The fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists rages on in eastern Ukraine. At least 69 attacks on Ukrainian positions were reported from March 8 to March 9, with the Donetsk Oblast settlements of Vodyane, Shyrokyne, Avdiyivka and Zaitseve remaining hot spots.
Sporadic shelling has claimed the lives of 23 Ukrainian soldiers over the last three weeks, according to a Kyiv Post count based on the information from the military and volunteers. Some 178 soldiers have been wounded since February.
Civilian casualties soared in February as well, due to the escalation of hostilities in the Donetsk Oblast cities of Avdiyivka and Makiyivka. At least 11 people have been killed and 62 were injured, the highest numbers since August, as estimated by the United Nations.
Overall, since the Russian military intervention started in Ukraine, about 9,800 people have been killed, and up to 23,000 wounded. This number includes 2,819 Ukrainian soldiers and representatives of other law enforcement and security bodies who have been killed during the war, according to Ukrainian officials.
The following is a list of those known to have been killed in the period from Feb. 15 to March 6.
Feb. 15
Anatoliy Farisey, 42, a soldier of the 93rdmechanized brigade from Vinnytsia Oblast. Farisey was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter and later volunteered for the army. He joined the 54th Reconnaissance Brigade in 2014. After demobilization he decided to sign an enlistment contract with the army and made it back to the frontlines in March 2016. “It was never scary when we were together with Farik (Farisey’s nom de guerre),” Mykola Polishchuk, Farisey’s fellow soldier, was quoted as saying. “He was a great man and a good cook – he could feed the whole unit with his borscht.” Farisey was killed when Russia-backed separatists launched an attack on the Ukrainian army positions near the village of Krymske in Luhansk Oblast. He leaves a brother.
Feb. 16
Yuriy Shcherbyna, 42, a soldier from the 58th Brigade from Luhansk Oblast. He was mobilized to the army in 2014 and made it back home after a year. In 2016, he decided to return to the Donbas. Shcherbyna told his relatives that he had to go back to the war, because “people just wait for others to cover their backs.” He was killed during the shelling of the Donetsk Oblast city of Avdiyivka. Shcherbyna leaves a wife and son in Sumy Oblast.
Taras Pronchuk, 19, a soldier of the 36th Marine Brigade from Rivne Oblast. Pronchuk was mobilized to the army in 2015 and was one of the youngest in his unit. He was defending the village of Sakhanka in Donetsk Oblast when a sniper shot him. “I don’t know anybody else like him,” Pronchuk’s fellow soldier Rustam Horbachenko, was quoted as saying during the soldier’s funeral. “He signed a contract (with the army) when he was 18. He wanted to defend his land. And when he was helping his wounded comrades, he was killed.” Pronchuk leaves his mother, brothers and a girlfriend.
Oleksandr Korniyko, 22, a soldier of the 25th Airborne Brigade from Poltava Oblast. Korniyko dreamt about military career, he planned to enroll in Odesa Military Academy. He decided to join the army in 2015. Korniyko was shot by a sniper near the village of Zaitseve in Donetsk Oblast. Korniyko leaves his parents.
Feb. 17
Andriy Sirchenko, 43, was a soldier of the volunteer battalion of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) from Donetsk Oblast. The battalion does not officially belong to the country’s armed forces. Sirchenko used to help the battalion as a volunteer and later joined them as a member in 2015. He was mainly located in the village of Pisky near Donetsk airport, and in Krymske in Luhansk Oblast. In January, together with fellow soldiers, he captured some automatic grenade launchers from separatist-controlled positions. Sirchenko was killed when an antitank missile hit his observation post. He leaves a wife and a daughter.
Feb. 18
Andriy Merkulov, a soldier of the 39th Battalion from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He was killed during the shelling of Ukrainian army positions near the city of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast. “He was one of the most calm soldiers in our unit… he always remained positive,” Merkulov’s fellow soldiers wrote after his death.
Feb. 19
Maksym Hrynchyshyn, 37, commander of the Anti-aircraft unit of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade from Volyn Oblast. He had worked in Italy but then come back to Ukraine. Hrynchyshyn was mobilized to the army in 2014. He took part in the battles for Volnovakha and Starohnativka in Donetsk Oblast. His fellow soldiers recalled that he liked to spend his spare time repairing weapons. “He’s what’s called a real soldier,” Oleksiy Vysotsky, Hrynchyshyn’s fellow soldier, wrote. “He never ignored a tough task – defending his land.” Hrynchyshyn was killed by a sniper near the city of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves his mother and a sister in western Ukrainian city of Lutsk.
