On March 14, Ukraine celebrates Volunteer Day - people who, at the call of their hearts, stood up to defend their country. Among them are thousands of names and stories, tens of thousands of destinies. Each of them left behind their usual life, career, family, taking on a new role - the defender of the country.
In the rating “Heroes of our time: stories of volunteers who stood up to defend Ukraine” We have collected just a few famous names. Filmmakers, musicians, politicians, scientists — they fully realized themselves in peaceful professions, but one day they put on a military uniform and went to the front.
Of course, it is impossible to rank people and determine whose contribution is greater when it comes to defending the country. Therefore, there are no first and last places: everyone who voluntarily went to the front or saved lives on the front line is a hero.
Akhtem Seitablaev
Director and actor Akhtem Seitablaev is well known to Ukrainian viewers - he played in both comedies (“Matchmakers”) and dramas (“Haytarma”). And as a director, he always filmed stories about struggle, war, and strong people. He knew how to stage a battle scene, how to convey fear, strength, and pain so that the viewer felt every second. A few years before the invasion, he filmed the successful TV series “Volunteer,” and in 2022 he himself became a volunteer. Already on February 25, he signed a contract with the 206th Terrodefense Battalion.
His combat journey began in the forest near Gostomel, in those places where, according to him, he had recently loved to walk with his daughter. Instead of a film set, there was now a front line, where no one got up after falling, but people died for real.
Then he was transferred to aerial reconnaissance. He, a director, became an observer of the war from above.
In an interview, Akhtem said that once, while filming the film "Cyborgs" about the defenders of the Donetsk airport, he tried to recreate the look of a fighter looking at the enemy, not knowing that soon this look would become his own. And once he had to tell actors how to play a battle scene correctly. Now, according to him, he knows what it should look like in reality - and he would like not to know this.
Volodymyr Borisenko
The mayor of Boryspil, a wealthy satellite city of Kyiv, had every right to legal reservation from mobilization. First, he had four children, and secondly, he held a high official position. Volodymyr Borisenko could help the front from the rear, resolve supply issues, meet with the military, and hand over cars and equipment, as mayors of other cities do.
But in September 2023, he voluntarily resigned from his position as mayor and went to scout for the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade "Edelweiss".
The office has turned into a dugout, reports into intelligence missions, video calls into short walkie-talkies. According to him, on the front lines, he has become like everyone else. No longer a mayor, a bureaucrat, a person endowed with power, but a soldier doing his job.
He is motivated by one thing: he does not want to pass this war on to his children. “My eldest son will be 18 in four years, and I am here not to pass this war on to his children,” he explains his position.
Andrii Hlyvnyuk
The leader of the band “Boombox” Andriy Khlyvnyuk is a man known throughout Ukraine. His voice echoed from the stage, his songs were sung by millions, his music inspired. But when Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, he made a choice that divided his life into “before” and “after.”
Instead of leaving or continuing his music career, he voluntarily joined the Territorial Defense. One of the most symbolic moments of the first days of the war was his performance of the song “Oh, in the Meadow, Red Kalina” on an empty Sophia Square in Kyiv. This video went viral, went around the world, and turned the old Cossack song into a real anthem of the Ukrainian resistance. Later, the legendary Pink Floyd recorded the track Hey, Hey, Rise Up! based on it, raising millions of dollars in support of Ukraine.
But Khlyvnyuk became more than just a symbol. He participated in battles, was wounded by mortar fire, but, having recovered, returned to his battalion.
Andriy Khlyvnyuk still serves today, proving by his example that when the time comes, a true artist is not afraid to take up arms to defend his land.
Evgeny Nyshchuk
Yevhen Nyshchuk is a People's Artist of Ukraine. He was the Minister of Culture twice. The first time was in 2014. In a country where people were being shot at on the Maidan just yesterday, he had to build a cultural policy. The time was such that a choice had to be made: either culture would become the voice of a new Ukraine, or it would be swallowed up by the Soviet past.
He headed the Ministry of Culture for the second time in 2016. Budgets were lacking, reforms were slowing down. But he believed that theater, cinema, and art were not just entertainment, but the foundation of the nation. He fought for Ukrainian cinema, promoted young talents, and did everything to ensure that culture did not become secondary. After his resignation, he successfully played in the theater again.
But with the start of a full-scale war, he had to leave the stage — a volunteer battalion was being formed near his house, and he signed up. On the third day of the invasion, he was already on the front line in the Kyiv region, participating in battles in Irpen, Vasylkivka, and near the Romanivskyi Bridge.
Later, when northern Ukraine was liberated and his volunteer unit was transferred to the south, he realized that this war was for a long time. And to be where he was needed, he officially joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where he continues to serve to this day.
Near Serga
Poet, musician, actor, and TV presenter Kolya Serga always felt at ease on stage. Lively, sincere, and loud — that's how the audience knew him. Before the war.
At the same time, until February 2022, the former TV presenter of "Eagle and Tails" had no connection with the army, but, according to him, when he saw that his home, his country, was under attack, on the second day of the war he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and took up arms.
In his first weeks of service, he dug trenches, carried boxes of ammunition, and stood guard at checkpoints. One day, during a short break, he took out his guitar, sang to his comrades, and realized that if a song could bring back warmth to a soldier for even a moment, it was no less important than ammunition.
This is how the "Cultural Landing" was born, an initiative he created together with other artists. They traveled to the front lines, to training centers, to hospitals. They sang for those who had heard nothing for months except shell explosions. They read poems to those who fell asleep with weapons in their hands.
