The War Museum welcomed Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Romankov, call sign “MPZ”, Deputy Commander of the Commandant Company for Psychological Support of Personnel of the 101st Separate Brigade for the Protection of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, named after Colonel General Henadii Vorobiov. The event was moderated by Serhii Siryi, Head of the Military History Research Sector.
Dmytro Romankov is from Kharkiv. In his youth, he was interested in sport and the exact sciences, taking part in and winning prizes at school competitions, including in physics and mathematics. Among his peers, he stood out for his exceptional communication skills, leadership qualities and ability to resolve conflict situations, all of which influenced his future choice of profession. After leaving school, Dmytro entered the National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine to study Psychology, and later enrolled at the Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National Air Force University, choosing the profession of military psychologist. He began his professional career at the Kharkiv City Organisation of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. Later, he worked as a school psychologist and as a specialist in correcting children’s behaviour at a private institution.
He met the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion in his native city of Kharkiv. He lived with his family in Saltivka, a district that continues to suffer heavily from enemy shelling to this day. The young couple was expecting a child, and Dmytro’s wife was in the final month of her pregnancy. As staying in the city had become dangerous, he decided to evacuate his family to western Ukraine. Their first-born son, Artem, was born on 12 March 2022.
Dmytro carried out measures to repel and contain the enemy’s armed aggression in the Donetsk sector, including in the settlements of Siversk, Zolotarivka, Rozdolivka, Toretsk, New York and others. The defender helped maintain the stable moral and psychological condition of the personnel, organised work related to the deaths of servicemen, provided psychological support to personnel, and performed other related duties. “My greatest aspiration since my school years has been to help people,” Dmytro Romankov shared. For his dedicated service, the soldier has been awarded a decoration by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the meeting, the defender also raised the extremely important topic of mentorship and commanders’ leadership on the front line. Dmytro shared the story of the combat path of his first battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yurii Pushkin. “He knew the needs of every soldier in his unit. He always helped, listened and supported them, and could never fall asleep without first knowing that all the men had returned alive after carrying out a combat mission. He literally burned himself out in service, and his life was cut short at the age of 56. For me, this is a very painful loss,” Dmytro Romankov said.
In keeping with museum tradition, the defender donated wartime artefacts to our institution’s collection: the chevron of the 55th Separate Rifle Battalion, a sleeve badge of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and a fragment from a multiple launch rocket system that hit the vehicle in which he was evacuating his family.
The War Museum sincerely thanks Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Romankov for the donated artefacts and his testimony about Ukraine’s War of Independence.
