He was afraid of neither strangers nor his own people. The story of the indomitable Kherson "farmer with a rifle"

On Sunday, September 7th, Odessa said goodbye to the well-known Kherson farmer, Oleksandr Gordienko. He died on Friday, September 5, from a drone strike. The drone hit a civilian car in which the entrepreneur was traveling. Gordienko was in the field near the village of Urozhaine, where he was working with other workers of his farm.Oleksandr Gordiienko was called "the farmer with a shotgun" in the media. He personally shot down Russian drones with a ten-shot pump-action rifle. In total, he neutralized several hundred drones.In this way, the farmer protected his combine operators and tractor drivers who worked in the field every day. "He believed that he had to be with them," recalls Dmytro Yunusov, head of the Department of Agriculture of the Kherson Regional State Administration.Oleksandr Gordienko also defended Kherson's farming industry as a whole, leading the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Kherson Oblast in 2019. On August 26, Oleksandr Gordienko was telling to the correspondent LIGA.net about how difficult it is for vegetable farmers to work in Kherson region.A few days before his death, Gordiienko participated in a meeting in Mykolaiv with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, where he raised the issue of financial assistance to farmers in the Beryslav district, recalls Dmytro Yunusov.LIGA.net She spoke with the farmer's colleagues and those who knew him, and tells the story of the incredible resilience of the Kherson farmer.He wasn't afraid of awkward questions.Oleksandr Gordiienko was 58 years old, and he had been farming in the Beryslav district of Kherson region for thirty years. "He was one of the first farmers here," says Vasyl Shtender, founder of the "Dodola" farm. He had known Gordiienko since 2000. "He grew cereals, sunflower, and rapeseed," adds another colleague, Beryslav farmer Roman Boyko.Gordienko was a good organizer, says Shtender. "As we say – LSD: leader of public opinion, people listened to him," he recalls. In 2019, Gordienko was elected chairman of the Association of Private Farmers and Landowners."He was chosen for his active civic stance, for always defending the interests of farmers, for his fair opinion," says Shtender.Defending the interests of farmers, Gordienko participated in protests, recalls Shtender. For example, in blocking the Kherson-Melitopol highway. In 2015, farmers across Ukraine protested against tax increases for small producers.As the head of the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners, Gordienko participated in meetings with government officials and local authorities in Kyiv and elsewhere."He was never afraid to raise uncomfortable questions," says Yunusov from the Kherson Regional State Administration, "he wasn't shy about asking such questions directly to their faces." He recalls one of the meetings with the former Minister of Agrarian Policy Vitaliy Koval, where Oleksandr Gordiyenko asked the official three times about assistance for Kherson farmers. "He wanted to hear a concrete answer, regardless of whether it was positive or negative," says Yunusov. "Oleksandr was a person with character, he tried to achieve his goal," he adds.I personally cleared the mines.During the occupation of Kherson region, Oleksandr was in Odesa. He rushed home the day after Ukrainian troops began liberating the region, says screenwriter and on-set editor Natalia Konova. In August 2025, she participated in the filming of a documentary about the price that farmers in the south pay for their harvest.When Oleksandr was talking about the moment during the interview when his relatives told him on the phone that Ukrainian troops were in Kherson region, he started crying, the screenwriter recalls."This shows how much he loved the place where he lived," the media personality concludes.Oleksandr was an incredibly brave person, Konova recalls. A prime example is the demining of the fields. In 2023, Gordiienko joined forces with 11 local farmers, and together they demined a thousand hectares of fields. From this area, the desperate farmers removed 5,000 mines was telling Oleksandr Gordiienko to Latifundist publication in January 2025."We walked 22-32 km a day, searching for mines step by step," the farmer said. According to him, in 2022, humanitarian organizations had not yet tackled large areas of agricultural land, because infrastructure was a priority. "We understood this – first of all, it was necessary to clear mines from village councils, wells, and substations. I realized that it wouldn't be our turn soon," he explained.To clear the fields of mines, he sent several employees to take demining courses, says Natalia Konova, to whom Gordienko said this in an interview. But he himself always personally participated in demining. He believed that he had no moral right to risk the lives of his employees and not be with them at that time, says Konova.The occupiers bombed Gordiyenko's farm in Urozhaine, and his private house was burned down by drones. He considered this a personal revenge by the Russians.He moved to live in a trailer in the field, in a place that was inaccessible to Russian drones for a while.Drones are hunting farmers.The fields of the Gordiyenko farm are located a couple of dozen kilometers from Russian positions. "In 2023, we had a challenge – demining, in 2024 – shelling, and now the problem with drones has been added," says farmer Vasyl Shtender.Oleksandr Gordienko wasn't going to give up."He chose to fight against the critical conditions," says Shtender, "he's just that kind of charismatic person: he never stopped."According to the farmer, people are leaving Kherson region now due to difficult living conditions."I'm of Cossack descent, I'm a Gordienko, from Cossack stock. It's impossible, it's not that easy, to drive me from my land –" explained farmer in an interview with Suspilne. – We will fight to the last."Russian drones are deliberately hunting farmers in Kherson region, noted screenwriter Natalia Konova. Shtender explains that there are training centers of the occupiers nearby, and they practice on Ukrainian combine operators and tractor drivers. They launch drones of various types, including those operating on fiber optics.Gordienko arrived in the field every day at five in the morning to protect his workers. He shot down and landed all the drones within his reach using his own electronic warfare equipment.It was during such work that the drone targeted his car. Alexander Gordienko's colleagues believe this was a deliberate murder.He is survived by his wife and three children.The death of Oleksandr Gordiienko came as a shock to Konova. "He was a man who didn't plan to be a hero. He simply loved his region with all his heart," she says.

He was afraid of neither strangers nor his own people. The story of the indomitable Kherson "farmer with a rifle"

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