Serhii Yu. Hryhoriev (Yuriiovych)

Soldier Serhii Hryhoriev (call sign Yuriiovych) was killed in Russian captivity on May 20, 2023. He was in the correctional colony of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov region. The man's body was only returned a year after his death, and in May 2024 he was identified through a DNA test. Serhii was 59 years old. He was born in Port Arthur (Russia) but moved to Ukraine, Poltava region, as a child. He graduated from Pyriatyn Secondary School No. 6, then served in the military. In civilian life, he held positions as a driver in a deep drilling oil and gas exploration expedition in Pyriatyn, a stoker-fireman at the Pyriatyn oil depot, and a driver in the "Rainbowa" and "Builder" cooperatives. Later, he worked as a construction worker at the Pyriatyn Training and Retraining Center. From 2012 to 2016, he was the deputy director for the economic part of the Pyriatyn Lyceum. In February 2020, he went on military service under contract. He participated twice in the Joint Forces Operation in eastern Ukraine and was awarded the "Cossack Cross" of the III degree. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Serhii was in Mariupol, serving as a driver at the Marine Guard Training Center (military unit A1499). Later, he was assigned to the 36th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilinsky. Contact with him was maintained until mid-April 2022, after which he was captured by Russian troops. He was buried in Pyriatyn, Poltava region. Serhii is survived by his mother, brother, wife, and two daughters.