Born on March 28, 1973 in the village of Krupoderintsi, Poltava region. Later he lived with his family in the village of Savyntsi, Orzhytskyi district, Poltava region. Since 1994 he has lived in the military town of Kluhyno-Bashkyrivka.
After graduating from school, he tried to enter the airborne school, but did not pass due to health problems. In August 1991, he entered the Saratov Military School (now the Saratov Military Institute of the National Guard). Despite the fact that after the collapse of the USSR he ended up in Russia, he wanted to serve in Ukraine, and therefore in his final year of study he transferred to the Institute of the National Guard of Ukraine.
After graduating, he served in the ranks of the 18th Special Forces Regiment of the 6th Division of the National Guard of Ukraine stationed in Chuguiv (he held the position of deputy commander of the special forces battalion). In 1999, this unit was transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and reorganized into the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade.
During the Revolution of Dignity and after its end, he was a member of the coordination council of the Kharkiv Euromaidan.
In 2014, he joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of the 16th separate motorized infantry battalion "Poltava". He led the battalion during 2015-2017. He participated in the grueling battles for Avdiivka during the ATO. In 2017, he worked in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. His former subordinates, talking about the battalion commander, first of all recall that he was for them the personification of the concept of "Man of Honor", shared all the front-line difficulties and dangers with the fighters, took care of the equipment of positions, and stubbornly fought against abuses in logistics. They also recall the grueling battles for Avdiivka, which lasted 258 days, during which the battalion commander had to command a "holy grail" of units not only from his battalion, but also from various brigades and the Right Sector Special Operations Command that came to the aid of the Poltava people.
In 2019, Colonel Oleg Hromadsky retired and quickly found a job. However, the premonition of the danger of a "big war" did not leave him - and he spent a lot of personal time training future defenders as an instructor of the course "Don't Panic! Get Ready!". In April 2021, he became a co-founder of the "Kharkiv Region Defense Headquarters" - an association of public and political structures aimed at promoting the formation of Terroborona units. He did not have time to implement all his plans - but what he did on February 24 caused considerable damage to the enemy and saved many patriots of Ukraine from death.
Circumstances of death:
Friends recall that it was on the morning of the 24th that Colonel Hromadsky O.V. was scheduled to meet with the command of the National Guard of the Kharkiv Garrison, at which Oleg Vyacheslavovich wanted to propose a plan for deploying a volunteer unit based on the NGU. But the war forced him to act more decisively, without waiting for summonses, commands, and the compilation of official lists. At about nine in the morning, having learned about the movement of enemy columns towards the intersection of the Kharkiv Ring Road and the Belgorod Highway, he and a group of volunteers and mobilized arrived in the village of Pyatikhatky, north of Kharkiv. A small unit of the 3rd Operational Brigade named after Colonel Petro Bolbochan, commanded by his son, Lieutenant Yevheniy Hromadsky, who only graduated from the National Academy of the NGU in 2021, took up positions there a little earlier.
On the morning of February 24, upon arriving at the position, Colonel Hromadsky immediately held a meeting with Lieutenant Hromadsky, which differed from ordinary pre-battle meetings in that here the son reported the combat situation to his father, a serving officer to a military pensioner...
At about 12:00, the defenders of Pyatikhatki repelled the attack of the enemy advance detachment, destroying two enemy vehicles and a dozen Russian soldiers. Soon, enemy aircraft tried to bomb the positions, but their FAB-500s did not cause any damage. At night, at about 22:00, a new battle took place with the advancing Russian unit. The son recalled that during the battle, Hromadsky Sr. was on the left flank of the position, firing from a machine gun, and Yevgeny supported him with an automatic grenade launcher. Oleg Vyacheslavovich retreated last, taking out the remains of weapons and ammunition in his own jeep - but on the way his car came under a volley of enemy "hail" shells. Oleg Vyacheslavovich received injuries incompatible with life. His family learned about the death of his father from his comrade Oleg, a representative of the Civil Self-Defense Foundation Ivan Didenko, who miraculously survived the shelling and was picked up with a severe concussion by soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who arrived to help the guards.
Oleg Hromadsky was buried in the city of Kharkiv at the 18th cemetery on the Alley of Glory.
The 48-year-old soldier is survived by his wife and son. His mother and brother live in the village of Savyntsi, Poltava region.
Oleg Hromadsky had many awards: Badge of Honor; Commemorative Badge «For Military Valor»; medals «For Conscientious Service» of all three degrees; Badge «ATO Participant»; Medal «10 Years of the Armed Forces of Ukraine»; Medal for Veteran of 25 Years of Service; Badge of the Cossack Cross of the 1st degree; Order «For Courage» of the 3rd degree; Badge for Exemplary Service; Badge for the Defense of Avdiivka; Badge of the Chief of the General Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine «For Valorous Military Service to the Fatherland»; Badge «For Devotion to the Fatherland».
On June 13, 2023, in the city of Kharkiv, Battleship Potemkin Street was renamed Oleg Hromadsky Street.