Before the war, Sergeant Petrychenko was a project manager, a participant in public initiatives, and an organizer of actions against the arbitrariness of law enforcement officers.
Friends and acquaintances tell what he was like.
"Straightforward and honest. He said that what we really want is a very simple thing - that the people here, finally, get a dignified life. That people have a right to dignity and happiness after all this. That Putin is absolute evil. You can't obey him, you can't negotiate with him," says Kostyantyn Batozskyi, a political scientist and head of the NGO "Development of the Azov Region".
They were friends with Pavel for many years. Together they organized the actions "Who ordered Katya Handzyuk", worked at the Serhiy Prytula fund.
"Pasha was one of those who helped me in 1.5 months to bring this fund from the status of "3 people" to the status of "institutional capacity", says Serhiy Prytula about Pavel's abilities.
In March 2022, he was still working on volunteer projects, and in April 2022 he joined the Armed Forces.
"I wanted to join the ZSU at the beginning of February. I didn't want to volunteer, frankly... I didn't fight from 2014 to 2022, and there was some moral conviction that now is my time to go to war," Pavlo said in an interview with lb.ua
Petrychenko fought as part of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade. Liberated Kherson Region, then defended Donbas.
If it weren't for the war, he said in 2022, he would never have become a soldier.
"I am 30 years old, I have a higher education - not a military one, and starting now in the army as a simple soldier, following orders, even correct ones, would not satisfy me. But now there is a war, and we must fight, follow orders, do a common cause. Civilians should join the army and learn what the military can do. Because we don't have hundreds of thousands of military personnel," Pavlo said.
Pavlo served in air reconnaissance. He knew how to fly various drones. He scouted the positions of the Russians, monitored the movement of equipment, helped to aim the artillery at the concentration of troops.
"He was modest. He did not talk about his successes on the battlefield for a long time. Others spoke for him. About the destroyed equipment personally or by directing artillery, about how he pulled out the wounded, how he looked for pilots from our downed "dryer", Prytula tells.
Petrychenko said that Ukraine collapsed the Soviet Union and believed that it would also collapse the Russian Federation.
"But it will still give us respite only for a while. Because we have been at war with Russia for a thousand years, and it is unlikely to stop. During the time that we have, we must build a strong state in order to continue to effectively fight them."
I believed that this "respite" would be short, 50 years.
"So that I would grow old, die, and then someone else would do it," he told lb.ua in 2022.
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Actions in defense of Sternenko and "Who ordered Katya Handzyuk"
Pavlo Petrychenko was born on April 16, 1992. Lived in Kyiv.
One of the first actions in which he participated was a protest in 2013 against the opening of a Russian-language school and a Russian cultural center on its basis on the left bank in the capital. At that time, Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk wanted to open such a school called "Kyivska Rus".
Pavlo collected more than two thousand signatures, organized protests and the Kyiv authorities changed their mind to make the school Russian-language.
"The most important actions and events in Ukraine took place with the participation or initiative of Pavel. Actions regarding the murder of Kateryna Handzyuk, actions against the arbitrariness of the police," says Deputy Natalya Pipa.
Pavlo took an active part in the Maidan, in actions in defense of Serhiy Sternenko, he was one of the founders of the initiative "Who ordered Katya Handzyuk", where they demanded to find and punish the orderers and killers of the activist. He often visited Kherson.
"Kata's murder is one of the stepping stones to what happened next. Katya was an anti-Russian politician, she understood that there is a Russian threat, that the government in Kherson is weak, corrupt, and has a lot of traitors. And in the end, what happened happened," Pavlo said about Kherson and Handziuk.
Ivan Antipenko, a journalist from Kherson, met Pavel during the campaign "Who ordered Katya Handzyuk". They were both friends of Katya.
"He was a sincere and honest person, with a wonderful sense of humor. Sharp, intelligent, shrewd. He always had his own opinion. I am very grateful to him for everything he did. These people gave everything. Many beautiful people died so that we could live," says Ivan Antipenko.
The journalist recorded an interview with Pavlo Petrichenko in 2022.
"He said in an interview then that we have such an enemy who simply wants us to not exist. We have to press them, and they will crumble," says Antipenko. And he also remembers how on August 24, 2022, in front-line Mykolaiv, Pavlo Petrychenko told him that Kherson would be Ukrainian.
"Today in Kherson, Ukraine, I thank you for your service, thank you for your protection, for your sincerity and courage. Heroes die, but their memory will live forever," says Ivan Antipenko.
Fighting online casinos
At the end of March 2024, Pavlo Petrychenko drew attention to gambling addiction among the military. He gave many interviews about the problem of gambling addiction.
"Militarymen find themselves in stressful conditions, in a difficult situation - war, shelling, battles. And the phone becomes the only solace, quick access to entertainment that can be addictive. They also get into debt. Many families face this," Pavlo Petrychenko said on the air of the "Edyni Novyni" telethon.
He authored a petition calling for a ban on gambling and online casino access for military personnel during martial law.
In one day, the petition gathered the required number of signatures. Whether the authorities will do something about the problem of online casinos is still unknown.
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"We will never recover from this loss"
"Pasha was the personification of a person who is not afraid to take responsibility. Who fights for justice. Who loves her country and does not deviate from her principles. We will never recover from this loss," recalls Pavla Serhiy Prytula.
April 16 is Pavlo Petrychenko's birthday. He should have turned 32 years old.
Pavel's friend Kostyantyn Batozsky dedicated a short post to him, telling how cheerful and brave he was, how he loved cars and always had many business ideas.
"Two years in a row, being alone with grief, we still do not know what to write, say, remember. Our protocols are weak and unreliable. Words have lost weight. I just posted about losing a friend yesterday. And today is his birthday. He is 32. I will be 44, and I still ask him how I should continue to live," wrote Kostyantyn Batozskyi.
