Rank. Lieutenant Colonel.
Age. 44.
Unit. 73rd Motorised Battalion, 7th Separate Mechanised Brigade.
Hometown. Ukraine.
Oleh Tikhonov, commander of the 73rd Motorised Battalion, was killed on Wednesday, September 29, 2004, in a vehicle accident in Wasit Province, Iraq. Two more Ukrainian peacekeepers, Colonel Volodymyr Kravchenko, commander of the 63rd motorised Battalion and Heorhii Rohozhyn, senior officer of the 6th Brigade's command co-ordination department, sustained injuries.
The officers were driving in a Chevrolet car around the posts and observation points where peacekeepers of the 6th and 7th Brigades carry on their mission. There are presently nearly 1,600 Ukrainian peacekeepers in Iraq, which are deployed in the province of Wasit situated some 120-140 kilometres to the south east of Baghdad in the Polish-controlled zone.