Yurii A. Kudlinskyi (Sem)

Sergeant Yuriy Kudlinskyi (call sign Sam) was killed on December 28, 2022, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Zolotarivka in the Luhansk region. The warrior was 44 years old. Yuriy was born and lived in Kyiv. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the National Pedagogical University named after Mykhailo Drahomanov. He retrained many times. He was both a teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature, and the head of the control and audit department of gas stations. He was interested in the history of Ukraine. He loved museums and travels around Ukraine. He dreamed of a house in the Carpathians. For a while, he was engaged in martial arts. After the birth of his firstborn, he devoted the rest of his life to his family, children, and active recreation together. He played the guitar and sang beautifully. He loved Ukrainian music. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the man joined the ranks of the territorial defense. Therefore, from the first days of the great war, he immediately stood up to defend Ukraine from the occupiers. He fought as part of the 130th battalion of the 241st separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces. He was a machine gunner and a squad leader. Together with the unit, he fought in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. "Dad is an eternal fighter for justice. This is evidenced by the love of his students, whom he taught at the school of the Ukrainian language and literature since the age of 17. Our family did not know a single Russian word, because we were born and raised as patriots. His reputation was never tarnished, he was hated for not taking bribes, being honest, devoted to his duties and principles. An active participant in the Revolution of Dignity from the first to the last day, where he received injuries, but went through the pain and continued to defend the interests of the country. Even before the full-scale invasion, he joined the 241st brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces. Having never held a weapon in his hands before, he ended up in the hottest areas of the front. He saved the lives of several military personnel during the performance of combat missions. He himself received a severe concussion, one hand did not work. But even this did not stop him! As a machine gunner, dad hurried to return to that hell as soon as possible. There was fear... But he continued the fight with extremely high blood pressure. Every day he suffered from the pressure, but he was faithful to the military oath, his comrades-in-arms, and Ukraine. When they tried to stop him, he said: "And how many more years can this last? How much blood of our military and civilians has been shed? They will pay a heavy price for all this. I will do everything to avenge every killed child, the tears of women, my comrades-in-arms. I want my children and grandchildren to live under a peaceful sky. I know how this can end, but I will do everything in my power to return home and hug you. Don't worry, everything will be fine with me. We need Victory!" Now his younger son, who is only 6 years old, proudly wears his father's chevrons, and when his peers ask where his father is, he is silent until the end, and then shouts: "My dad is a Hero! He died in the war, defending Ukraine." The enemy mine stopped his life, but did not stop his spirit. He left as a true warrior. The scariest thing was to buy a coffin instead of a gift for dad for the New Year's holidays," the fallen warrior's daughter Anastasia said. Yuriy was buried at the Berkovetsky cemetery in Kyiv. At home, he was awaited by his wife Oksana, daughter Anastasia, and two sons: Dmytro and Ostap.