Now Kolya Serga is the commander of the creative unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Cultural Landing", which includes servicemen who were professional artists in peacetime. Most of them participated in the fiercest battles, several were wounded, and after recovery returned to service.
“A machine gun in one hand, a guitar in the other. If I can do something well, then it should work here too.”, — Kolya Serga is sure.
Oleg Ivanytsia
Oleg Ivanytsia is a popular Ukrainian comedian and actor, a member of the “golden” cast of the popular “Diesel Show”. He often received a standing ovation, he lived an ordinary peaceful life, starred in films, but against the backdrop of rumors of an upcoming war, the day before the invasion he went to the Central Military District and renewed his military ID. And the next day, on the 25th, he stood at the military registration and enlistment office again, changing the profession of comedian to that of machine gunner.
According to him, the machine gun fell into his hands, as a microphone once did. Only now it was not applause that depended on him, but his life. He could still joke, but now his stage was a battlefield, and his comrades-in-arms were the audience.
Oleg later transferred to the air defense and has since shot down more than one enemy drone. According to him, it was only in the second year of the war that he finally realized that he was no longer an artist, but a soldier.
One evening, as they were sitting by the fire between outings, someone asked him to tell something funny. Oleg was silent. Then he looked up at the sky, smiled, and said, "Let's pretend I didn't see all this, huh?"
The band “Antibody”
“Antibody” was one of the most popular bands in Ukraine. The musicians gathered thousands of people at concerts, their songs were heard in every city, and their videos gained millions of views.
They were scheduled to release a new album, MLNL, and tour Ukraine and Europe in the spring of 2022, but life had other plans. At the end of February, the band members took their families to a safe place and joined the territorial defense of Kyiv in full force.
The first weeks were trenches, checkpoints, and defense of the capital. They were ordinary soldiers, performing combat missions on the outskirts of Kyiv and in Irpen. In the spring, they went to the north of the Kharkiv region, where they took part in the defense of Northern Saltivka. In May, they were transferred to the medical evacuation unit: now they carried the wounded, pulled out soldiers under fire, and evacuated the bodies of the dead.
In the summer, having already received the rank of senior soldiers, they continued their service until their unit was withdrawn for reconstruction.
Now the members of the band "Antitila", led by their unchanging leader Taras Topolei, continue to serve, engaging in creativity in their free time. But these two years have changed them just as they changed the entire country, and now their music sounds different: instead of warm songs about love - "Fortress Bakhmut" and other military compositions.
Yurii Vernydub
On February 24, 2022, the head coach of the Moldovan club Sheriff, Honored Coach of Ukraine Yuriy Vernydub, was in Portugal, where his team was preparing for a Europa League match against Braga. But after receiving a call from his son with a message about the beginning of a full-scale invasion, he did not hesitate and decided to return to his homeland, terminating his contract with the Moldovan club.
On February 26, the coach arrived in Ukraine, and the next day he joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, joining the artillery brigade.
In June 2022, Vernydub was appointed head coach of the Ukrainian club Kryvbas from Kryvyi Rih. At the same time, he continued his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, being transferred to the Kryvyi Rih Territorial Center for Recruiting and Social Support. He was given the opportunity to combine military service with coaching activities, which allowed him to use his experience and authority to support morale and draw attention to the situation in Ukraine.
Vernydub actively uses his public position, giving interviews to both Ukrainian and international publications, talking about events in Ukraine and emphasizing the need for support from the international community.
Fedor Sandor
Fedir Shandor, nicknamed the “professor from the trenches,” is a doctor of philosophy and a lecturer at Uzhhorod National University. Until 2022, he spent many years lecturing in cozy classrooms, discussing cultural phenomena, and writing scientific articles.
But in the very first days of the full-scale invasion, despite the fact that Uzhhorod was not directly threatened, the professor went to the Central Military District and enrolled in the 101st Territorial Defense Brigade.
This act made him a symbol of the indomitable will of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, because even after becoming a soldier, he still remained a professor.
Even in wartime, he could not leave his students, and every Monday and Tuesday at eight in the morning, while his fellow students were resting before new tasks, he would open his laptop, connect to the university platform, and begin his lectures.
“And now, dear students, let's talk about the tourist potential of Ukraine…” Only instead of a blackboard there was an earthen wall of a dugout, instead of notes there was a machine gun under his feet, and sometimes it barely muffled the microphone when explosions were heard somewhere nearby.
He has visited many hot spots in the east of the country, and now, since February 2025, he has accepted a new challenge, becoming the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Hungary.
Yana Zinkevich
When the war in Donbas began, yesterday's schoolgirl Yana Zinkevich was only 18 years old. She was not a doctor, had no military experience, but she understood one thing: people were dying, and someone had to save them.
Yana did not wait for someone to make a decision for her, and after completing paramedic courses, she organized the volunteer medical battalion "Hospitaliers", which became one of the most famous units for evacuating the wounded during the first stage of the war. She is credited with saving over 200 lives.
She pulled soldiers from under bullets, bandaged wounds in the trenches, and carried the wounded out of shelling. Her battalion worked in the hottest parts of the front, where even experienced doctors were afraid to go.
Unfortunately, in 2015, the car in which Yana was traveling had an accident, and since then she has been confined to a wheelchair forever. Someone else could have broken down, but Yana continues to lead the Hospitallers to this day, training new doctors, sending equipment to the front lines, supporting the army. And later she became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada to fight for the rights of military personnel and veterans on another front — in government offices.
In 2023, Yana was included in the annual “Time 100 Next” ranking, which identifies the most influential people changing the future of the world.
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