Yuriy Delyukin, 22, a soldier of the 25th Airborne Brigade from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He wanted to join the army, and served on the frontlines for more than a year. Delyukin was described as a “decent young man” by Mykhailo Formin, the deputy commander of the 25th Brigade. He was badly wounded when Russia-backed separatists attacked Ukrainian army positions near the village of Zaitseve in Donetsk Oblast. Delyukin died later in Kharkiv military hospital. Delyukin leaves his parents and a younger brother in a village of Cherkaske in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He planned to get married in summer.
Feb. 21
Mykola Hutsalenko, 25, the commander of the first battalion of the 79th Brigade from Mykolaiv Oblast. He took part in battles for the city of Slovyansk and Donetsk airport. In 2014, he was one of those who raised Ukrainian flag on the building of the old terminal at the airport. Hutsalenko was badly injured during the shelling of Vodyane village in Donetsk Oblast. A piece shrapnel hit his temple. Dnipro city hospital medics tried to save Hutsalenko’s life, but he died on Feb. 21. He never regained consciousness. Hutsalenko leaves a wife and a 9-month-old son.
Feb. 23
Mykhailo Dobroleta, 24, a soldier of the 55th artillery brigade from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He used to sell balloons and had worked on a local mine, where he was injured. When he was a schoolboy, he saved a classmate who fell through the ice, according to Yan Osoka, a volunteer. Dobroleta’s friends describe him as a kind and supportive young man. He joined the army in 2016 and was killed by a sniper near the Donetsk Oblast city of Avdiyivka. His last words, according to a fellow soldiers were: “It’s the end. They hit me.” Dobroleta leaves his parents in a town of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Feb. 26
Roman Napryahlo, 20, a soldier of the 36th Marine Brigade from Donetsk Oblast. A native of Slovyansk, the first city in Donetsk Oblast that was seized by Russian-backed forces, Napryahlo took part in the nationalist movement during the occupation of his hometown. He drew Ukrainian flags until the city was liberated by pro-government forces in July, 2014. Napryahlo helped the army as a volunteer and in 2016 signed an enlistment contract. Napryahlo was killed by a sniper near the village of Pikuzy in Donetsk Oblast as he tried to save a wounded fellow soldier. He leaves his parents and a sister.
Artur Abramitov, 24, a soldier of the 58th Brigade from Sumy. He graduated from Sumy Pedagogical University and signed an enlistment contract with the army in 2016. “He volunteered to go to one of the hot spots, Avdiyivka,” one of the volunteers said.” He did everything he could for his home country.” He was killed during artillery shelling of Avdiyivka launched by Russian-backed separatists. Abramitov was the only son in his family. He leaves his parents in a city of Sumy in eastern Ukraine.
Oleksandr Tsarenko, 49, a soldier of the 24th Aidar Battalion from Vinnytsia Oblast. Tsarenko was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter and was one of those who survived the fire in Trade Union building in central Kyiv. Later he joined Aidar Battalion. He was badly injured during fighting near Novosvitlivka in Luhansk Oblast. Tsarenko underwent a number of operations and went into a coma. He died in Kyiv city hospital on Feb. 26. “We were lucky to have at least a bit of his energy to restore Ukraine,” Tsarenko’s friend Mykhailo Savolyuk was quoted as saying during the mourning. Tsarenko leaves two sons.
Feb. 28
Serhiy Mokrenko, 23, a soldier of the 54th Mechanized Brigade from Volyn Oblast. He was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter. Morkenko later joined Pravy Sector nationalist group and went to the war zone after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Mokrenko was one of those who survived the massacre at strategic town of Ilovaisk in summer 2014. He was badly wounded and went home for a treatment, but made it back to the army in 2016 when he signed an enlistment contract. In an interview to a local media he gave a month before his death, Morkenko said that he “always wanted to fight” rather than to be on a home front. He was killed on the Svitlodarsk bulge, south of Horlivka and Donetsk airport. He leaves his parents and a fiancée in the town of Shatsk in Volyn Oblast.
