On July 6th, 1984, Ivan Dus was born in a large family in Velyka Kuplia, Berezne Raion, Rivne Oblast. His mother, Lidiia Basiuk, brought up her son alone. In 1990, Ivan started a school in the Zamostyshche village. Having finished it in 1999, he entered Kostopil Technical College, where he studied for two years. After graduation in 2001, Ivan obtained the qualification of bricklayer and plasterer.
Due to the Presidential Executive Order About Partial Mobilization, on April 22nd, 2015, Ivan joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From May 25th, 2015, to August 17th, 2015, he was in the sector “M” in Mariupol. From August 18th, 2015 to October 17th, 2015, he was in the “B” sector in Kurakove, and from November 10th, 2015 to May 18th, 2016, in Stanytsia Luhanska. Ivan was a soldier of the 28th Mechanized Battalion, which was a former 18th Battalion of Odessa.
On May 18th, 2016, he was fatally wounded in the head due to the sniper fire near the village of Malynove, Stanytsia Luhanska Raion, from the side of the occupied Khrystove village. Ivan was taken to the hospital in Stanytsia Luhanska Raion, but the attempts to save his life were unsuccessful. He died in surgery and was buried in the village of Danchymist, Kostopil Raion.
The deceased left a mother, two brothers Yurii and Vasyl, a sister Olena and a six-year-old daughter Anna. Everyone who knew Ivan remembers him as a kind and sensitive person. His comrades, with whom he defended his native land, remember him as a reliable and agreeable man who responsibly performed military duties and orders.
According to the Presidential Executive Order №, 421/2016 on September 29th, 2016, “for valor and high professionalism demonstrated in the protection of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the oath of enlistment,” Ivan Dus was posthumously awarded the Third Class Order For Bravery.
Publications about Dus’ Ivan
Flowered his last way
People can’t bear getting through the heartsickness of losing their relatives, friends, and contacts. But the excruciating thing is to bury your children. His mother and those who gathered last Friday near the residence in Velyka Kuplia to take part in the funeral of Ivan Dus, who died in the ATO zone, completely felt that. Everyone who knew Ivan came to his house to honor and respect the hero. The fellow soldier of the deceased told me that a hostile sniper mortally wounded our hero during their service.
The tragedy and injustice of fate are that the young man served that year soon needed to be demobilized and come to his native land. But, unfortunately, he was not destined to see his mother, a six-year-old daughter, a sister, and two brothers, relatives, friends again. The last time saying goodbye to someone they love, they whispered the words of great sorrow and grief over a terrible thing that happened. The dean of Kostopil’s deanery priest Elijah and prior of Yablunnivs’ka church of the UOC priest Vadim held a prayer service over the deceased’s body. Accompanied by a military honor guard, an army orchestra in font of flowers, wreaths, and flags, the funeral column moved from Velyka Kuplia to Velyke Pole. The last way of the deceased, who’d fight against Russian aggressors and separatists, children laid flowers with honor and memory. Symbolically, the soldiers of ATO carried the coffin a big part of the path. Participants of the funeral procession moved from Velyke Pole to Danychmist, Kostopil’ Raion, where relatives had to bury Ivan Dus’. It was disturbing and impressive to the depths of the soul. On the way to the local Sviato-Mykhailivska Church, there were people with the state flags of Ukraine. Hundreds of villagers came to the church. Many of them met the coffin with the hero’s body standing on their knees, holding flowers. In the crowded church, there was a prayer service over the body of the deceased. The souls of people were filled with pain when they let go of him. Relatives, friends, acquaintances, and strangers wiped tears of irreparable loss. And the funeral procession moved again to the local cemetery. Ahead were the cross, banners, and the State Flag of Ukraine. The nephew of Ivan Dus’ kept the uncle’s portrait; the daughter carried flowers for her dad. During the burial of our native hero, the Nation Anthem of Ukraine was sounded by the military orchestra. Warriors of honor guard made a triple salute – the last tribute to his memory. Courageous defenders of Ukraine who died for freedom and independence deserved such high honors.
Pavlo Rachok
