Mykola V. Zubok (Died)

44-year-old Senior Sergeant Mykola Zubok (call sign Dyed) was killed on June 20, 2023 near the village of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region. At night, his unit was on their way to relieve their comrades on duty. The vehicle with 13 soldiers was blown up on an enemy mine. Along with Mykola, two comrades were killed. The others sustained serious injuries. Mykola was born and lived in the village of Kulykyivka, Chernihiv region. He studied at the local school. Then he enrolled in the Kulykyivka Vocational School No. 30. He obtained the profession of a master of agricultural production. In the army, he rose to the rank of Senior Sergeant. When he returned, he held the position of a road master, ensuring the safety of train traffic at the Borys Oliinyk station in the Kyiv region. In 1999, he got married, and two years later, the couple had a daughter. In 2008, he graduated from the Vinnytsia Transport College with a specialty in "Maintenance of railway structures and track facilities", and in 2012 - from the Ukrainian State Academy of Railway Transport in Kharkiv with a specialty in "Railway structures and track facilities". In May 2018, he began working as the head of the Kulykyivka Housing and Communal Services Production Department. Mykola devoted all his free time to working on the land. From childhood, he loved the fields and nature, so he tirelessly engaged in agriculture and helped his fellow villagers. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, in February 2022, without waiting for the summons, the man was voluntarily mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 20th separate special operations battalion. He held the position of deputy commander of the combat vehicle, gunner-operator of the special operations company. He participated in the defense of his native Chernihiv region, and then, together with the unit, carried out combat missions in other hot areas of the front. In June 2023, he was sent to the Vuhledar area in the Donetsk region. "We have lost the main beacon of our family. We are drifting with the current. Without him, we are wandering in the darkness, like without light. My father is not just a loss for one family. This is an irreparable loss for all of Ukraine, because such true fighters of his people as he are few," the fallen warrior's daughter said. Mykola was buried in his native village.