b. 1976
Oleksandr Trepak
Special forces officer “Redut”, Hero
Why were the defenders of Donetsk airport called “cyborgs”? Because of people like him. In autumn 2014 special forces colonel Oleksandr Trepak, call sign “Redut”, led the airport’s defense and beat back every assault. Hero of Ukraine (2015), later commander of the Special Operations Forces.
Key accomplishments
- From 2008, commander of a detachment of the 3rd Separate Special Forces Regiment in Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi)
- On 7 June 2014, near Artemivsk (now Bakhmut), seized a militant checkpoint with eight men and held a corridor for three hours to evacuate a wounded commander; shot in the leg, he refused to be evacuated
- From 27 August to 3 October 2014, senior commander of the defense of Donetsk airport
- Hero of Ukraine with the Gold Star order (decree No. 74/2015 of 12 February 2015)
- Commander of the 3rd Special Forces Regiment (2016–2020); from May 2024, commander of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces; major general (2024)
Where the “cyborgs” came from
The defenders of Donetsk airport began to be called “cyborgs” in autumn 2014: they held the airfield under constant shelling and assault. The nickname is linked to deeds like those of the soldiers under Colonel Oleksandr Trepak.
Trepak was born in 1976 in Vinnytsia. He trained at the Odesa Institute of Ground Forces and served in intelligence: military, signals and information. From 2008 he commanded a detachment of the 3rd Separate Special Forces Regiment in Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). His call sign is “Redut”, a redoubt.
The checkpoint near Artemivsk
Lieutenant Colonel Trepak went east in spring 2014. On 7 June, near Artemivsk (now Bakhmut), his group was searching for the badly wounded commander of a local armor depot. Trepak and eight men seized a militant checkpoint at the entrance to the town and held it for three hours, so the others could get the wounded man to a helicopter. Trepak was shot in the leg but refused to be evacuated, and for two more days led the defense of an artillery base in the village of Paraskoviivka.
In charge at the airport
After hospital, from 27 August to 3 October 2014, Trepak was the senior commander of the defense of Donetsk airport. He led the defense against every attempt to storm it and set up patrols against saboteurs and ambushes around the airfield, so the defenders would not be cut off from food and ammunition.
On 12 February 2015 Colonel Trepak was made a Hero of Ukraine with the Gold Star order.
What came next
Trepak went back to command his own 3rd Special Forces Regiment (2016–2020), and in 2017 he graduated from the National Defence University of Ukraine, where a stele now bears his name. At the end of 2020 he became chief of staff of the Special Operations Forces, and in May 2024 he took command of them. The same year he was promoted to major general.
Why it matters today
The defense of Donetsk airport became one of the symbols of the war that began in 2014, and the word “cyborg” has since come to mean a defender who cannot be broken. Oleksandr Trepak is one of the people it started with. He showed what a commander can be: wounded, he does not leave his people, and he gives the credit to his soldiers: “I am nothing without my guys.” With that experience, in 2024 he took command of the Special Operations Forces.
