"KRUPKA"

Pavlo was born in the village of Bazhany, Lviv Oblast, but grew up in the village of Sokolivka. As a child, he practiced athletics and sang at school events. In 2017, he graduated from the Volodymyr Kalba School in Sokolivka. He was passionate about cars and obtained his driver’s license at the age of 18. After his mother died, Pavlo’s older brother Nazar, who lived in Lviv, took him in. Hardworking by nature, Pavlo decided to begin working. He worked at amusement rides and traveled with them around the region. Later, he sold tires and wheels for a Lviv company, and eventually became a delivery driver for Nova Poshta. In August 2020, Pavlo was drafted for compulsory military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In October, he signed a contract and remained in the army. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as part of his anti-tank unit, Pavlo took part in battles near Kyiv. After Russian forces withdrew, his unit redeployed to defensive positions in Sumy Oblast. In the autumn of 2022, Pavlo completed specialist training in Starychi, Lviv Oblast, as an anti-tank guided missile operator and BRDM-2 armored vehicle driver. He then went to the front as a rifleman-sniper in the mechanized battalion of the 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Mstyslav the Brave. Soldier Pavlo Krupka was killed on 29 November 2024 near the village of Makiivka in Luhansk Oblast. During a combat mission, he sustained fatal wounds as a result of enemy mortar fire. He was 24 years old. “Pavlo was a cheerful and sociable guy. It was hard to have a serious conversation with him because everything ended in laughter. We spent a lot of time together and traveled to the Carpathians. We went everywhere—from Yaremche to Kosyno. We hiked in the mountains, rode ATVs, and picked mushrooms. On weekends we went to our father in the village: helped him, grilled barbecue, and went fishing,” his brother Nazar recalled. “He was a ray of light who would always come to help,” adds his friend Natalia. Pavlo was buried in the village of Sokolivka, Lviv Oblast. He was posthumously awarded the Order “For Courage,” 3rd Class, for personal courage and heroism shown in the struggle for state sovereignty and for selfless fulfillment of military duty.