Serhiy Kulchytsky ( uk, Кульчицький Сергій Петрович; 17 December 1963 – 29 May 2014) was head of the military and special training directorate at Ukraine's National Guard. Gen Kulchytsky was killed during the

Siege of Sloviansk The siege of Sloviansk was an operation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to recapture the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast from pro-Russian insurgents who had seized it on 12 April 2014. The city was taken back on 5 July 2014 after shelling ...

, when his helicopter was downed by armed pro-Russian separatists.

Military career

Serhiy Kulchytsky had a military upbringing. His father served with Soviet forces stationed in East Germany. Kulchytsky graduated from the Ussuriysk military college in the Soviet Far East in 1981. He went on to train at the Far Eastern Higher Military Command School in the city of Blagoveshchensk, attaining a distinction in 1985. His military career began with the role of marine platoon commander at the Soviet Northern Fleet, based in Murmansk. Kulchytsky served in the Soviet Northern Fleet until the dissolution of the Union. Once Ukraine became an independent state, Kulchytsky moved to the western Ukraine and became deputy commander of a National Guard battalion in Ternopil in 1992. Moving up the ranks, he became the battalion's commander in 1994. In 2010 he was appointed deputy commander of the Western Command of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's troops by President

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

.BBC.org Obituary of Maj. Gen. Serhiy Kulchytsky
/ref>

Death

Major-General Kulchytsky was travelling with soldiers to Mount Karačun base near Sloviansk when their

MI-8 helicopter The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

was shot down by pro-Russian separatists armed with anti-aircraft weapons. The Major-General, six other National Guardsmen, and six special forces of the Interior Ministry were all killed. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to be killed in action.Euromaidan
/ref>

Funeral

Kulchytsky's funeral procession took place on 31 May, in the western city of

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...

at the Lychakiv cemetery.

S. Kulchytsky Battalion

Ukrainian president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...

congratulated the 27th Brigade of the National Guard with the title ''Sergei Kulchytsky Battalion'', after the recipient of the Hero of Ukraine medal.true-news.info
/ref>

Personal life

Maj-Gen Kulchytsky was married with a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulchytskiy, Serhiy 1963 births 2014 deaths People from Weimar Ukrainian military personnel of the war in Donbas Ukrainian military personnel killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War Major generals of Ukraine Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Ukraine Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Gold Star (Ukraine) Military personnel killed in war in Donbas