Kostiantyn V. Chmuzh (Hamlet)

Soldier Kostiantyn Chmuzh (call sign Hamlet) was killed on May 22, 2023 in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. He was conducting reconnaissance and engaged in combat with the enemy. He managed to warn his comrades about the ambush and returned to meet the enemy first. This allowed the rest of the group to withdraw and save the lives of four out of six shooters. During the battle, Kostiantyn received six gunshot wounds. He was killed heroically, taking at least two occupiers with him. The defender was 48 years old. Kostiantyn was from Kharkiv. He graduated from school and a vocational school. He served in the military and held a position as an encoder. He lived and worked in Kharkiv. He wrote poems. He had an active civic position, was a patriot, and sought to liberate Ukraine from the occupiers. That is why from the first days of the full-scale war, Kostiantyn stood up for the defense of the Kharkiv region. He served as a shooter in the 227th battalion of the 127th separate brigade of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "Kostiantyn Chmuzh's own story of defending the freedom and independence of Ukraine began with active participation in the well-known events in Kharkiv in March-May 2014, when it was thanks to such conscious and patriotic citizens as him that we managed to defend Ukrainian Kharkiv and prevent the spread of the 'Russian world' on the lands of Slobozhanshchyna. From the first days of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, he went as a volunteer to the ranks of the territorial defense. He was a private shooter. He took part in fierce battles and operations in Kharkiv, Mala and Velyka Prokhody, Ruska Lozova, Staryi Saltiv, Balakliia, Kupiansk, Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, Bakhmut. His comrades-in-arms note his selflessness, courage, and willingness to always voluntarily undertake any of the most difficult and risky combat missions. That's all him! He didn't drink, he didn't ask - just an ordinary Ukrainian man and a true Hero. That's how he was killed, like a magnificent Warrior, with a weapon in his hands! He engaged the enemy in close combat, allowing others to withdraw..." - wrote his comrade Dmytro Oliinyk. The warrior was buried on the Alley of Heroes of cemetery No. 18 in Kharkiv. The defender left behind a mother, friends, and comrades-in-arms. Kostiantyn Chmuzh was posthumously awarded the Commander-in-Chief's "Golden Cross" decoration.