1984–2022
Kostiantyn Mrochko
Tank gunner, defender of Kyiv region
His war began on his birthday: on 9 April 2014 Kostiantyn Mrochko, a tank man from Volyn, went to the front. He led tanks through a minefield out of Debaltseve, and after some years in Israel he went back to war in 2022 to defend the road to Kyiv. Hero of Ukraine, posthumously.
Key accomplishments
- From April 2014, a tank gunner in eastern Ukraine: fought near Marinka, Mariupol and Ilovaisk
- In Mykola Tyshyk's tank crew, led columns through a minefield out of the Debaltseve area
- From the first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022, defended the Kyiv region and the road to Kyiv with the 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade
- Hero of Ukraine (posthumously; decree No. 127/2022 of 12 March 2022)
A war that began on his birthday
For Kostiantyn Mrochko the war began on 9 April 2014, his birthday: he turned 30 that day. He was born in 1984 in the village of Zhovtneve near Novovolynsk in the Volyn region (now Blahodatne). At school he was the smallest boy in his class, sat at the front desk and dreamed of growing up to be a soldier who would defend his country. In 2003 he did his military service in the tank troops, and in 2009 he graduated from the National University of Food Technologies in Kyiv.
A tank man
In the spring of 2014 Kostiantyn was among the first to go and defend his country in the east, serving as a tank gunner. He fought near Marinka, Mariupol and Ilovaisk. In 2014, the story goes, his crew knocked out several enemy armoured vehicles and lured several more into a swamp. In Mykola Tyshyk’s tank crew he led columns out of the Debaltseve area through a minefield. Later he stood guard at checkpoints near Donetsk and Marinka.
Coming back
For some years, given by sources as 2015–2019 or 2018–2021, Kostiantyn lived in Israel, where he worked in construction and on an organic farm. When russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, he was again among the first to defend his country. With the 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Prince Roman the Great, he fought in the Kyiv region and defended the road to Kyiv. The enemy far outnumbered them, but the tank man’s actions cost it heavy losses.
Kostiantyn Mrochko was killed in action near the village of Lypivka in the Kyiv region on 8 March 2022. He was 37. Four days later, on 12 March, he was posthumously made a Hero of Ukraine, the country’s highest title.
Why it matters today
Kostiantyn Mrochko chose the front twice, though he had another life: peaceful work and a business of his own far from the war. In 2014 he helped lead his comrades out of the most dangerous places in the Donbas, and in 2022 he again stood in the enemy’s way to the capital in the first, hardest weeks of the full-scale war. He showed that a peaceful life built after the war doesn’t cancel your duty to your home when it is in danger again.
