Dmytro O. Hodzenko (Hodzyla)

Born on November 17, 1966, in the city of Lviv. In 1983, he graduated from secondary school No. 6 in Lviv. From 1985 to 1987, he served in the Soviet Armed Forces. He served in the 26th topographic battalion of the Carpathian Military District (military unit 64993, city of Chernivtsi). In 1990, he graduated from Lviv Polytechnic Institute (now - National University "Lviv Polytechnic"). He lived in Kyiv. He worked as the chief engineer of the Metrology Center of the National Joint Stock Company "Naftogaz of Ukraine." In the winter of 2013-2014, he was on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv, where he was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity. On February 12, 2015, he was mobilized as a volunteer into the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the Pechersk-Holosiyivsk Combined District Military Commissariat in Kyiv. He underwent military training at a general military training ground (military unit A4152, village of Mala Lyubasha, Kostopil district, Rivne region). He served as the chief sergeant - deputy platoon commander of the 17th separate motorized infantry battalion of the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit field post V2304). Since March 2015, he participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. Call sign "Godzilla." He fought near the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region. In September 2015, he sustained serious shrapnel wounds to his back during a mortar shelling in the area of the residential area of Maiorsk (northern outskirts of the city of Horlivka). After treatment at the Irpin military hospital, without waiting for recovery, he returned to the front lines. During his service, Dmytro Hohzenko managed to cut off smuggling flows that were being transported through the checkpoint in Maiorsk and helped improve the living conditions of local residents. On March 31, 2016, at about 6:00 AM, Senior Sergeant Dmytro Hohzenko was killed by shrapnel wounds during a mortar shelling near the urban-type settlement of Zaytseve of the Horlivka City Council (since September 2016 - Bakhmut district) in the Donetsk region. On April 3, 2016, he was buried at the Lukyanivske Military Cemetery in Kyiv.