Difficult Days of February 2022, the Okhtyrka Community Was So United That You Can’t Even Imagine!”

Interview With the Hero of Ukraine Colonel D. Dykyi about the Defense of Okhtyrka (February 24 — March 27, 2022) (record and publication by O. Fyl)

Abstract

The purpose is to expand the available source base of evidence about the defense of the city of Okhtyrka in the period from February 24 to March 27, 2022 by conducting an interview with the Hero of Ukraine, the commander of the 91st Separate Okhtyrka Support Regiment colonel D. Dykyi.

The main method used is interviewing the respondent following a previously developed questionnaire.

The scientific novelty consists in the introduction into scientific circulation of the testimony of the commandant of the city of Okhtyrka, which allows us to follow the process of fortification and preparation of the city for defense, as well as the role of troops and volunteer assistants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in protecting the city from the vanguards of the invading Russian army.

Conclusions. The conducted interview became an important component of the source base of oral history evidence that can be used by domestic and foreign historians to study the features of the first stage of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in general and the defense of the city of Okhtyrka in particular.