Mykola M. Kobryniuk

Born on February 25, 1995, in the village of Shelpakhivka, Khrestivka Raion, Cherkasy Oblast. An energetic and cheerful young man, he grew up to be a conscious and decent person, passionate about sports and fishing. He graduated from the Shelpakhivka General Education School I-III degrees and the Bratislav Agricultural Economic College of the Vinnytsia State Agrarian University with a degree in "Organization of Commercial Activities". In October 2013, he willingly enlisted for compulsory military service in the ranks of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, serving in the Mariupol Separate Battalion of Internal Troops (military unit 3057), dreaming of becoming a professional soldier. During the winter of 2013-2014, he participated in the protection of public order in Kyiv during the events of the Revolution of Dignity. He participated in repelling the attack of pro-Russian militants on the military town (when Ukrainian servicemen first opened fire on the attackers) on April 16, 2014, and in the subsequent evacuation of the unit. Later, he was transferred to the Cherkasy Separate Battalion for further service, and then to the 1st Separate Brigade of Operational Purpose of the National Guard of Ukraine. He consciously volunteered to defend his homeland with arms in hand - he wrote a report requesting to be sent to the ATO zone, explaining his decision to his mother with a phrase that had been on the lips of thousands of true Ukrainian patriots in recent months: "If not me, then who…?" He died on September 5 in a fierce battle that broke out around 4:30 p.m. near the town of Telmanove, Donetsk Oblast, when a column of National Guard of Ukraine vehicles and armored vehicles, moving to a designated area to carry out combat missions, suddenly came under heavy fire from both sides. The enemy managed to disable the main armored personnel carrier and destroy several KrAZ trucks, 5 soldiers were killed, 12 were wounded, but despite the fact that most of them were young conscripts, the guardsmen took up the fight, returning fire, launched a brave attack and eventually broke out of the fire "bag"… He was buried with military honors in his native village. This burial became a manifestation of sincere nationwide grief for the fallen young defender of the Fatherland: literally the whole village, along with delegations from all over the region, under numerous state flags, his fellow villagers saw Mykola off from his native home to his final resting place… "Kolya was an incredibly responsible person, a man of his word and deed, a patriot of our country. If a person was sincere with him, he was ready to bend the sky for them, to share a crumb…", said the village head Viktor Obara, not hiding his tears, over the soldier's coffin.