Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s ceasefire on June 20 brought more death for members of the nation’s military.
Using surface-to-air missiles, Kremlin-backed insurgents shot down Ukrainian military aircraft on June 24. It was the third Ukrainian military MI-8 helicopter shot down since the mid-April start of the nation’s anti-terrorist operation in separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Three crew members and six servicemen, including four Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officers, were among the dead. Later the same day, two soldiers were killed at a checkpoint in Sloviansk, according to Vladyslav Seleznev, a spokesman for Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operation.
“Since the announcement of the president’s peace plan, the terrorists opened fire on the Ukrainian military 52 times,” Poroshenko said during phone talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 25.
The following servicemen were killed aboard the MI-8 helicopter; the three SBU officers have not been announced publicly yet:
Roman Mazunov, 33, flight engineer, serving in Brody in western Ukraine.
Dmytro Shynhur, 36, from Brody in Lviv Oblast. He leaves his wife and two children.
Andriy Belkin, 36 leaves three children and his wife in Brody city in western Ukraine.
Oleksiy Volokha, soldier from Kirovohrad.
Oleksandr Kondakov, soldier from Kirovohrad.
Oleksandr Petryshchuk, 27, Ukraine’s Security Service officer from Chernivtsi in western Ukraine.
On June 19, 12 servicemen were killed in another fight near Yampil and Zakotne in Donetsk Oblast on June 19.
Among the dead were:
Stepan Vorobets, 27, commander from Kolomiya in western Ukraine.
He was an only son who wanted to join the army since childhood. He was called courageous and supportive. “I overcame my fear and bailed out for the first time because of Stepan,” his friend Volodymyr Tymchuk was quoted as saying. Vorobets’ mother was raising money for bulletproof vests and helmets for the servicemen, but didn’t manage to deliver them to her son. Vorobets leaves his wife and two children in his native town.
Ihor Liashenko, 37, commander of the 24th special Pivnich battalion from Shepetivka in Khmelnytsky Oblast.
He leaves his wife and two children in Yavoriv.
Andriy Povstyuk, 31, commander of the 24th special Pivnich battalion.
He leaves his wife and daughter in Yavoriv.
Yuriy Prykhid, 21, intelligent operator from Lviv Oblast.
“All 112 houses of our village grieve for Yuriy,” Prykhid’s neighbor, Olga Holysh, was quoted as saying. Prykhid studied in Lviv, but volunteered when mobilization started. He leaves his parents and younger sister in his native Semyrivka village.
Viktor Syvak, 22, intelligence officer from Sokal in Lviv Oblast.
He graduated from Odesa National Polytechnic University in 2013. “He was very fair young man who always defended those who needed help,” Lyubov Omeliash, the head of the school were Syvak studied, said.
Mykola Shainoha, 19, a soldier from Lviv Oblast, was one of the youngest victims.
“Mykola was a very joyous young man. We liked to play football together. His 5-year-old sister still asks about him,” his friend, Andriy, was quoted as saying.
Viktor Semchuk, 23, a rifleman from Ternopil Oblast. Semchuk’s relatives didn’t know he was deployed to the east.
He leaves his parents and younger sister in native village of Zalavie in Ternopil Oblast.
Volodymyr Kravchuk, 21, a Ukrainian National Guard soldier died two months before his 22th birthday.
Kravchuk, native Kyivan, planned to get married in autumn. His comrades recalled he always wanted to participate in all the trainings and never shied away from any assignments. “I need to defend my country,” his friends quoted him as saying. He leaves his parents and girlfriend in Kyiv.
Andriy Kravchenko, 27, soldier from Zaporizhzhya.
Oleksiy Krementar, 30, one of the captains of the 95th air cavalry brigade from Zhytomyr.
He leaves three children in his native Zhytomyr.
Oleksiy Shevchenko, 26, from Zhytomyr Oblast. Along with his brother, Shevchenko was a Berkut riot-police officer. However, when the EuroMaidan Revolution started in November, they both quit. Shevchenko volunteered to join the army in March. He leaves his parents and brother in his native Levkove village in Zhytomyr Oblast.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
Kyiv Post staff writers Iryna Savchuk and Denys Krasnikov contributed to this story.
