1990–2022
Mykhailo Chuprin
Azov tank company commander
He trained as a builder and went to war as a tank man. When his home town of Krasnyi Luch was occupied, Mykhailo Chuprin, call sign Chup, took his mother to safety and joined Azov; in 2022 he led a tank company in the defence of Mariupol. Hero of Ukraine, posthumously.
Key accomplishments
- One of the first soldiers of the Azov regiment's Kholodnyi Yar tank company (from 2015); fought for Shyrokyne
- Commander of Azov's tank company from September 2020
- In February–March 2022 his company's tanks beat back eight attempts to break through the defence of Mariupol; on 13 March he personally knocked out 3 tanks and 2 armoured personnel carriers
- Hero of Ukraine (posthumously; decree No. 167/2022 of 25 March 2022)
A builder who became a tank man
Mykhailo Chuprin trained to build things: in 2012 he graduated from Donetsk Technical University in industrial and civil construction. He was born in 1990 in Krasnyi Luch in the Luhansk region (now Khrustalnyi). In 2014, when the town was seized by the militants of the so-called “LNR”, Mykhailo first moved his mother to territory held by Ukraine and then joined Azov, a unit of Ukraine’s National Guard.
“Chup” and Kholodnyi Yar
Azov was just forming a tank unit at the time: the Kholodnyi Yar company. Mykhailo, known to his comrades by the call sign Chup, was one of its first soldiers. From March 2015 he trained as a tank gunner, and the company had its first real fighting in the battles for the village of Shyrokyne near Mariupol. Later Mykhailo was given command of a tank crew, became an officer, and in September 2020 took command of the whole company.
The defence of Mariupol
From the first day of russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, Chuprin’s company defended Mariupol. The tank crews held a line along Naberezhna Street, the main route of the russian attacks, and between 25 February and 12 March they beat back eight attempts to break through. On 13 March, when russian forces tried to break into the city from the direction of Staryi Krym, Senior Lieutenant Chuprin personally knocked out three tanks and two armoured personnel carriers.
Mykhailo Chuprin was killed in action in Mariupol on 19 March 2022. He was 31. On 25 March he was posthumously made a Hero of Ukraine, the country’s highest title; the same decree gave it posthumously to the Azov soldier Stanislav Partala and the National Guard colonel Dmytro Apukhtin.
Why it matters today
Mykhailo Chuprin lost his home back in 2014, but he didn’t let the war decide for him: he looked after his mother and went to defend his country. He learned a trade that was new to him from scratch and within a few years rose from gunner to company commander. In Mariupol his tank crews kept the enemy out of the city week after week. His path shows that defenders aren’t born: they are people who decide not to give up their land.
