‘I’m not coming back from this.’ Myrtle Beach man serving in Ukraine was killed in action

A Myrtle Beach man was killed while serving in the Ukrainian military as a medic, a decision his family and friends credit to his desire to help people and defend his late grandmother’s homeland, according to the Associated Press.

Luke “Skywalker” Lucyszyn, 31, died July 18 after he was shot by a Russian tank following an artillery strike that stunned him unconscious, according to a Facebook post from his commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko.

Like many other Americans, Lucyszyn joined Ukraine’s effort to fight Russia after its military invaded the country in February, the AP reported Monday.

His parents, Kathryn and George Lucyszyn, said they were told about their son’s death by the State Department during a Tuesday call.

“He didn’t go there to be a hero,” Lucyszyn’s mother told NBC News Saturday. “He went there because he wanted to help people.”

Trey Kober, who had been friends with Lucyszyn’s for about 12 years, said Lucyszyn went to Ukraine in April because he felt it was his responsibility to defend his late grandmother’s homeland.

Kober, 40, said he was proud of his friend for taking the place of another man who couldn’t serve because of his dedication to his family.

Lucyszyn said goodbye to Kober over Facebook weeks before his death after learning he was headed to the Donbas region, where many cities have been attacked by Russian forces.

“He was pretty confident he wouldn’t be coming back,” Kober said in an interview Monday. “He sent us a serious message that said he was being sent to the front lines to relieve a platoon that had been there for a long time, and he basically just told us, ‘I’m not coming back from this. This is it.’”

Lucyszyn, who had been a police officer, has two children.

This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 9:27 AM with the headline "‘I’m not coming back from this.’ Myrtle Beach man serving in Ukraine was killed in action."