In his northern village on Saturday, a statue was erected in honor of a Ukrainian soldier who was posthumously granted a medal after a widely circulated video showed him exclaiming “Glory to Ukraine” before appearing to be shot dead.
In the March video, a man identified by the military as Oleksandr Matsievskiy, a sniper from the Chernihiv region, was heard repeating “Slava Ukraini,” a popular cry of opposition to Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and over a century old.
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After being observed standing in a wooded area, enjoying a cigarette, and not carrying any obvious weapons, Matsievskiy is seen dropping to the ground after seemingly being hit repeatedly by unseen shooters.
Both Kyiv and his 68-year-old mother Paraska Demchuk blamed the tragedy on “brutal and brazen” Russians.
She proudly displayed the medal President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave her son, which represented the “Hero of Ukraine” title. “He would have taken all of them with him if he had a grenade,” she remarked.
She sobbed as she recalled his words, “Mum, I will never let them capture me.” He wouldn’t merely utter platitudes. It was inside; it resembled a core inside of him,” she remarked.
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A criminal inquiry has been launched by Kyiv into the death of Matsievskiy, who was immediately hailed as a hero on social media., where many supporters posted the words “Heroyam Slava,” or “Glory to the Heroes,” the traditional response to Slava Ukraine.
