Volodymyr Kushlyk was born on August 2, 1996, in the village of Holyn in the Kalush region. A sniper of the 2nd Company of the 109th Battalion of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, he was deployed in the first days of the full-scale invasion, repelling the enemy’s advance on the capital.
At the age of five, he and his family settled in Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Even in school, he showed a strong character and a determined spirit, always striving to be the best in everything he did. Volodymyr later continued his studies at the Prykarpattia Military Sports Boarding Lyceum in Nadvirna, where he earned numerous awards in various sports. He was especially drawn to taekwondo, in which he achieved a green belt.
When Maidan began in 2013, the young man became an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity and joined civic initiatives within the Right Sector. In 2014, he enrolled at the Odesa Law Academy and continued his public work as one of the leaders of the Right Sector in the Odesa region.
In the autumn of 2014, together with his comrades from the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps of the Right Sector, he took part in the defense of Donetsk Airport under the call sign “Ascetic.” That same year, Volodymyr decided to leave the academy and enlist in the 8th Separate Special Forces Regiment as a sniper-scout, serving for a year in the Anti-Terrorist Operation.
After demobilization, he remained active in civic life, working with “Automaidan Prykarpattia,” “Hard,” and the “Young People’s Movement,” which he headed until January 21, 2019. Volodymyr also served on the governing council of the Kalush Association of Combatants in Eastern Ukraine named after Roman Shukhevych.
He dreamed of starting his own business. To make that dream come true, Volodymyr went abroad to earn money, working in the Czech Republic and Poland. After returning home, he opened his own auto repair shop and planned to develop it further. But soon the great war came to Ukraine.
On the first day of the full-scale invasion, Volodymyr Kushlyk packed his rucksack in twenty minutes and headed to the military enlistment office. Within the 109th Battalion of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, he helped hold back the enemy’s advance from the Belarusian border.
The warrior heroically fell on March 7, 2022, during the battles to liberate the Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions, in the village of Sloboda-Kukharska. His father, Taras Kushlyk, identified him by the tattoo of the Ukrainian Coat of Arms on his shoulders.
On June 2, 2022, by decree of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Kushlyk was posthumously awarded the Order “For Courage,” Third Class.
A deep bow to the Defender of Ukraine.