Tetiana Rychkova

Tetiana Rychkova was born on October 7, 1978, in Dnipro. In 2000, she graduated from the National Metallurgical Academy with a degree in "enterprise economist-financier" and began working as a private entrepreneur. In 2013, she opened a bakery.[2]

In 2000, she married neurophysicist Vadym Rychkov. During the Revolution of Dignity, he became an activist of the Maidan, and from there in March 2014 he volunteered for the 25th Airborne Brigade stationed in Hvardiyske, Dnipropetrovsk region. As part of it, Vadym Rychkov performed complex combat tasks in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Luhansk region.

At the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation, Tetyana Rychkova went to the front after her husband and became involved in supporting the Ukrainian military. She sold a dacha in Dnipro and a bakery and withdrew money from deposits to buy the most necessary things for the 25th brigade — uniforms, berets, generators. Then she engaged in fundraising and support for the Air Force. She became one of the most famous volunteers. She founded the Dnipro branch of "Wings of the Phoenix".

She was at the front during the hottest battles in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Lyman, Yampil, Debaltseve, Vuhlehirsk, Doslidnyiy, Pisky, Avdiivka. Rychkova's last car, in which she took out the wounded, was blown up by a direct hit of a mine near the Donetsk airport.

On August 17, 2014, a man, Vadym Rychkov, died during the fighting in the Nizhny Krynka, Zhdanivka region of the Donetsk region during the shelling of Russian BM-21 Grad missiles. After burying her husband, Tetyana Rychkova continued to support the military, actively criticizing the state of affairs in the Armed Forces.[3][4]

In November 2014, at the invitation of Yuriy Biryukov, Tetiana Rychkova started working at the Ministry of Defense. She became the head of a new state-owned enterprise that deals with the material supply of special operations forces and airborne troops.[5]

On January 26, 2015, she signed a contract and became an officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She was appointed Assistant Minister of Defense for Reforms.[6] Since the spring of the same year, she has been an assistant to the Chief of the General Staff.[7]

In March 2015, she was instructed to deal with issues of discipline and psychological support in the army. She is involved in the development of a program of psychological assistance to military personnel and the creation of centers for assistance to ATO participants at regional state administrations. She was involved in the creation of the Center for the Development and Support of the Armed Forces Logistics.[8]

In May 2015, she was included in the Commission of State Awards and Heraldry,[9] and in November - in the Organizing Committee for the preparation and implementation of measures to create a memorial to Ukrainian heroes.[10]

In the midterm elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on July 17, 2016, Tetiana Rychkova ran as a self-nominated candidate in the single-member constituency No. 27 (Dnipro). She took first place with 44.57% of the vote (15,494 votes) and was registered as a Member of Parliament of Ukraine on August 1, 2016.[11]

She was awarded the Order of Princess Olha, III degree (August 2014) and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, III degree (December 2014)[12] for her help to the army. On December 25, 2018, she was included in the sanctions list of the aggressor country.[13]