Mykhailo Yu. Matiushenko (Did)

Matyushenko Mykhailo Yuriiovych was born on January 8, 1961, in Kharkiv. In his youth, he was engaged in swimming, earned the title of Master of Sports, and was a children's coach. He graduated with honors from the Hrytsevets Kharkiv Higher Military Aviation School and also from the Gagarin Moscow Military Air Academy by correspondence. Until 1991, he served in the Soviet military. After the collapse of the USSR, he consciously decided to serve Ukraine. He then left the military service and worked in commercial structures related to civil aviation. In the 2000s, he headed one of the Kyiv airlines. In 2014, he went to the East as a volunteer. Later, he became a flight instructor in one of the military aviation brigades of Ukraine. In 2018, he left the service and headed a commercial enterprise operating in the field of agricultural aviation, and a little later - passenger transportation. He commanded many types of military and civil aircraft. He headed the public law enforcement formation "Shield" in the Bucha community. In March 2022, he returned to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He commanded the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, which was called the "Ghost of Kyiv". When he learned about the irreversible losses of the trained bomber crews, he decided to reinforce the southern and eastern fronts. Instead of the single-seat MiG-29 fighter, he switched to and began to master the two-seat Su-24 bomber. He died in the morning of June 26, 2022, in the sky over the Black Sea, near the Snake Island, after successfully completing a combat mission. His body was found in Bulgaria. Presumably, the Ukrainian Su-24M was shot down by the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun system. He was buried on October 3, 2022, on the Alley of Heroes in Bucha, Kyiv region.