Roman V. Horkun (Smailyk)

Born on September 24, 1994, in the city of Luhansk. Graduated from a general education school in Luhansk, then from the State Vocational and Technical Educational Institution "Kryvyi Rih Training and Production Center" (Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region) with a specialty in "tourism organization agent." After the capture of Luhansk by Russian terrorists in 2014, he moved to Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, where his grandmother lived. In 2015, he was drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 17th Separate Tank Brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A3283 (field post V3675), Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region). From the spring of 2016, he continued military service under contract as a shooter-sapper of the mechanized section of the 2nd mechanized platoon of the 1st mechanized company of the 1st mechanized battalion of the 17th Separate Tank Brigade. Since the summer of 2016, he participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. Call sign "Smiley." On February 3, 2017, during a mortar shelling of Ukrainian military positions near the village of Troitske in the Popasna district of Luhansk region, a shell hit the trench where soldier Horkun was located. As a result of the explosion, the serviceman sustained severe shrapnel wounds to the head, neck, and legs. Severely wounded soldier Horkun was taken to a hospital in the city of Popasna, Luhansk region, where he died from his injuries. On February 8, 2017, he was buried at the Alley of Glory in the Central Cemetery of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region.