Senior Private Volodymyr Nichikov, known by the nickname “Nichik,” was born on March 23, 1957, in Mariupol. He lived most of his life there. In civilian life, he worked as a blacksmith.
“I started out as a blacksmith at the city’s factories, and in the ’90s I switched to artistic metalwork. He made railings, porches, and gates—including the gates of the “Azovintex” company office—photos of which were likely seen by all Mariupol residents and visitors to the city. But he was most proud of the monument to the victims of the Holodomor and repressions, which he helped create. “He said that in this way he was honoring his mother’s sisters who died during the 1933 Holodomor, as well as the rest of his relatives who suffered under the Soviet regime. Unfortunately, the Russians destroyed the monument in 2022,” said his son Yuriy.
Volodymyr retired in 2007. In 2014, he volunteered to assist the Azov Regiment, and a year later he joined its ranks. He was awarded the President of Ukraine’s Citation “For Participation in the Anti-Terrorist Operation” and the “Defender of Mariupol” medal.
In 2018, Volodymyr retired due to reaching the mandatory retirement age, but he continued to help his comrades. He always said that if the situation escalated, he would return to duty. And that’s exactly what happened—with the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, he took up arms once again. Volodymyr defended his hometown of Mariupol as part of the Azov Regiment. Together with his comrades, he held the defense at the Azovstal steelworks.
In May 2022, on orders, he left the steel plant and surrendered. On May 1, 2024, he died in captivity in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Oblast, Russian Federation. He was 67 years old.
The defender was buried in the Walk of Fame at the cemetery in the Rakove neighborhood of Khmelnytskyi.
He was posthumously awarded the title of “Honorary Citizen of the Khmelnytskyi City Territorial Community.”
Vladimir is survived by his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and a grandson whom he never got to meet.
At 9:00 a.m.—a nationwide minute of silence. The Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the “Memorial to Heroes” platform are commemorating the fallen defenders from the Donetsk region.