Skip to content
Edit post

Family and fellow soldiers bid farewell to heroic colonel Gudz killed in Donbas

by Anna Myroniuk March 16, 2022 5:24 AM 4 min read
Soldiers hold medals and a portray of Valeriy Gudz, a Ukrainian colonel killed in battle, during the commemoration ceremony in Boryspil on March 15, 2022.
This audio is created with AI assistance

Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.

Become a member Support us just once

BORYSPIL, KYIV OBLAST – About a hundred people gathered in a city memorial park to say their last goodbyes to an outstanding combat commander, colonel Valeriy Gudz, who had been killed in a battle near Russian-occupied Luhansk on March 12.

Gudz, 51, had defended Ukraine from Russia’s army since the early days of war in 2014. He grew from a platoon leader to a brigade commander. He freed his soldiers from captivity and rescued them in battle. For his heroic deeds he received a handful of medals.

“He was very brave. He always personally checked all the frontline positions despite his high rank,” said Natalya Sychova, a friend and a volunteer.

“He took care of his soldiers, was like father to them,” she went on.

His comrades-in-arms held the farewell ceremony on March 15 to the sounds of shell explosions. Boryspil, Gudz’s hometown, is 30 kilometers west of the positions of Russian forces that have been moving toward Kyiv.

As Russian soldiers try to besiege Ukraine’s capital, Gudz’s task was to push them out from the country’s east, something he proved to be good at during eight years of war.

Friends and colleagues kneel in commemoration of Valeriy Gudz during a remembrance ceremony in Boryspil on March 15, 2022. (Anna Myroniuk)
A fellow soldier kisses the coffin of Valeriy Gudz during remembrance ceremony in Boryspil on March 15, 2022. (Anna Myroniuk)

The last battle

When Russia declared its full-scale war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, Gudz was on a scheduled training for military commanders. He immediately dropped it and returned to the frontline.

Two days later he was killed.

“He died in his first fight,” said Olena Mokrenchuk, a friend of the Gudz family and a press officer of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

But the war in Donbas had escalated and Gudz was needed there.

“The situation was very serious. There was a threat of encirclement of our main forces, and it was necessary to conduct an operation to prevent it,” she said, “that's why he was sent there. His skills and his knowledge were vital.”

The battle took place near Popasna, a city 100 kilometers to the west of Russian-occupied Luhansk. Gudz knew both the positions and the people well, Mokrenchuk said, as he had served there as a commander of the 24th Mechanized Brigade before he left for training.

“This really shows his character. He did not arrive and start unpacking, making himself comfortable in a new chair. Instead, he went straight into a fight,” she said.

A ‘father’ to his soldiers

In the 2000s Gudz retired to reserve after serving in the army for 10 years.

He then became a teacher of pre-service training for young men.

Among his students was Vyacheslav Pecheniuk, a former soldier and now a member of the territorial defense force.

“He showed me boxing, I did it for three years. He constantly tried to keep me next to him, so I didn’t get into trouble,” Pecheniuk said.

“He was a role model and someone I was proud of,” he added.

In 2014, Pecheniuk joined the Ukrainian army like Gudz. He served on the frontline for one year. After a break he decided to return and signed up for Gudz’s brigade.

“And here again he was keeping me next to him. Did not let me join the intelligence unit,” he said, adding that Gudz was worried for his safety.

Together they served in Avdiivka, a hotspot in the war in Donetsk Oblast. For some time Pecheniuk was Gudz’s driver.

“A funny thing. Every time I was driving him somewhere he was reading a book. He was well-read, smart,” he said.

Gudz's nickname was “79," the number of the first brigade he served in, but soldiers say everyone called him by his patronymic, Fedorovych, in a very fatherly way.

Soldiers carry the coffin of Valeriy Gudz, a Ukrainian colonel killed in battle, during the commemoration ceremony in Boryspil on March 15, 2022. (Anna Myroniuk)
Soldiers hold the Ukrainian flag over the coffin of Valeriy Gudz during a remembrance ceremony in Boryspil on March 15, 2022. (Anna Myroniuk)

A hero of the city

“Heroes do not die,” said the abbot of St. Nicholas Church, Father Nicholas, who held the ceremony.

“However, no one is born a hero. You can grow into one,” he went on.

Gudz was a hero, he said, because he defended the country and the city and earned people’s respect.

He is buried in Knishov Memorial Park next to other heroes of Ukraine including the crew of an aircraft downed by Russia in Slovyansk in June 2014.

“Thanks to people like him we only felt what war is really like 20 days ago. Prior to that, he guarded our peace and defended our quiet sky including over Boryspil,” said city mayor Volodymyr Borysenko.

“We will never forget and never forgive,” he said.

Men throw soil on the coffin of colonel Valeriy Gudz in a memorial park in Boryspil on March 15, 2022. (Anna Myroniuk)
Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.
Freedom can be costly. Both Ukraine and its journalists are paying a high price for their independence. Support independent journalism in its darkest hour. Support us for as little as $1, and it only takes a minute.
visa masterCard americanExpress

News Feed

Ukraine Daily
News from Ukraine in your inbox
Ukraine news
Please, enter correct email address
5:30 AM

Ukrainian POWs faced conditional release from Hungary.

Two Ukrainian prisoners of war, part of a group of 11 handed over to Hungary by Russia in June 2023, said in an interview to Deutsche Welle, that Hungarian representatives imposed conditions preventing their return to Ukraine until the war's end.
3:16 AM

Estonian police arrest citizen who reported for Russian state media.

Estonian police have arrested Svetlana Burceva, an Estonian citizen, for allegedly violating international sanctions having served as a reporter for Russian state sponsored Balt News - an arm of the Kremlin-run Russia Today (RT) news outlet, Estonian publication Eesti Ekspress reported on March 27.
9:03 PM

Prague sanctions Medvedchuk over 'influence operations' in Czechia, EU.

Fiala said that Viktor Medvedchuk and another sanction individual, Ukrainian-Israeli pro-Kremlin propagandist Artem Marchevskyi, "oversaw several influence operations and networks from the Russian Federation" and sought to influence social discourse in Czechia through the Voice of Europe organization, which was also placed on the sanctions list.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.