Hennadii V. Matuliak

Hennadiy Vasylovych Matulyak was born on April 29, 1977, in the village of Martynivske, Voznesensk district, Mykolaiv region. Hennadiy's parents are originally from Ivano-Frankivsk region. His father is an aviation technician. For over 10 years, Hennadiy Matulyak served in the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade named after Lieutenant General V. Nikiforov, which was stationed in Mykolaiv. He flew MiG-29, L-39, and Su-25 aircraft. In total, he dedicated 28 years to service, and he flew for over 20 years. As of 2011, he was a duty pilot. In the summer of 2015, he held the position of chief of intelligence at the military unit's headquarters. From the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he participated in battles. On February 24, 2022, he destroyed enemy columns over Kherson region and his native Mykolaiv region. In the morning of February 25, 2022, in the northern part of Kyiv, near the town of Hostomel, he heroically destroyed a column of Russian occupiers' equipment. After that, he continued to operate in the Kyiv region, but around 7:00 AM during an air battle, a Russian fighter jet hit Hennadiy Matulyak's aircraft. The pilot began to maneuver the plane to protect a village, as a large entertainment complex was located nearby. He even managed to pull the ejection seat, but after the second hit, the plane and pilot caught fire. The aircraft fell a few kilometers from the village of Hlybivka in the Vyshhorod district, in a forest strip. The plane was falling towards people's homes, but in the last seconds of his life, the pilot managed to steer the crashing attack aircraft away from residential buildings into the forest, where it crashed. He was buried by local residents near the crash site. On April 16, 2022, he was reburied in Mykolaiv. He is survived by his wife Olga and two children — son Ruslan and daughter Sofia. For personal courage and heroism exhibited in defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and loyalty to military oath, Hennadiy Vasylovych Matulyak was posthumously awarded the title of "Hero of Ukraine" with the Order of the Golden Star.