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

Two Ukrainian military engineers died blowing up the Hostomel bridge near Irpin to stop a Russian armored column from reaching Kyiv in the early days of the full-scale invasion. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously named Lieutenant Zakhar Kvasnyi, 22, and Junior Sergeant Roman Shymanskyi, 37, Heroes of Ukraine, with the Order of the Golden Star, for the demolition that held the advance on 25 February 2022, Ukrinform reports.

The bridges that Ukrainian forces destroyed on the approaches to Kyiv in the war’s first days denied Russia the fast armored thrust into the capital that its invasion plan required. Kvasnyi and Shymanskyi stayed at the charge to bring one of those bridges down, giving their lives to close that road.

The decrees №1092/2026 and №1093/2026 cite personal courage and heroism in defending Ukraine’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as selfless service to the Ukrainian people.

The bridge near Irpin

Russia’s February 2022 war plan turned on taking Kyiv fast, and one of its first moves was an airborne assault on Hostomel’s Antonov airport, the air gateway to the capital. Moscow threw more than 200 helicopters and several hundred airborne and ground troops at the airfield, according to Tyzhden.

Ukraine held Hostomel in what would later be called one of the most crucial battles of the war, but by the night of 24-25 February, Russian ground units had reached Irpin and the bridge, and Ukrainian forces could not build positions in time to hold them.

On 25 February, Russian vehicles drove onto the Hostomel bridge like a parade. Five or six crossed while dozens waited on the far side. Ukrainian defenders let them cross, blew the bridge, and attacked.

Had the bridge held, the occupiers would have dug in on the far bank and opened the road to Kyiv for their mechanized columns, said Oleksandr Dubchak, a squad commander with a separate regiment who took part in the operation.

The two who stayed

Kvasnyi commanded an engineer-sapper platoon in the 70th Engineering Support Center of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Shymanskyi was a junior sergeant in the same unit. Their engineer-obstacle platoon was tasked with destroying the bridge near Irpin.

After the demolition, Russian troops attacked, and when the rest of the group pulled back, Kvasnyi, 22, and Shymanskyi, 37, remained at the detonation station. Both completed the mission at the cost of their lives.

Ukrainian soldiers found Kvasnyi’s body during the fighting to retake Hostomel in March 2022. Shymanskyi’s body was discovered on 2 March.