Ukraine heroes. "Buried three times'': legendary pilot Matulyak was the first to fight Russian invading forces, destroying convoys from Crimea

Espreso.TV tells about Hennadiy Matuliak, who was posthumously awarded the Hero of Ukraine state award by the President of Ukraine. On February 24, the pilot destroyed enemy columns over the Kherson region and his native Mykolaiv region. He died on the second day of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in the Kyiv region, in an air battle with Russian occupying forces.

"On a genetic level, Hennadiy knew that Russia is an enemy"

Hennadiy's love for aviation was instilled by his father.  He was also a military aircraft technician.  The hero was born in the Mykolayiv region, then the family moved to Germany for 5 years.  There he fell in love with the sky.  As a child, he climbed on the roof of the house and watched the planes. Hennadiy dreamed of being a fighter pilot.  At the age of 16, he entered a military school, specializing in "aviation and cosmonautics".

Hennadiy's wife, Olga Matulyak, is also a military officer, a senior officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.  She says that it has been understood for a long time that there will be something much bigger than in 2014.

 "Our roots are from Western Ukraine. Both my father and my husband's father were natives of Prykarpattia. We probably already have an understanding of what Russia is at the genetic level. Hennadiy loved his country, knew the Ukrainian language perfectly and taught our daughter Sofiyka to sing  “Bat’ko nash Bandera (Bandera is our father)”. I admit we didn't have a blue-yellow flag at home, but there was a red-black flag of the OUN. Similarly, Hennadiy had a strong understanding that Russians cannot be our "brothers", says Olga.

The couple got married in 2017.  He really wanted a family.  The wife says that the pilot really dreamed of a daughter, and spent the entire pregnancy in rotations.  Since Russia succeeded in annexing Ukrainian territories, Hennadiy performed combat missions in the ATO/OOS zone.

"That night the man raised the whole squadron"

The Matuliak family knew that there would be a full-scale war. They just didn't want to believe it.  Back in January, the pilot told his wife to pack alarm bags for herself and the child, to be ready at any moment for various developments.  Olga says that at first she took her husband's instruction as a joke, but she did pack stuff for the child.  And already in February I packed my suitcase.

"There were basic necessities without documents. On February 22, Hennadiy called and said, 'get ready,' because something is going to happen and it will be huge. He warned our parents that when everything starts to take our Sofika and the eldest son from his first marriage to the west of the country," Olga recalls.

She says that on February 23, she and her husband went to their military bases. Olga stayed until the 2nd of the night, but then the soldiers were allowed to go home.

 "When I returned, my husband had already been called and told that an alarm had been announced in their military unit - it was necessary to raise another group of planes into the air. That night, the husband raised the entire squadron. When the war began, almost all the planes were raised into the sky and during the withdrawal from the attack not a single pilot was killed. The guys worked 100 percent from the first minutes - they were the first to fly to destroy the convoys from the Crimean side," says Olga. And he adds that four boys from his military unit in Mykolaiv were awarded as Heros of Ukraine. Unfortunately, they have already died.

"In a short time, explosions were already heard in the city. Then there was a short call from a man with the words: "Olya, it's started.  We are being fired upon." When he called the second time, he said that he was almost hit," the widow recalls.

Olga worked as a military psychologist, so she knew how to behave in critical situations. In those moments, she says, she did everything according to a clear algorithm that had been worked out earlier. She recalls that there was no particular panic among the townspeople either, only that it was difficult to call a taxi.

"In Mykolaiv there is a large concentration of military personnel. Everyone behaved very calmly. The next morning, in a telephone conversation, the man also said that they could be in the city in two hours. But they were not - the boys went to carry out the order. After this two of our pilots were killed. Therefore, when I hear that the Russians got lost, I know for sure that it is complete nonsense. Elite units were prepared there," the military woman explains.

Hennadiy's wife recalls that her husband called her after each flight and told her how much he loves her, as if he felt that they would never see each other again.

"He understood that every call could be the last one. On the evening of February 24, he called and said: "You should have a good rest because you will have a very hard day tomorrow," Olga says.

An unknown girl wrote about Olga’s husband's death on Facebook

On February 25, the pilot died in the sky over Kyiv region in an aerial battle.  The photo with his found passport circulated all over social networks in those days.  The document was found by local residents at the crash site of the plane piloted by Matulyak.

