One bridge stood between Russia’s armored columns and Kyiv in 2022 — two Ukrainian engineers gave their lives to stop them in one of war’s most crucial battles

On 25 February 2022, two Ukrainian military engineers laid down their lives to prevent a Russian armored column from reaching Kyiv, a critical moment in the full-scale invasion. Lieutenant Zakhar Kvasnyi, 22, and Junior Sergeant Roman Shymanskyi, 37, sacrificed their lives by detonating the Hostomel bridge near Irpin, denying Russia the fast armored thrust into the capital that their invasion plan required.

The decrees №1092/2026 and №1093/2026 recognized their personal courage and heroism in defending Ukraine's state sovereignty and territorial integrity. The bridge near Irpin was the key to Russia's plan, with the airborne assault on Hostomel's Antonov airport being the invasion's first move. Although Ukrainian forces held Hostomel, the Russian ground units reached Irpin and the bridge by the night of 24-25 February.

Kvasnyi, leading an engineer-sapper platoon in the 70th Engineering Support Center of Ukraine's Armed Forces, and Shymanskyi, a junior sergeant in the same unit, were responsible for destroying the bridge. Despite the attack, they remained at the detonation station, successfully completing their mission at the cost of their lives.

Both Ukrainian soldiers were later found, with Kvasnyi's body discovered in March 2022 and Shymanskyi's on 2 March.