Hennadiy Reshetnyak, 52, a soldier of the 54th Mechanized Brigade from Luhansk. He had worked at a local bakery complex for 18 years. When the war started in the Donbas, he evacuated his family to Kharkiv and enlisted in the army in June 2016. According to Yan Osoka, a volunteer, Reshetnyak was a handyman and most of all wanted to have grandchildren. Reshetnyak was killed during shelling near the village of Luhanske in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves his wife, a son and a daughter in Kharkiv.
March 1
Volodymyr Pirus, 41, a soldier of the second unit of the 24th Mechanized Brigade from Lviv Oblast. He joined the army in 2014 and was sent to the frontline in January 2015. He took part in battles for the villages of Krymske, Triokhizbenka and Novotoshkivka in Luhansk Oblast. Pirus’s fellow soldiers recalled they always felt safe with him, because he was “the most courageous man” in their unit. He was killed when an anti-tank missile hit his vehicle near the village of Katerynivka, Luhansk Oblast.
Pirus leaves his family, a son and a daughter in his native town of Stryy in Lviv Oblast.
March 2
Oleksandr Vozhyuk, 25, a soldier of the 36th Marine Brigade from Zhytomyr Oblast. Together with his family he lived in the town of Lubny in Poltava Oblast. Voznyuk’s father is a priest of the local Orthodox Church. He was serving in a village of Perevalne in Crimea when Russia annexed the peninsula in March 2014. Shortly after that he was sent to the Donbas. His friends recalled he was a talented young man, who wrote poetry. The Defense Ministry published a poem he had dedicated to his friend, Lieutenant-Colonel Yury Zahrebelny, who was killed near Mariupol in 2014.
On March 2, together with three of his comrades, Voznyuk stepped on a landmine near the village of Sartana close to the coastal town of Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. He died instantly. He leaves his family, a wife and a daughter.
March 3
Serhiy Klochkov, 29, a soldier of the 79th brigade from Sumy Oblast. He was badly wounded during the fighting for Avdiyivka on March 1. Klochkov died days later in Dnipro city hospital (formerly called Dnipropetrovsk). He leaves his parents.
March 4
Rostyslav Trukhansky, 20, a soldier of Aratta Ukrainian Volunteer Battalion from Lviv Oblast. Trukhansky was raised by his grandmother and dreamed of having a military career. In his spare time, he liked to dance and study automobile engineering. Trukhansky signed an enlistment contract with the army in 2016. He was badly wounded in late February in the Donetsk Oblast city of Avdiyivka. Trukhansky had his legs amputated, and shrapnel had shredded his whole body. His fellow residents raised money for his treatment, but he died in Dnipro city hospital. Nataliya Novosadska, deputy head of the school where Trukhansky studied, told the local media that he was a “kind and sincere young man and it was easy for everyone to like him.” Trukhansky leaves his grandmother in a city of Bila Tserkva, some 80 km south of Kyiv.
Roman Kyyanytsya, 24, a soldier of the 72nd Brigade from Kyiv Oblast. He signed an enlistment contract with the army in 2016 and served in the frontline city of Avdiyivka, where he was killed during shelling.
March 6
Oleksandr Veremeyenko, 20, a soldier of the 36th Marine Brigade from Luhansk Oblast. In 2016, he signed an enlistment contract with the army and was sent to the Donbas in October. Veremeyenko continued his studies at a local college and took days off from his service to take exams in winter. He was killed during shelling near the village of Vodyane in Donetsk Oblast. Veremeyenko’s mother died a month before his death. He leaves an aunt.
Oleksiy Rufymsky, 50, a soldier of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, a fighting force affiliated with the ultra-nationalist Right Sector (Pravy Sektor) group. Rufymsky was a native of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and had been serving on the frontlines for about a year. “I will never forget him. During the shelling he’d always took younger soldiers to the shelter while staying on the firing lines himself,” one of Rufymsky’s fellow soldier, known by the nom de guerre Klen (Maple) said. Rufymsky was killed during shelling of Ukrainian army positions in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves his family in Kocherezhky village, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Oleksandr Afanasiv, 28, a soldier of the 79th Brigade from Lviv Oblast. He was killed in Donetsk Oblast on March 6. Afanasiv leaves a wife.
