Yevhenii L. Kerzhner (Hoha)

40-year-old Junior Sergeant Yevhen Kerzhner (call sign Goha) was killed on July 16, 2024, near the village of Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region. During the performance of a combat mission, he suffered a fatal explosive injury and shrapnel wound to the neck. Yevhen was born and lived in Kyiv. In 2001, he graduated from Kyiv Vocational School No. 12 and obtained the profession of a shoemaker with individual shoe sewing. However, he was able to work with everything: wood, electricity, etc. In 2014-2015, he participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation. Before the full-scale invasion, he was the director at LLC "Expomobile and Co." With the beginning of the Great War, the man stood up to defend his state. In March 2022, he was mobilized into the ranks of the National Guard of Ukraine. Initially, he was appointed as a rifleman in the 1st Presidential Brigade "Bureviy." Later, he was transferred to the 13th Operational Designation Brigade "Khartiya." In 2023, he took part in battles in the Lyman-Kupiansk direction, where he received concussions and wounds. Immediately after treatment, he returned to the ranks. He provided defense and clearance of the Serebrianskyi forestry in the Luhansk region. After that, he underwent training in the United Kingdom and Germany. And again, he returned to the frontline. In September 2023, he was awarded the "Golden Cross" distinction. "My dad was a very bright and always smiling person. He was very hardworking, it seems to me that he could do everything. You could always come to him for advice and get support," said Karina Kerzhner. Yevhen was buried at the Berkovetskyi cemetery in the capital. The defender left behind his mother, brothers, wife, and two children.