Yurii L. Kovalchuk

Born on December 17, 1976, in the city of Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro). On March 24, 2014, he was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 25th Separate Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade of the High Mobility Airborne Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A1126, the urban-type settlement of Hvardiyske, Novomoskovsk district, Dnipropetrovsk region). Since the spring of 2014, he participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in eastern Ukraine. On June 14, 2014, around 1:00 AM, the military transport aircraft IL-76 MD of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while approaching to land at the airport in the city of Luhansk, was shot down by terrorists using a portable anti-aircraft missile system. On board the aircraft were 40 servicemen of the 25th Separate Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade, including Sergeant Kovalchuk, and 9 crew members. As a result of the crash, all personnel of the airborne unit and the aircraft crew were killed. On July 25, 2014, he was buried in the city cemetery of Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro).