Serhii M. Kurbal (Morpikh)

Serviceman Serhii Kurbai (call sign Morpikh) was killed on December 21, 2022 while performing a combat mission near the village of Makiivka in the Luhansk region. An enemy tank shelling cut short the life of the 51-year-old defender. Serhii was born in the village of Petrushivka, Chernihiv region. He studied at the Horobiyivka eight-year school. In 1989, he obtained the specialty of a tractor driver at the Sokyryntsi Vocational School No. 36. He served in the military. Then he worked in the collective farm of the settlement of Parafiivka. Later he moved to the city of Vyshhorod in the Kyiv region, where he spent the rest of his life. He worked in the ATB supermarket: first as a security guard, then became the head of security. With the start of the full-scale war, Serhii went to the military enlistment office to defend the Motherland. After training, he held the position of a team member in the 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "With the start of the full-scale invasion, he decided to go defend his state, despite the pleas of his relatives. He asked his mother to send his military ID, with which he went to the military enlistment office to enlist as a volunteer. My uncle bravely and heroically defended the state, saying, reassuring us, that we will still be proud of him as a hero. He said that victory will be ours soon! And we are proud of his courage, but unfortunately, we can no longer return him... Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! Eternal memory to the fallen warriors of Ukraine," said the deceased's niece Iryna. "Serhii Mykhailovych was an extremely courageous fighter, and he proved it more than once. There was a situation when everyone was retreating from the position, but he independently held the defense line. He always conscientiously carried out orders, simply did not know fear," the commander of Serhii said. The warrior was buried in the settlement of Parafiivka in the Chernihiv region. Serhii is survived by his mother, wife, children, grandchildren, sister, and nephews.