Yuriy Viktorovych Kovalenko (; 16 July 1977 – 15 July 2014) was a Ukrainian military leader, Lieutenant colonel of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

, the deputy commander of the 3rd spetsnaz regiment (

Kirovohrad Kropyvnytskyi (, ) is a city in central Ukraine, situated on the Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Population: Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement was k ...

) South operational command of the Land forces.

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

.Указ Президента України від 31.03.2015 року № 191/2015 «Про присвоєння Ю.Коваленку звання Герой України»
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Biography

Born in

Bershad Bershad (, ; ) is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine, located in the historic region of Podolia. Until 2020 it was the administrative center of the former Bershad Raion. History The first extant mention of Bershad appears in 1459. It was a pri ...

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

. He grew up in a military family - submarine officer. He studied at the secondary school No.2 Bershadska. He graduated from the

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

Military Institute of Land Forces. Military service, first in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

(in one of the regiments of the 93rd Mechanised Division), then - in the

. He participated in the

War in Donbass The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war began in April 2014, when Russian paramilitaries seized several towns. Ukraine's military launched an operation ...

in eastern Ukraine since the beginning in May 2014. His detachment was guarding military facilities, accompanying weights and participated in intelligence operations and battles.Глава держави присвоїв звання Герой України підполковнику Юрію Коваленку
/ref> During the clashes, Yuriy Kovalenko destroyed fifteen armed enemies. To carry out tasks for the protection of the Ukrainian-Russian border near the village of the failures of the Sverdlovsk region,

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...

. For a successful breakthrough intelligence unit he received the rank of Lieutenant colonel through the enemy order of battle. In one of the battles personally rescued a wounded soldier. He was fatally shot on 15 July 2014 during the mortar bombardment. He was buried on 24 July (Florina Cemetery). Kovalenko was survived by his wife and two daughters.

References

External links

Десять героев Украины , Юрий Коваленко
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalenko, Yuriy 1977 births 2014 deaths Deaths by firearm in Ukraine People from Bershad Ukrainian military officers Ukrainian military personnel of the war in Donbas Ukrainian military personnel killed in the war in Donbas Recipients of the Order of Gold Star (Ukraine)