Ukrainian civic activist and former Kremlin prisoner Mykola Karpiuk has been killed on the front line. His death was reported by former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Viktor Yahun.
He noted that he and Mykola Karpiuk were friends, and that after being released from Russian captivity Karpiuk once again joined the fight for Ukraine.
"Yesterday, my friend Mykola Karpiuk was killed on the front line. It is very hard to write about him in the past tense.
Mykola was one of those people for whom Ukraine was not just words, but part of life itself. He made his choice long ago and remained faithful to it in any circumstances.
He faced a great deal of hardship. What could have broken someone else did not break him. He remained himself — straightforward, principled, and caring.
And even when he had every right to say, ‘I have already done enough,’ he was once again where he believed he needed to be. On the front line.
For me, this is not just another terrible piece of news from the war. I have lost a friend — someone bound up with a part of my life, shared memories, and time that can never be returned.
Mykola remained faithful to his choice to the very end — to Ukraine.
May you rest in peace, my friend," he wrote.
Mykola Karpiuk was born on 21 May 1964 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn in the Rivne region. By profession, he was a turner. After Ukraine declared independence, he went into politics and civic activism, and headed the Rivne branch of UNA-UNSO.
In 2000–2001, Karpiuk took part in the ‘Ukraine Without Kuchma’ campaign. For his participation in the protests, he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.
On 17 March 2014, Russia’s FSB detained Karpiuk as he attempted to cross the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Chernihiv region.
Russian investigators accused him of taking part in fighting in Chechnya. Karpiuk denied the allegations and spoke of torture during his detention and threats against his family.
In May 2016, a court in Chechnya sentenced the Ukrainian to 22.5 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
On 7 September 2019, Mykola Karpiuk was released from Russian imprisonment as part of a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia.
After returning to Ukraine, Karpiuk continued his civic work and later took up the defence of the state as a serviceman.