Serhii V. Yarmolenko (Zyma)

Junior Lieutenant Serhii Yarmolenko (call sign Winter) was killed on June 14, 2023, in a battle with the occupiers near the village of Rozdolivka in the Donetsk region. As a result of the close detonation of an enemy artillery shell, he sustained a fatal mine-explosive injury. In May, the officer turned 40 years old. Serhii was from the city of Vinnytsia. Since 2014, he had lived in Kyiv. In 2006, he graduated from Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, where he obtained a law degree. In 2017, he became a graduate of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies. Prior to the full-scale invasion, Serhii was a criminal law attorney, an expert, and a co-author of a program for developing the soft skills of newly elected prosecutors at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as well as the coordinator of the international cooperation direction of the expert committee on the development of the artificial intelligence field at the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Earlier, he was a prosecutor. He loved running and participated in many charitable marathons, including being an ultramarathoner - he organized and completed the 100-kilometer "Run of Kindness" run for the "Tabletochki" Foundation. In the first days of the full-scale invasion of the occupiers, the man without hesitation joined the ranks of the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces and defended Kyiv. He served in the 241st separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was the commander of the anti-aircraft missile and artillery platoon of the fire support company of the 207th battalion. In 2022, he was awarded the "For the Defense of Ukraine" distinction. "Serhii ran 100 km, raising donations for children with cancer. He involved other runners in this race and surrounded himself with support. His courage and deeds will serve as an example for future generations," said Mila Poberezhnuk, the organizer of the Vinnytsia running community "NoBoringRunners." "Serhii was an outstanding professional in the field of criminal justice and a noble man. He was an investigator in the most high-profile investigations. He made a lot of efforts to change and develop the criminal justice system. And at the crucial moment for the country, he went to defend our land from the Russian invaders," noted the page "Lawyer of the Future." "Serhii's death is a heavy, irreparable loss for all of us. We cannot alleviate the pain, but we promise to preserve the memory of Serhii as a caring, spiritual, and bright person - a Hero, faithful to Ukraine until the end," added the Ukrainian School of Political Studies. "My last conversation with you was about you being tired of sitting in the positions in the North and wanting to storm the positions in the East. About you wanting to join the Airborne Forces. About the difficulties of the transfer. You managed to do it. You stormed the positions and destroyed the enemies. Thank you for being there and holding the sky. I'm sure you're still holding it now," wrote his friend Darya Pysarenko. The officer was buried in the Alley of Glory in his native Vinnytsia. Serhii is survived by his mother, wife, daughter, and other relatives and comrades-in-arms.