Viktor O. Kozak

Born on March 27, 1979, in the village of Maistyry in the Novograd-Volynskyi district of the Zhytomyr region. He graduated from a general education school and in 1998 from the Novograd-Volynskyi Machine Engineering College (now the Novograd-Volynskyi Industrial and Economic College). Until December 2013, he served under contract in the 144th Separate Battalion of Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A2986, city of Novograd-Volynskyi, Zhytomyr region). Since December 2013, he has been in the 12th Separate Operational Support Regiment of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A3814 (field post V2381), city of Novograd-Volynskyi, Zhytomyr region). He participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. On February 15, 2015, a column of Ukrainian military vehicles moving along a field road from the urban-type settlement of Luhanske in the Donetsk region towards the city of Debaltseve in the Donetsk region was ambushed by Russian-terrorist groups near the village of Nyzhne Lozove in the Artemivsk (now Bakhmut) district of the Donetsk region. During the battle with the enemy, Senior Warrant Officer Kozak and Senior Sergeant Cherniavskyi were killed. On March 6, 2015, he was buried in the cemetery of the village of Maistyry in the Novograd-Volynskyi district of the Zhytomyr region. On May 11, 2017, a memorial plaque was unveiled in the city of Novograd-Volynskyi on the facade of the Novograd-Volynskyi Industrial and Economic College (Shevchenka Street, 38), where Viktor Kozak studied. On October 11, 2019, a memorial plaque to Viktor Kozak was unveiled on the administrative building in the village of Maistyry, Novograd-Volynskyi district.