Serhii M. Melymuka (Staryi)

Born on October 22, 1975, in the village of Pyatnychany, Chemerivtsi district, Khmelnytskyi region. In the 1980s, he moved with his family to the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi region. In 1991, he graduated from the 8th grade of secondary school No. 5 in Kamianets-Podilskyi, then attended an agricultural technical school. During the summer holidays, he worked as a combine harvester assistant. Since the 1990s, he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He graduated from the military engineering institute at the Podilsk State Agrarian and Technical Academy (city of Kamianets-Podilskyi). He served in the 534th separate guards engineering-sapper battalion of the 128th separate mountain infantry brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A1927, city of Vynogradiv, Zakarpattia region), where he rose from the commander of an engineering platoon to the commander of an engineering company. From October 2014 to March 2015 and from June 2015, he participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. He was involved in the battles for the city of Debaltseve in Donetsk region. His call sign was "Old." Thanks to the high professionalism of Captain S.M. Melymuka, more than a hundred enemy mines, shells, and other explosive devices were neutralized. On July 14, 2015, Captain Melymuka was killed while performing tasks to check the reliability of mine fortifications near the Ukrainian-Russian border near the village of Bolotene in the Stanytsia Luhanska district of Luhansk region, detonating an explosive device with a tripwire. Along with him, Senior Lieutenant Mykola Mykhailishyn, Senior Soldier Yurii Babko, Soldier Valentyn Zahorodnyi, and Soldier Vadym Sytnikov were killed. On July 17, 2015, he was buried in the cemetery of the village of Pyatnychany, Chemerivtsi district, Khmelnytskyi region.