Stanislav I. Proshchenko (Patriot)

Master Sergeant Stanislav Proshchenko, known as Patriot, aged 46, was killed on March 1, 2022, in the village of Dorohynka in the Chernihiv region. That day, he and his comrades learned that two enemy fuel trucks had entered the village and their drivers were looting a store. The men decided to destroy them. When they arrived at the scene, a fight broke out. There were six invaders and three Ukrainian defenders. "When the Russian soldiers came out of the store, we captured one of them. Stanislav took out an RPG and fired at the fuel truck. Three Russian soldiers began to flee. Stanislav ran after them... I searched for him after the battle, but in vain. Later, his comrades found him wounded," recalls his comrade-in-arms Dmytro Shmagaio. Stanislav was holding a grenade with the pin pulled out: he was not going to surrender. The man was evacuated to the hospital in Nizhyn already unconscious. He there from his wounds. Stanislav was born in the village of Talalaivka in the Chernihiv region. Later, his family moved to the city of Nizhyn. There he finished school, learned to drive, and served in the army. After the army, he worked in trade. Then he became an entrepreneur. At first, he sold auto parts at the local market, and later he built his own store. "In 2013, Stanislav regularly went to the Maidan. In those terrible days of shootings, he transported people to hospitals. Then the ATO began, and first they took our godfather, and a month later Stanislav went to war as a volunteer," says his wife Natalia. Stanislav fought on the East for more than a year in the 41st BTR. "Stanislav and I were in the same battalion in 2014. Once we were standing near Yenakiieve. We urgently needed thermal imagers. Stas went. In Nizhyn, they collected money, and he brought us those thermal imagers in five days," recalls Anatoly Slipak. After the ATO, Stanislav actively engaged in public activities. He created a veteran community organization in Nizhyn, and at the local TCK - a museum of the ATO. He also contributed to the transfer of village communities from the Moscow Patriarchate to the PTS. He personally financed lawyers who helped properly process this transfer. Stanislav told his relatives that the war would continue. Therefore, together with his comrades, they organized training sessions, bought weapons, and hired instructors. He also supported the local youth patriotic community organization "Dozir Kruk". "In December 2021, they, together with their comrades, developed an evacuation plan for families. When foreign consulates began to withdraw from Ukraine one after another, it became clear that it would start soon. At first, they talked about February 16, but then the attack did not happen. So I asked my husband to go to Truskavets to rest, because we didn't know how much time we had left. And he listened. We were already supposed to return home, but then Putin made his speech. I saw how Stanislav was changing before my eyes. And the next morning at 4:00 am he went home, and we stayed," says Natalia. From February 24, 2022, Stanislav held the position of chief sergeant of the guard company of the Nizhyn District TCK and SP. He was one of the organizers of the defense of Nizhyn in the first days of the invasion. As a member of a mobile fire group, he repeatedly participated in ambushes on columns of invaders. Stanislav's wife Natalia spoke with him on the eve of his death. He asked her to pray for him, saying that difficult times were coming. The next day, a comrade informed her of his death. The defender was buried at the cemetery in Nizhyn, where he lived with his family. Stanislav left behind his wife, two children, mother, and sister. One of the central streets of the city, which was named Moscow, was renamed in his honor. In the village of Dorohynka, on the spot where the warrior was found, his comrades erected a memorial cross in his honor.