 "I didn't call him the next morning, because I understood that it was a war, I was waiting for a call from him. But he never called. When I dialed, the phone was already turned off. I hoped that there was simply no connection. At 2 p.m. on Facebook a girl wrote to me and asked if my husband was a military man Hennadiy Matulyak. She sent a photo of his passport. We called and she said that Hennadiy had died, he was burned and buried. That is, he was already buried at 2 p.m. I didn't understand why everything was l  happened ike that and why the search and rescue team did not look for him. But because it was only the second day of the war, the occupation, no one knew what to do. As the locals told me, the head of the village council did not care and did not even help to find the coffin. On the first day, they just buried the body under the wreckage of the plane. Later, they sent a video and it didn't even look like a burial, they just covered the body. And the comments on the video - "And here we burried the soldier, sprinkled it with earth," the woman continues the story with tears.

 On April 16, it was possible to see the husband on his last journey.

"After I learned about the death of my husband, I had a dream that I would bury Hennadiy three times. And so it happened. After he was buried under the wreckage of the plane, the locals carved a homemade coffin (because there was no way to find another) and reburied him for the second time. They put up a cross and wrote the name and dates of birth and death. Surnames were not written, because they were afraid that the occupiers, having learned that there was a soldier, would mock the body. The burial took place for the third time in Mykolaiv, after the de-occupation of Kyiv Region, on April 16."

Officially, the wife was never informed of her husband's death from the military unit.  The family learned about the death from President Zelenskyi's decree on awarding the title of Hero of Ukraine to Lt. Col. Matuliak posthumously.

"For those few days, we hoped that the locals were mistaken, that it was a legend, that someone else was buried there because the passport survived. In addition, no one from the unit gave us a clear answer, about whether he was communicating or not. But, when she already saw the decree of the president, where her husband was awarded the order, she realized that it was true," the military woman adds.

The woman recalls that Hennadiy paid attention to his dreams - he believed in their symbolism and knew how to interpret them. A few months before the full-scale war, he screamed in his sleep, and this scream scared her.

"He woke up and repeated "Aerial battle!". He didn't want to tell what his dream was about. But somehow he admitted - he dreamed that he was burned in an aerial battle. That's what happened. Comrades say that he still managed to complete a combat mission - he destroyed a cluster of equipment nearby Gostomel. He managed to eject, but then the plane exploded a second time, so his body is almost intact, only his leg is missing. I was very afraid to go to find it. I was not morally ready to see the place where my husband died," says Olga.

Hennadiy Matulyak saved the whole village that day. He started to take the plane out and even managed to pull the catapult, but then the second hit happened.  Locals saw with their own eyes how the pilot saved hundreds of lives. The plane fell a few kilometers from the settlement, in the forest.

Daughter wants to be like her dad - ride a motorcycle and fly

Olga Matulyak misses every pilot who died. She says that there are very few of them in Ukraine, and they are dying now one by one. She recalls the now Heroes of Ukraine Oleksandr Kukurba and Korpan, with whom she worked as a psychologist.

"Our last conversation with Sashko Kukurba. He sent a photo where he signed on one of the rockets "For Hennadiy Matuliak." And I answered him: "Take care of yourself because you still have to be a commander and "put Sofiyka on the wing." He replied that he promised, but died within a week.

She mentions about her husband that he had many interesting hobbies. For example, he dreamed of opening a hair salon, played hockey and liked motorcycles.

"I can't go into the garage. There are a lot of hockey uniforms, a new motorcycle, which he drove only 50 kilometers. My 4-year-old daughter also fell in love with motorcycles. I will learn to ride now and one day I will teach her. I don't even know if I want to, but I have to - in memory of her husband," says the widow.

When Hennadiy died, neither the children nor the parents were told anything at first. We hoped it wasn't true. But already after the presidential decree, they were told not to find out from the Internet.

"The son found out from Instagram, for him this is an extraordinary tragedy. And Sofiyka told me that dad got lost in the forest. She understands that dad is an angel, that she will never be able to hug him again."

Sofiyka was at her father's funeral. Mom explained that in order for dad to become an angel, his body must be given to God.  Now the girl says that she wants to be like her father - a pilot.  She said she would fly for dad. Olga says that she does not know whether her daughter will be able to realize her dream. Although the child has a strong dad's character.

Photo from the family archive