President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Hero of Ukraine, commander of the 67th brigade, Dmytro Kotsyubailo aka "Da Vinci", died at the front. He died in the battle near Bakhmut.
"Since 2014, he has defended our independence, the dignity of our people. One of the youngest Heroes of Ukraine. One of those whose personal history, character, and courage forever became the history, character, and courage of Ukraine," the president noted.
Dmytro Kotsyubailo was born on November 1, 1995 in the village of Zadnistryanske, now Burshtynska community in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Despite his young age, Dmytro took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity. After that, at the age of 17, he went to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression, and in 2014 he commanded a volunteer platoon, and a year later — a volunteer company.
On March 17, 2016, he was appointed commander of the First Separate Assault Company "Da Vinci Wolves" of the Right Sector Volunteer Corpus, which was reformatted into a battalion.
On November 30, 2021, he was awarded the highest state award — the title of Hero of Ukraine. As stated in the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the high rank was awarded to Dmytro Kotsyubailo "for personal courage shown in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."