1993–2022
Daniil Safonov
Patrol officer, defender of Mariupol
When russian-backed militants seized his home city of Donetsk in 2014, he refused to live under occupation. Daniil Safonov served in the artillery, became a patrol officer in Mariupol, and in 2022 helped evacuate people from the city and defended Azovstal. Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
Key accomplishments
- Served on contract in the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade in 2016–2019 and fought in eastern Ukraine
- Patrol police officer in Mariupol from 2019
- Defended Mariupol in 2022; with his colleagues helped evacuate more than 4,000 people from the city
- Hero of Ukraine (posthumously; Decree No. 421/2023)
What do you do when your city is taken?
Daniil Safonov was born in 1993 in Donetsk. He graduated from the Donetsk College of Industrial Automation. His family wanted him to become an engineer, but he followed his father and grandfather and worked as a miner. In spring 2014 he went to pro-Ukrainian rallies in his home city. When russian-backed militants seized Donetsk, he refused to stay under occupation and moved to his grandmother’s in Mariupol, where he had spent his childhood summers.
Gunner, then patrol officer
In Mariupol, Daniil worked at the pretrial detention centre, checking who came in and out. Later he moved to Terebovlia in Ternopil Oblast. The war in the east gave him no peace, so in 2016–2019 he served on contract in the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade and fought in eastern Ukraine. In 2019 he went back to Mariupol and joined the patrol police.
Daniil never took bribes and lived from paycheck to paycheck. “I could have taken them… But then I start thinking: I fought. And my comrades died. What was it all for, then, if I take bribes now?” he said.
Mariupol, 2022
When allied intelligence warned that a full-scale war was coming, Daniil resigned from the police to rejoin the army. He was talked into staying: the police would have plenty of work too, stopping looters and helping civilians.
After the full-scale invasion, Daniil defended Mariupol. His colleagues say that together with other police officers he helped get more than 4,000 people out of the city, about a thousand of them children. He helped the injured and cleared rubble at the destroyed drama theatre. He wrote about life in the besieged city on Twitter (X) as “Daniil from the hero city of Mariupol”, and tens of thousands of people followed his posts. In April 2022 he and his comrades moved to the Azovstal steelworks, where he built fortifications and took part in the fighting.
Police Lieutenant Daniil Safonov was killed by mortar fire at Azovstal on 2 May 2022. He was 28. In 2023 he was made a Hero of Ukraine posthumously.
Why it matters today
Daniil Safonov lost his home city in 2014, but he never gave up on Ukraine: he joined the army, then the police, to protect people and help them. In Mariupol in 2022 he did both: he got people out from under the shelling and held the line. His is the story of a man from Donetsk who chose Ukraine to the end, and the people he could save.
