1973–2015
Ivan Zubkov
Fire-support platoon commander
A businessman who hadn't held a rifle in sixteen years went back to war in 2014 and became his battalion's go-to man for fixing weapons. Senior Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov, call sign “Krab”, commanded a fire-support platoon at Donetsk airport. Hero of Ukraine, posthumously, 2015.
Key accomplishments
- Took part in the Revolution of Dignity (winter 2013-2014)
- Volunteered for mobilization in 2014; deputy commander of the fire-support company, 90th Separate Airborne Battalion “Zhytomyr” (81st Separate Airborne Brigade)
- From 18 January 2015, commanded a fire-support platoon in assault operations to relieve the defenders of Donetsk airport
- Hero of Ukraine, posthumously, with the Order of the Gold Star (decree No. 318/2015 of 9 June 2015); the 90th Battalion was renamed in his honor
From a factory manager back to the front
Ivan Zubkov was born on 1 November 1973 in Derazhnia, in the Khmelnytskyi region. In 1991 he entered the Lviv Higher Military-Political School, later transferring to the Kyiv Higher Naval School. He served in the armed forces until 1998, then spent sixteen years away from the military, working as a commercial director and later running his own business.
In the winter of 2013-2014 he stood on the Maidan during the Revolution of Dignity, and in August 2014, when mobilization began, he volunteered. He was assigned to the 90th Separate Airborne Battalion “Zhytomyr” of the 81st Separate Airborne Brigade, becoming deputy commander of its fire-support company. His comrades valued him for another skill too: he could repair and tune any weapon in the unit.
Donetsk airport
In November 2014 the battalion was deployed to the Donbas. On 18 January 2015, Senior Lieutenant Zubkov took command of a fire-support platoon in assault operations meant to relieve the defenders of Donetsk airport - the men who would become known as “cyborgs,” among them Valerii Chybinieiev and Ihor Branovytskyi. He was wounded in the hand the next day but stayed in the fight.
On 20 January 2015, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov was killed under the collapsed second floor of the airport’s new terminal while covering his unit’s withdrawal. He was 41.
How he is remembered
On 9 June 2015, Ivan Zubkov was posthumously made a Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Gold Star. That same year, the 90th Separate Airborne Battalion he had served in was renamed in his honor. In his hometown of Derazhnia, memorial plaques were placed on the schools where he had studied.
