In Memory of Serhiy Kokurin

Eleven years ago today — March 18, 2014 — as Putin solemnly declared the “peaceful annexation” of Crimea, a Russian sniper shot and killed Warrant Officer Serhiy Kokurin, head of logistics for the 13th Photogrammetric Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Simferopol.

Serhiy died at his post, defending his unit against an armed assault by the occupiers. He was stationed at the observation tower above the vehicle depot — a position from which the entire compound lay visible below him.

His death is a reminder that refuses to be forgotten: Russian aggression did not begin in 2022. It began in 2014. And already then, in March, on Ukrainian soil in Crimea, it meant live fire, blood, and death.

Serhiy Kokurin was a native of Simferopol — one of the very people the Kremlin claimed to be “protecting from the Banderites.” He left behind a four-year-old son and his wife, Olena. He never saw his second child. The boy was born two months after his father’s death.

Serhiy was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, 3rd degree.

He climbed the tower. He did not retreat. He was the first.

Eternal memory. Eternal glory.