![]() ![]() Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsiubailo, commander of the First Motorized Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves,” looks over the shoulder of an aerial reconnaissance drone operator in Kherson Oblast in March of 2022. In 2016, Kotsiubailo – who was only 21 at the time – became the commander of the First Assault Company, which has operated under the name “Da Vinci Wolves” ever since. For years, DUK were autonomous volunteer formations independent from the Ukrainian military, taking part in some of the toughest battles in the east of Ukraine. The young soldier was a part of the First Assault Company within the 5th battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (DUK), a military wing of the Right Sector – a Ukrainian nationalist movement. She says Kotsiubailo barely ever left the front line in the nine years of Russia’s ongoing war. “Eastern Ukraine truly was his home,” Melaniya Podolyak, a Ukrainian activist and Serhiy Prytula Foundation project coordinator, who knew Kotsiubailo, told the Kyiv Independent. He was wounded by a Russian tank shell in battle in Donetsk Oblast that same year, but came back to the front line having recovered just three months later. When shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine’s Donbas and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, Kotsiubailo took up arms. He was an active participant of the EuroMaidan Revolution, also known as the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014, when Ukrainians took to the streets to topple pro-Russian then-President Viktor Yanukovych. Kotsiubailo was born in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. Kotsiubailo, who was one of the youngest commanders in Ukrainian history, was killed by Russia near Bakhmut on March 7, 2023. Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsiubailo, commander of the First Motorized Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves,” speaks on the phone in Donetsk Oblast in August of 2022. “He lived and died like a hero,” the post said. “He died with a weapon in his hands… going into the battle first” his battalion wrote on their official Telegram channel. ![]() Kotsiubailo was the commander of the First Mechanized Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves.” “Dmytro showed, through his example, how to love and defend your country,” the priest went on. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery on March 10, with hundreds of people clustered inside around Kotsiubailo’s body and his family. ![]() “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s horde is taking our most beautiful sons and daughters,” said the priest during the memorial service at the St. This time, it was 27-year-old Dmytro Kotsiubailo, known by his call sign “Da Vinci.” He was one of the youngest commanders in Ukrainian history, a legendary soldier, and a Hero of Ukraine, killed by Russia near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, on March 7. Somebody for whom thousands, both friends and strangers, would gather in central Kyiv to say final goodbyes. Somebody who many perceived as “immortal” because the country’s future was hard to imagine without their dedication and patriotism. A young, bright Ukrainian who had a long life to live. ![]()
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