Serhii M. Shut (Serik)

46-year-old Sergeant Serhii Shut (call sign Serik) was killed on August 12, 2023, while performing a combat mission in the area of the village of Bohdanivka in the Donetsk region. In the battle with the enemy, he received an explosive injury and numerous shrapnel wounds to his body. Serhii was born in the village of Oleksandro-Mariivka, Kirovohrad region. He lived in the village of Petrove, Kirovohrad region. He graduated from 11 grades of Petrivska Gymnasium. After serving in the army, he received a driver's license. He worked as a tractor driver at a company. Later, he studied at a specialized school as a mechanic and worked for the next 12 years at PrAT "TsGZK Metinvest" in the village of Petrove. In 2020, he was appointed a foreman. He was fond of fishing. He was interested in rabbit breeding, kept about 30 animals, and planned to develop a business in this direction. But the war destroyed all his plans. During the full-scale invasion, Serhii joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Koshovy Otaman Kost Hordiienko. He held the position of senior rifleman, squad leader of the grenade launcher platoon of the fire support company of the 34th battalion. "I'm 23 years old, and I've lost my best dad. I've never complained about life, even though we didn't live very wealthy, but I always had everything: clean clothes, delicious fresh food, good notebooks, comfortable shoes, modern phones, a computer, etc. My dad is from an ordinary family, he wanted to achieve everything himself. He lost his father at the age of 22, and since then he had to grow up and help his mother and his wife with the children. But my dad never gave up and always looked for some side job: he sold fish, crayfish. With my mom, they sold cows, bulls, calves, pigs, rabbits, milk, eggs, potatoes, carrots, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes. He didn't wait for money to fall from the sky, but earned every penny with his own hands, because he knew that his daughters needed to be educated. I have two degrees, my sister is currently studying in the 2nd year of university. The fact that we, the girls from the small village of Petrove, studied in Kyiv is the merit of our dad. He said: 'Choose where you want to study, and mom and I will work for you,'" said the eldest daughter of the fallen defender, Viktoriia. The defender was buried in the Alley of Heroes of the central cemetery in the village of Petrove, Kirovohrad region. His wife Liliia and daughters Viktoriia and Nataliia did not wait for their defender to return home.