Aliaksiej Skoblia

In this article, the patronymic is Mikalajevič and the family name is Skoblia.

Aliaksiej Skoblia
File:File:Олексій (Тур) Скобля.jpg
Native name	Аляксей Скобля
Nickname	Tur
Born	(1990-03-14)14 March 1990
Died	13 March 2022(2022-03-13) (aged 31)
Place of birth	Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus)
Place of death	Outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine
Allegiance	Ukraine
Service/branch	Territorial Defence Forces
Rank	Senior sergeant
Unit	Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment
Battles/wars	Russo-Ukrainian War War in Donbas 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Battle of Kyiv (2022) †
Awards	Order of the Gold Star (posthumously)

Aliaksiej Mikalajevič Skoblia (Belarusian language: Аляксей Мікалаевіч Скобля, 14 March 1990 – 13 March 2022), nom de guerre "Tur" (Тур, lit. "Bison"), was a Belarusian soldier who was deputy commander of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion under the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Skoblia died defending Kyiv from advancing Russian troops during the Battle of Kyiv in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Early life

Aliaksiej Mikalajevič Skoblia was born in Minsk, then part of the Soviet Union, on 14 March 1990. His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father was a bus driver. From his childhood, he was interested in history.

After the ninth grade, he entered a car mechanic college in Minsk. He took part in the 2011 Belarusian protests against the government of Alexander Lukashenko, for which he was briefly arrested and fined.

Volunteer in Ukraine

In 2015, Skoblia went to Ukraine as a soldier for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, eventually becoming a deputy commander. He was one of the leading members of the Belarusian opposition fighting for Ukraine in the War in Donbas. Between 2021 and 2022, he served in the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine on a contract basis.

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Skoblia became deputy commander of the newly formed Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion of Belarusian volunteers. On 13 March 2022, on the outskirts of Kyiv, his unit was ambushed by Russian troops. Skoblia died from his wounds while covering the retreat of his troops. In the week preceding his death, he had rescued ten wounded soldiers of the battalion using his professional medical skills.

Memory

A farewell ceremony took place on 16 March 2022 at the Kyiv Crematorium, at which a specially-composed poem was read by one of the battalion's soldiers:

I will go through a steadily difficult path of endless and bloody war.

Let us raise the flag of noble glory over our mighty shoulders.

As Kastuś Kalinoŭski is my example, so is the fate of my comrade [Ilya] Litvin.

I will liberate Belarus through the liberation of Ukraine.

Like Tur, I swear to defend my comrades-in-arms in the heat of the battle.

Our honour will live forever in the memory of our homeland.

On 13 April 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously awarded Skoblia the title of Hero of Ukraine "for personal courage and heroism in defending the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath."