Serhii S. Burakhtin (Hopnik)

Sergeant Serhii Burakhtin (call sign "Gopnik) was killed on August 16, 2023, in the area of the settlement of Dachi in the Kherson region. While carrying out a combat mission, he received a fatal shrapnel wound. In a week, on August 23, he would have turned 26 years old. Serhii was from the village of Ivakhny, Cherkasy region. In 2014, after finishing school, he enrolled in the Monastyryshche Vocational Lyceum, where he obtained the qualifications of an electric and gas welder and a category "C" driver. Later, he moved to Odesa. In 2021, he graduated from the Odesa National Maritime University and obtained a master's degree in navigation and ship management. During his studies, he worked as a barista, waiter, bartender, and administrator, and also went to earn money in Poland and the Czech Republic. In his final year, he got a job as a receiver at "Nova Poshta". He loved running various distances and had several personal records, enjoyed spending time with friends, reading, and playing chess. He adored the sea and his beloved Odesa. On February 24, 2022, Serhii went to the military enlistment office, but they did not take him into the army due to the queues. Finally, at the end of March, he joined the ranks of the defenders. Initially, he stood at checkpoints, and then took the position of a rifleman in a rifle platoon of a rifle company of the 122nd separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Serhii's unit was sent to the border with Transnistria, as they were expecting an attack from there. In the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the man underwent many trainings and exercises in Ukraine and abroad. After training in Germany, Serhii's assault unit was redeployed to the flooded left bank of the Kherson region. The warriors were supposed to work for 10 days and then return. However, this combat mission became the last for Serhii. "Serhii was given the call sign 'Gopnik'. His innate nobility did not at all fit the call sign with which his comrades had awarded him. This was because during the mobilization, he simply did not have enough uniform and at first he went around half-dressed, which was enough to receive the call sign. My brother was a very bright, sincere, generous and empathetic person. He loved and knew how to live, taught those around him to do the same. He always had his own point of view on things and events. He helped homeless animals and people in distress. His death is an irreparable loss for me, the family, his comrades, his girlfriend, friends and the country as a whole," said the deceased's elder sister Kateryna Skrygun. The hero is buried in his native village. Serhii is survived by his grandmother Liubov Mykolaivna and his sister Kateryna. Serhii Burakhtin was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage III degree. A memorial plaque in his honor was installed in his native village.