Serhii A. Kozyniak

Reconnaissance officer Serhii Kozyniak was killed on November 19, 2022 while carrying out a combat mission in the Avdiivka area in the Donetsk region. He was only 34 years old. Serhii was born in Shepetivka, Khmilnytskyi region. He graduated from the Faculty of History at Kamianets-Podilskyi National University. He was passionate about dancing, wrestling, and theater arts. After his studies, he signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and served in the navy in Sevastopol. Shortly before the annexation of Crimea, he left the service and moved to Kyiv. He participated in the Maidan, was an active fighter for truth and freedom. He worked various jobs, and in January 2022 he started working at Nova Poshta. Serhii was an historian by education, a marine by profession, a dancer at heart, and a wonderful person in life. He had many friends and never had enemies, as he never quarreled with anyone. He was kind but fair, defending the weak since childhood. Wherever Serhii was, it always became bright and cheerful, he had an incredible sense of humor. He was generously giving, easily giving away his last shirt if he saw someone was cold, and calmly walked around naked and open-hearted. He loved dogs and children, and they loved him back passionately. Serhii loved to travel, loved fishing for the process itself. He played the guitar and sang Ukrainian songs. And he danced incredibly, dancing daily for himself. In the first days of the full-scale war, the man went to the military enlistment office for a week and asked to be sent to the Armed Forces and the front line. He was first assigned to the 3rd separate tank Iron Brigade, and later transferred to the 110th separate mechanized brigade named after General-Lieutenant Marko Bezruchko. That's how Serhii ended up in Avdiivka, where he carried out complex combat missions with the reconnaissance group. The warrior was buried on the Alley of Glory in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmilnytskyi region. He is survived by his wife, son, relatives, friends and comrades-in-arms. Posthumously, soldier Serhii Kozyniak was awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.