Yurii S. Smetanin

Born on September 24, 1979, in the city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region. Later, he moved with his family to the city of Henichesk, Kherson region. In 1996, he graduated from secondary school No. 2 (now a gymnasium) in the city of Henichesk. He has been in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 1996. In 2000, he graduated from the Odessa Institute of Ground Forces (now the Military Academy). Since 2012, he served in the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A0666 (field post V0095), the urban-type settlement of Chornomorske, Kominternivskyi (since 2016 - Lyman) district of Odessa region), his last position was deputy commander of the weapons company of the 3rd mechanized battalion. He participated in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. On September 12, 2016, around 16:00, near the villages of Nyzhnioteple and Lyubomyrivka (formerly Artema) in the Stanytsia Luhanska district of Luhansk region, a serviceman shot his comrades with an automatic weapon during a conflict. As a result of the shootout, Captain Yuriy Smetanin and soldier Oleksandr Androsovych were killed, and five other servicemen were injured of varying degrees of severity. The killer fled but was later apprehended near the scene of the tragedy. On September 15, 2016, he was buried in the cemetery of the village of Haivoye, Henichesk district, Kherson region.