1980–2022
Oleksandr Matsiievskyi
Territorial defense sniper, Hero
He was born in Chișinău and moved to Nizhyn in 2008. Oleksandr Matsiievskyi, an electrician, volunteered for the Territorial Defense and fought as a sniper near Bakhmut. His last words as a prisoner, “Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”), became a symbol of resilience.
Key accomplishments
- Volunteered for the Territorial Defense in the first days of the full-scale invasion (March 2022)
- Sniper in the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of Chernihiv Oblast, in the Bakhmut sector (from November 2022)
- Hero of Ukraine (posthumously, Decree No. 146/2023 of 13 March 2023)
- Streets in Nizhyn, Chernihiv, Kramatorsk and Izium, and a lane in Hrebinky (Kyiv region), are named after him
From Chișinău to Nizhyn
Oleksandr Matsiievskyi was born in 1980 in Chișinău. There he finished school and trained as an electrician. In 2008 he moved with his family to Nizhyn in Chernihiv Oblast and worked as an electrician in Nizhyn and Kyiv.
The electrician who became a sniper
When the full-scale invasion began, Matsiievskyi volunteered. On 11 March 2022 he was enlisted in the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of Chernihiv Oblast. He completed his training and from November 2022 fought as a sniper in the Bakhmut sector.
In late December 2022, during the battles for Soledar, Oleksandr Matsiievskyi was taken prisoner, and on 30 December, unarmed, he was shot by Russian soldiers after he said “Slava Ukraini!”; he was 42.
How he is remembered
On 14 February 2023 he was buried on the Alley of Glory in Nizhyn. In March 2023, after a video appeared online, the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) confirmed his identity, and on 13 March he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.
His last words became a symbol of resilience for Ukrainians. Streets in Nizhyn, Chernihiv, Kramatorsk and Izium, and a lane in Hrebinky, bear his name. His story is a reminder that killing a prisoner is a war crime, and that such crimes are investigated so that those responsible are held to account.
