1995–2023
Dmytro Kotsiubailo
Commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves”
A boy nicknamed “Da Vinci” for his gift for drawing, he volunteered for the front at 18 and rose to command the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion. The first volunteer made a Hero of Ukraine in his lifetime. He was killed near Bakhmut in 2023.
Key accomplishments
- Volunteer from 2014; a company commander from 2015, later of the 1st Assault Company of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
- The first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime (decree No. 608/2021)
- Built and led the 1st Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” within the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade (2022)
- Named to Forbes Ukraine’s “30 Under 30” list (2022)
Why “Da Vinci”?
Dmytro Kotsiubailo was born in 1995 in the village of Zadnistrianske in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He drew well from childhood, which is where his call sign “Da Vinci” came from. He went to school in nearby Bovshiv, and in 2014, straight after the Revolution of Dignity, he went to war as an 18-year-old volunteer with the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.
The first among volunteers
That same year he was badly wounded in Pisky in the Donetsk region. After rehabilitation he went back to the front. From 2015 Kotsiubailo commanded a company, later the 1st Assault Company, which became known as the “Da Vinci Wolves”. In 2021 he became the first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime.
After the full-scale invasion began, his company grew into the 1st Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves”. On 7 March 2023 Dmytro Kotsiubailo was killed in battle near Bakhmut. He was 27.
How he is remembered
Thousands of people came to Maidan Nezalezhnosti to say goodbye to him. He was buried at Askold’s Grave in Kyiv, where a monument to him was unveiled in 2024. Streets in many Ukrainian cities bear his name, and so does the school in Bovshiv where he once studied.
