Volodymyr V. Kukuruza (Maiami)

Soldier Volodymyr Kukuruza (call sign Miami) was killed on June 5, 2023 in a battle near the settlement of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region. The defender sustained fatal injuries during a mortar and artillery barrage. In July, the warrior would have turned 28 years old. Volodymyr was born in the village of Fedkivtsi, Ternopil region. He graduated from the 9th grade of the Starovyshnivetska school and the Halytskyi Vocational College named after V. Chornovil. Later, he obtained a higher education at the Ternopil National Technical University named after I. Puliui, majoring in Finance and Credit. Since the age of 18, he worked at the "SE-Bordnetze Ukraine" plant in Ternopil, where at the age of 25 he was already a shift foreman. He was fond of football and loved to read. During the full-scale war, the man became a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the ranks of the separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, holding the position of a grenadier. "Volodya was one of those whom everyone loved. Cheerful, intelligent, generous and straightforward. He always had a lot of friends, and his family adored him. He always wanted to be the first in everything. He was a sincere patriot of Ukraine! He volunteered for the war in the first days of the full-scale invasion, believing in victory and the Ukrainian idea," said the fallen soldier's sister, Mariana Chornenska. The warrior was buried in the village of Staryi Vyshnivets in his native Ternopil region. At home, Volodymyr was awaited by his parents, sister, fiancée and a daughter, who was 6 years old at the time of his death.