Today, Ukraine commemorates the service members and volunteers who sacrificed their lives defending the country’s independence and sovereignty. This day was established by Presidential Decree No. 621/2019 on August 23, 2019.

August 29 holds significance as it marks one of the most tragic events of the Russo-Ukrainian War: the day when Ukrainian troops withdrew from Ilovaisk. On that day, Russian authorities assured the safe withdrawal of Ukrainian forces under the condition that they leave their weapons. However, shortly after Ukrainian columns began moving through the humanitarian corridor, Russian troops unexpectedly opened fire on them.

The sunflower became the symbol of this Day as a representation of the Ukrainian lands where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers sacrificed their lives. This flower is now a symbol of the courage of the Ukrainian soldier and the life of Ukraine.

On this day, Ukraine lost the most enormous number of its defenders during the entire period of the Anti-Terrorist Operation. As a result of the Russians’ insidiousness, the Ukrainian army lost 366 soldiers, 429 were wounded, 158 went missing, and 300 were taken prisoner.

Among those killed in those days were natives of Crimea. On August 26, 2014, junior police lieutenant Maksym Zhekov, born on August 22, 1985, in Sevastopol, was killed during the battle near Ilovaisk. He was a senior inspector of a platoon of the battalion of the Special Police Patrol Service “Kherson” of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kherson region.

On August 29, 2014, three Crimeans—Serhii Smyrnov, Yurii Banas, and Oleksii Zatyliuk—were killed while leaving through the so-called “green corridor”. Senior Warrant Officer Serhii Smyrnov, commander of the 51st Separate Mechanized Brigade, was born on April 26, 1975, in the village of Pryvilne, the Perekop region. He died near the village of Novokaterynivka, the Starobesheve district, the Donetsk region.

At the crossroads from the village of Pobieda to the village of Novokaterynivka, Sergeant Yurii Banas, a senior driver of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, was killed. He was born on November 22, 1978, in Rozdolne, the Perekop district. 23-year-old reserve soldier Oleksii Zatylyuk (codename “Breeze”), originally from Yedy-Kuiu, was a commander of the 2nd Battalion of Special Assignment “Donbas” of the National Guard of Ukraine. On the morning of August 29, he was driving in a GAZelle as part of a battalion convoy on the road from the village of Mnohopillia to the village of Chervonosilske. He was fatally wounded when the convoy was fired upon with machine guns.

Today, we recall a few names of Crimeans who have stood up to the aggressor since 2014 and defended their homeland.

Hennadii Afanasiev, Seiran Kadyrov, Vladyslav Bilyi, Petro Korol, Serhii Kokurin, Stanislav Karachevskyi, Oleksii Krementar, Andrii Bielkin, Ivan Yakushyn, Oleksandr Brychuk, Serhii Onchurov (codename «Smerch»), Viktor Obolientsev, Volodymyr Stepanok, Oleksii Ostashevskyi, Ruslan Chukhas, Stepan Kryvoruchenko (codename «Vuzh»), Dmytro Labutkin, Oleksandr Yevsiukov (codename «Dok»), Volodymyr Melnykov, Yehor Bolshakov, Mykola Andrushchenko (codename «Krym»), Oleksandr Yakhnovskyi, Pavlo Vozhdiev, Oleksandr Balkovyi (codename «Balka»), Ihor Broshchak, Borys Hriaznov, Oleksandr Humeniuk, Yurii Doronin, Yurii Zaitsev, Lenur Ibadullaiev (codename «Shakh»), Serhii Kovryha (codename «Lialik»), Serhii Kornieiev, Oleksandr Liptuha, Roman Mamasuiev, Oleksii Martakov (codename «Did»), Vitalii Maslianka, Ruslan Muzhdabaiev (codename «Tataryn»), Heorhii Olkhovskyi (codename «Olkha»), Oleksandr Samosadov (codename «Pushkar»), Serhii Smirnov, Yurii Tokariev, Fedir Uhrin (codename «Profesor»), Oleksandr Shumeiko (codename «Shum»), Dmytro Shcheptsov, Oleksii Yavorskyi, Vitalii Skakun, Dmytro Chumachenko, Andrii Kuznietsov, Vladyslav Bohdanovych, Ihor Bedzai, Smail Memetov, Oleksandr Klepikov, Tymur Mateiev, Hennadii Dolholikov, Ismet Seitiahaiev, Svitlana Polishchuk, Sviatoslav Aleksapolskyi, Oleksii Boldyriev, Umer Volkov, Anton Havrylov, Oleksandr Humeniuk, Yurii Doronin, Dmytro Kabakov, Oleksandr Korpan, Anton Savytskyi, Oleksandr Serhieiev, Anton Soloviov, Oleksandr Tarasenko, Nadir Tarkhan, Serhii Turpetko, Oleksandr Kharin.

The list is not exhaustive, but we hope that very soon, we will stop reading news about the deaths of the best of people. In the meantime, we commemorate and fight for every one of them.

Thank you, soldiers. Eternal and blessed memory to the fallen defenders of Ukraine!

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The publication was created in cooperation with the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.