1988–2022
Valerii Chybinieiev
Sniper and intelligence officer, Hero
An officer from Berdiansk who commanded a sniper company of the 79th Air Assault Brigade and from 2014 fought at Lyman, Donetsk airport and Avdiivka. Hero of Ukraine (2016). Later a military intelligence officer, he was killed near Hostomel defending Kyiv, on his 34th birthday.
Key accomplishments
- Commander of a sniper company in the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade
- Fought at Lyman, in the defense of Donetsk airport and at Avdiivka (2014–2016)
- Hero of Ukraine with the Gold Star order (decree No. 348/2016)
- Officer of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (HUR), took part in the defense of the Kyiv region in 2022
Who he was
Valerii Chybinieiev was born in 1988 in Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region. He lost his parents early and grew up in a boarding school. He chose a military career: he studied at the Zaporizhzhia Military Lyceum and in 2010 graduated from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny Academy of Land Forces in Lviv as a lieutenant.
His story
In the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade Chybinieiev commanded a sniper company. From 2014 he fought in the east: in the battles for Lyman, near Biriukove and Izvaryne in the Luhansk region, in the defense of Donetsk airport, and in 2016 near Avdiivka, where he was wounded. On 23 August 2016 Captain Chybinieiev was made a Hero of Ukraine, and the next day, at the parade for the 25th anniversary of independence, the President presented him with the Gold Star on Khreshchatyk.
He later moved to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR). After the full-scale invasion began, he defended the Kyiv region. On 3 March 2022, his 34th birthday, Lieutenant Colonel Chybinieiev was killed in battle near Hostomel.
Why it matters today
The fighting around Hostomel in the first days of the invasion helped stop the Russian advance on Kyiv. In February 2024 Kyiv City Council renamed Chernihivska Street in the Darnytskyi district as Brothers Chybinieiev Street, in honor of Valerii and his brother Roman, who was killed at the front in 2019.
