Vitalii T. Pienkin

36-year-old serviceman Vitaliy Penkin was killed in action on July 22, 2022, during a missile attack near the city of Apostolove in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Vitaliy was born and lived in the Luhansk region. After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2015, the man moved with his family to the city of Pershotravensk in the Dnipropetrovsk region. He served in a military mining rescue unit, then worked as a miner at DTEK "Dnipro Mine Management". From the first days of the full-scale invasion of the Russian army, Vitaliy joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and went to war. He held the position of grenade launcher in a mechanized unit of increased firepower. "Vitaliy was a positive person, a good friend, a loving husband and father, and a motivated Ukrainian," noted the Pershotravensk community. "He worked at the mine as a miner of the preparatory works department No. 2. He went to defend Mother Ukraine on February 28. He was an honest person, a true patriot of Ukraine," Vitaliy's colleagues said. The hero left behind his parents, wife, and two children. Soldier Vitaliy Penkin was posthumously awarded the medal "For Military Service to Ukraine".