Oleksandr Ya. Konotopenko

In 1998, he graduated from the Odessa Institute of Land Forces. He began his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a platoon commander of fire support in the 40th Separate Airborne Brigade (now the 78th Air Assault Brigade) and rose to the position of deputy commander of the 1st battalion. He then served in Crimea: from 2010 to 2012, he was the commander of the 1st battalion of the coastal defense marine corps (in Feodosia), and until 2014, he served in Sevastopol in the combat training department of the Naval Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After the occupation of half the peninsula by Russian troops, he moved to Odessa, where he was involved in the training of marines of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade at the Naval Forces training center at the "Shyrokyi Lan" range, participating in combat operations in Eastern Ukraine. A lieutenant colonel, in July 2017, he headed the training and application group for snipers in the combat training department of the Naval Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the winter of 2018, he was diagnosed with cancer. Within a few days, volunteers and concerned individuals raised 15,000 euros for treatment in Germany. From March 7, 2018, he was in the "Vivantes" clinic (Berlin). The diagnosis was metastases in the internal organs (stage 3). After undergoing two courses of chemotherapy, he returned to Ukraine for further treatment in April, but on May 7, due to a deterioration in his condition, he was taken back to the German clinic. Oleksandr realized that he had virtually no chance of survival and persuaded them to return him to Mykolaiv, where he died two days later, on May 16, 2018. According to colleagues, he was one of the most knowledgeable officers, awarded distinctions from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Commander of the Land Forces of Ukraine. On May 14, 2018, two days before his death, he was posthumously awarded the rank of colonel by the order of the Minister of Defense.