July 23, 2025, 3:09 p.m.
(Photo: Intent)
Today, on July 23, the funeral of Ukraine's defender Kostyantyn Oborin took place. Relatives, colleagues, volunteers, friends and concerned residents of the city came to see the hero off.
63-year-old Konstantin Oborin, known by his call sign "Kamikaze," was the director of Odesa Flying Club, an Afghanistan veteran, a soldier and a volunteer who died on July 18 while performing a combat mission in the Dnipro region. He devoted his entire life to serving Ukraine - in the sky, at the front, and in the rear.
Konstantin's friend, Vikniansky, said that in the first days of the war, the brave Konstantin Oborin volunteered for the army. Despite the fact that they didn't want to take him because of his age, he managed to negotiate and get his way. At the beginning and throughout the war, he shot down enemy drones.
"He flew everything that could be flown. He played with the sky. He did it all with a smile," says Viknianskyi about his friend.
Andrii Vahapov, a deputy of the Odesa City Council, chairman of the board of the volunteer battalion "Defense of Odesa," a sailor with the senior 10th Aviation Brigade, now retired, and first and foremost a friend of Kostiantyn's for more than 30 years, spoke about their acquaintance:
"We met in his recording studio on Troitska Street. I recorded my first song there. At that time, he seemed to me to be such an incredible person. By that time, he had already gone as far as anyone I knew."
Kostiantyn Oborin has always had a positive attitude towards life. When asked by his friend Andriy "Is it scary to jump with a parachute?", he jokingly replied, "There has never been a person in the world who jumped from an airplane with a parachute and did not reach the ground."
According to Andriy: "At the beginning of the active phase of the fighting, Kostyantyn joined the 126th Brigade. The entire 22nd battalion of the 126th Brigade for the defense of Odesa was created from our fighters from Peresypsky district." The hero continued to defend his country despite the obstacles. At the age of 61, he was dismissed, but he managed to return to service and created a new squadron that defended Odesa from the"Shahed".
"But, unfortunately, a legend not only of Odesa, but of the whole of Ukraine has passed away. He was a man who ignited positive emotions and inspired confidence in the future. I will say this: we have already lost many people during these almost 12 years of war, but this was a person with whom I could not imagine that anything could happen. A man who had been through so much - well, nothing could have happened to him. I still don't believe it," says Andriy Vagapov.
"After meeting Kostya, I had such confidence in the future all the time."
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