1995–2023
Dmytro Kotsiubailo
Commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves”
A volunteer who went to the front at 18, in 2014, and in eight years rose from platoon commander to commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion. The first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime (2021). He was killed near Bakhmut in 2023.
Key accomplishments
- Volunteer from 2014; a company commander from 2015, later of the 1st Assault Company of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
- The first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime (decree No. 608/2021)
- Built and led the 1st Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” within the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade (2022)
- Named to Forbes Ukraine’s “30 Under 30” list (2022)
Who he was
Dmytro Kotsiubailo was born in 1995 in the village of Zadnistrianske in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and went to school in nearby Bovshiv. He drew well from childhood, which is where his call sign “Da Vinci” came from. In 2014, straight after the Revolution of Dignity, he went to war as an 18-year-old volunteer with the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.
His story
In 2014 Kotsiubailo was badly wounded in Pisky in the Donetsk region; after rehabilitation he returned to the front. From 2015 he commanded a company, later the 1st Assault Company of the Volunteer Corps, which became known as the “Da Vinci Wolves”. On 30 November 2021 a presidential decree made him a Hero of Ukraine: he was the first volunteer to receive the title during his lifetime. Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented him with the Gold Star order in the Verkhovna Rada.
In spring 2022, after the full-scale invasion began, his company was expanded into the 1st Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” within the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade. That year Forbes Ukraine included Kotsiubailo in its “30 Under 30” list. On 7 March 2023 he was killed in battle near Bakhmut, aged 27.
Why it matters today
On 10 March 2023 Kotsiubailo’s funeral service was held at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, attended by the President of Ukraine and Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, and then thousands of people said goodbye to him on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. He was buried at Askold’s Grave in Kyiv, where a monument was unveiled in November 2024: the soldier at full height with three wolves beside him. Streets in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk and other cities now bear his name, a fountain in Lviv is dedicated to him, and the school in Bovshiv is named after him.
