Serhii P. Shepetko

"Veterans.UA": "Serhiy Shepetko comes from a large hardworking rural family. His childhood was spent in his native village amidst the picturesque Polissya nature, perhaps that is why the love for his native land and its riches has remained in Serhiy's heart forever. He studied at the Sushchansky General Education School of I-III degrees, then entered the Oleva Vocational Technical School No. 10. The teachers of the school and the vocational school remember Serhiy only with kind words: inquisitive, open to new knowledge, never conflicted, had many friends. In the vocational school, he was unmatched in practical classes; the group master repeatedly noted that the boy had found himself, chosen a profession by calling, as working with wood came easily to him. This was understandable, as everyone in the village remembered Serhiy's grandfather Mykola, who was a jack-of-all-trades: he could craft not only a window or a door but also build an entire house. After graduating from the vocational school in 2005, Serhiy was drafted for compulsory military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After serving, he lived in Kyiv for some time, working in construction and as a security guard in a cash-in-transit service. In 2007, he got married, and children were born in the marriage — a son, Danylo, and a daughter, Khrystyna. After getting married, he returned with his family to his native village, where he got a job as a forest master at the Yuriv Forestry of the state enterprise "Olevske Forestry" of the Zhytomyr Regional Department of Forestry and Hunting. The forest and nature were his inspiration, his life; Serhiy dedicated all his free time to hunting and fishing. He dreamed of a good hunting weapon, saved money for a long time, and eventually bought a shotgun for hunting, but he didn't even have time to test it… In March 2014, Serhiy Shepetko was called up for military service by mobilization and was appointed as a shooter in the command platoon of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade. From the very first days, being part of the unit in the combat zone, he felt all the hardships of war. The circumstances of the death of soldier Serhiy Petrovych Shepetko once again confirm the heroism, patriotism, and decency of the Ukrainian warrior. He died on August 9, 2014, near the village of Marynivka in the Shakhtarsk district of Donetsk region, remaining beside a seriously wounded comrade, and was shot at close range by a Russian mercenary because he refused to obey the enemy's order."