Mykola S. Kolosovskyi

Mykola was born on September 14, 1995, in the village of Stari Shompoly, Kominternivsky district, Odessa region. He was an only child. After completing the 9th grade of secondary school, he graduated from the Odessa Maritime Vocational Lyceum (specialty "Turner, Motorist"). In the fall of 2013, he was drafted for compulsory military service in the ranks of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the winter of 2013-2014, he participated in the protection of public order in Kyiv during the events of the Revolution of Dignity. With the beginning of hostilities in the Donbas, Mykola twice volunteered to defend his homeland with weapons in hand. During his second deployment to the ATO zone, on the night of August 7, 2014, as a result of a mortar shelling of a National Guard of Ukraine checkpoint by separatist militants near the city of Debaltseve, Donetsk region, he was fatally wounded. He was buried with military honors in his native village. The funeral service was led by Bishop Mark of Odessa and Balta, a memorial service was also held in Lviv, in the regimental church of St. Volodymyr the Great. Mykola's memory was honored by the community: his portrait was placed on a billboard near the bus station of the district center Kominternivske. In September 2014, a scandal erupted regarding this billboard when local residents suddenly saw political advertising for one of the candidates for the Ukrainian Parliament instead of the "memorial" poster. Public outrage forced those responsible for this outrage to quickly restore the previous image. In October 2014, during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Shompoly general education school, a memorial plaque in honor of the school graduate Mykola Kolosovsky was solemnly opened and consecrated on its building. The following year, fellow villagers also erected a monument to Mykola in the center of the village, near the memorial to the heroes of World War II.