Andrii V. Kobel (Vinnytsia)

42-year-old sailor Andriy Kobel (call sign Vinnytsia) was killed on August 8, 2023, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region. An enemy kamikaze drone fatally wounded the warrior when he was helping to evacuate his comrades. Andriy was born in the city of Illinetsi, Vinnytsia region. He studied at Illinetsi School No. 3. Then he obtained the profession of a welder at the Pogrebyshe Higher Vocational School No. 42. He found his calling in the construction business. During the full-scale war, the man volunteered to the military enlistment office and was later mobilized into the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 35th separate brigade of the marine corps named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Ostrohradskyі. He held the position of gunner in the 88th airborne assault battalion. From the first days of the invasion, he fought together with his comrades-in-arms in hot spots, in particular, he liberated Kherson and defended Bakhmut. According to his comrades, Andriy carried and evacuated more than one comrade from the battlefield, stormed, covered the landing, walked through minefields and in gray zones. "Andriy was the oldest cousin in our family. We will always remember our shy, calm Andriy, reliable and fearless for friends and comrades-in-arms, kind and unrefusable for his relatives," said his cousin Tetyana Khlishchyborshch. The marine was buried at the Djupynivskyi cemetery in his hometown. Andriy is survived by his mother, brother, sister, wife, large family, friends and comrades-in-arms.