The AFUO is deeply saddened to learn that Colonel Sergiy Ilnytskyi, Captain of the Ukrainian National team at the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney, commander of the UDA “South” detachment in the 28th Brigade, and Kyiv City Council deputy, has been tragically killed while defending Ukraine in the Donbas region.
Colonel Ilnytsky won Gold for Ukraine at the Invictus Games and our community fell in love with him. Colonel Ilnytsky had been injured whilst fighting in the Ukrainian Volunteer Army following the start of Russian aggression in 2014. However, injury did not stop him – he was determined to become involved in the Invictus Games to ‘remind the world about the war in Ukraine that continued to take the lives and the health of many Ukrainians’.
With the start of the full-scale invasion, despite being injured, Colonel Ilnytskyi went back to the front line to defend Ukraine.
Having experienced our sun-blessed shores and people whilst here during the Invictus Games, Colonel Ilnytskyi sent his daughter Kateryna to Sydney, Australia, to seek safe haven.
Our hearts go out to Kateryna, and Colonel Ilnytskyi’s wife Oksana and family. We cannot begin to imagine the family’s loss and pain and extend them our deepest sympathies.
We also pay our deepest respect to Colonel Ilnystkyi. A true hero of Ukraine, he has shown untold bravery, courage and selfless dedication to Ukraine’s independence and freedom. He will always be remembered and honoured.
Вічная пам’ять – Eternal Memory.
Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava!
