The fighting in the east of Ukraine is less intense, as Ukrainian military reported on March 19 that none of the soldiers were killed overnight. Officials said also Ukrainian troops prevented the Russian forces and their proxies from seizing more ground in Luhansk Oblast and taking over a village of Stanytsia Luhanska, which is still under Ukraine’s control.
The Ukrainian army claims to have killed 15,000 enemy combatants in the year-old war.
More than 5,820 civilians have been killed and at least 1,660 Ukrainian soldiers. More than 180 soldiers are still being held prisoner according to Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
The following is the list of those known to be killed through March 2-18.
March 2
Yevhen Baryshpolets, 33, a soldier the 92nd mechanized brigade from Chernihiv. He used to work in Kyiv before he was mobilized to the army. His relatives recalled that Baryshpolets didn’t hesitate to go to the war front. He was killed near a town of Shchastia in Luhansk Oblast.
March 3
Petro Kizim, 23, a soldier of the 72nd brigade from Cherkasy Oblast. He volunteered to the army in April and was involved in the fiercest battles in Amvrosiivka, Volnovakha and Hranitne in Ukraine’s Donbas. He was killed near the village of Hranitne in the south of Donetsk Oblast when Russia-backed separatists fired anti-tank missile at Kizim’s unit. Kizim leaves a wife and one-year-old son.
March 7
Volodymyr Pobedinskiy, 23, a soldier of Donbas Battalion from Donetsk Oblast. He volunteered to the army in spring. He was killed in a mortar shelling near Shyrokyne village, close to the port city of Mariupol. “There was no chance to survive there,” Pobedinskiy’s comrade who identified himself as Anatoliy, said during the mourning. Pobedinskiy leaves his parents in his native village of Manhush.
March 10
Roman Pyasyuk, 40, a soldier of the 1st tank brigade from Rivne Oblast. He was mobilized to the army in September, 2014. He was killed as he stepped on a land mine near the village of Zlatoustivka, Donetsk Oblast. He leaves a wife and two children.
Serhiy Hunko, 49, a member of Praviy Sector volunteer battalion from Poltava. He was badly injured in the fight for Savur Mohyla memorial in Snizhne, where one of the most fiercest fighting unfolded in July, 2014. His wife, Tetiana, a professor of the local university, used to travel with him. Later Hunko was involved in training Praviy Sector’s activists in Poltava Oblast. He leaves a wife and three children in Poltava. He was killed in a car accident close to Poltava.
Serhiy Hlyvyi, 42, a soldier from Kherson Oblast. He was mobilized to Ukrainian army in August. He was killed in a car accident while transporting military equipment to the east. His death was instant. Hlyvyi leaves a wife and a son.
March 11
Vasyl Sainchuk, 35, senior sergeant from Vinnytsia Oblast. He used to live in Vinnytsia before the war in the east of Ukraine started. Sainchuk made it to Donbas in March, 2014. His comrades recalled Sainchuk was a cheerful and helpful young man, he promised his colleagues to bring separatists’ tank to Ukrainian army. He was killed in Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast. Sainchuk leaves a wife and a daughter in a city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine.
Ivan Yusypiv, 21, a soldier of Odesa Oblast. He was mobilized to the army in March, 2014. He had been fighting in the east along with his brother. Yusypiv got married in December when he came back home on rotation. Yusypiv’s APC tripped a land mine. He leaves his parents and a wife in Odesa Oblast.
Petro Nakydalyuk, 24, a soldier of the 93rd brigade from Rivne Oblast. Nakydalyuk was an arm-wrestling athlete. He made it to the war zone in August and was killed near the village of Shyrokyne in Donestk Oblast. Before leaving for the east of Ukraine, Nakydalyuk wrote a letter to his family and asked his friend to give it to his parents in case he would be killed. His relatives got the letter on the day of mourning. In a letter, Nakudalyuk apologized to his mother. He leaves his parents in Ploska village in Rivne Oblast.
Yuriy Danylyuk, a soldier of the 14th mechanized brigade from Volyn Oblast. He was mobilized to the army in June and made it to the east in the end of September. Danylyuk was one of those defending a city of Debaltsevo in Donetsk Oblast until December. After a short vacation, his unit was again deployed to the war zone.
March 14
Oleksandr Oksentyuk, 50, a soldier of the Dnipro-1 volunteer battalion. Oksentyuk was a professional serviceman. His friends recalled he always liked to share his knowledge with his younger colleagues. He was killed by stepping on a land mine in the village of Pisky in Donestk Oblast. “When he was around us everyone felt safe,”one of Oksentyuk’s comrades, who introduced himself by his nom de guerre “Orest,” said during the mourning. Oksentyuk leaves a wife and two children in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
March 15
Volodymyr Kochetkov-Sukach, 43, a volunteer from Kyiv. Kochetkov-Sukach used to help Ukrainian army, he also created an Arborne Reconnaissance Group that aimed to equid the members of State Border Service and the army with drones. “We often met with him during the EuroMaidan Revolution,” Dmytro Shymkiv, deputy head of the Presidential Administration posted on his Facebook page the day when the volunteer was killed. “He did a lot to help Ukrainian army to fight against the enemy. It was he who visited me in August and asked to accelerate the process of anti-corruption bureau establishment,” Shymkiv said. Kochetkov-Sukac was killed near Krasnohorivka village in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves a wife and four children.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
