Serhii Zaikovskyi, publicist, historian, and translator, was killed on March 24, 2022, in the battle for the village of Lukyanivka near Kyiv. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Zaikovskyi enlisted in the Azov battalion. According to his mother, Liudmyla, Serhii had been permanently preparing for the great war and regularly participating in military training.
Since his childhood, Serhii Zaikovskyi had maintained a wide range of interests – from mythology to guitar and sculpture.
“My son was a very kind, intelligent, smart, and generous boy,” Liudmyla Zaikovska recalls. “Even at his youngest age, he read all the books from our library and, year after year, got the best reader’s diploma. He always had an inclination towards history: myths, sagas, encyclopedias – this was his whole life. And he studied sculpture at an art school. Serhii was really good at that: everyone admired his work.”
Serhii Zaikovskyi realized his dream of enrolling at the history department of Kharkiv National Vasyl Karazin University, where he conducted his research on the Ancient Roman military. In his student years, Serhii took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity, given that he was a staunch nationalist in his views. Nevertheless, he kept his parents unaware of both his protesting activities and his decision to enlist in the military. “He tried to take care of us,” says Liudmyla Zaikovska.
After graduating, Serhii became the editor-in-chief at Plomin publishing house. He was a special guest on such TV channels and projects as Chernivetskyi Promin, Suspilne Chernivtsi, Plomin, etc. He also gave public lectures, translated books, and articles, conducted interviews with Ukrainian scholars, and prepared his own research.
In his materials, Zaikovskyi often tried to find historical analogies for contemporary Ukrainian political reality and the Russian-Ukrainian war. Thus, in one of his articles, he explored the Russians’ war tactics and strategy.
Serhii had combat experience even before the full-scale invasion. In 2021, he fought in Pisky (Donetsk region) in the ranks of the Freikor voluntary platoon.
“Serhii always considered it an honor for a man to give his life while fighting in arms. He took death very easily,” his mother explains.
At the same time, she adds, Serhii had been an extraordinarily sensitive person since his childhood.
“He loved animals and never wanted to eat meat so that animals would not have been killed. And he was a very polite boy. His classmate told her mother when the kids were in the first grade that Serhii was so polite: he apologized whenever he happened to push someone.”
Serhii was his parent’s only son. He was 27 years old.
