Yuriy "Kex" Kopchak is a fan of the football club "Sambir".

Yuriy Mykhailovych Kopchak was born on April 21, 1995 in Sambir, Lviv Region. He studied at the Cambir gymnasium and school No. 9. He continued his studies at Lviv Medical College "Monada" with the specialty "dental technician". After completing his studies, he worked with his father in the field of dentistry. Since childhood, he was interested in football, took part in street team competitions. He attended a music school, loved to sing, later organized discos. He showed a special interest in the computer. With age, he moved from children's toys to programs and creating websites, performed work for certain patriotic parties. He took an active part in the public life of the city, attended rallies and mass events.

During the Revolution of Dignity, he was on the capital's Maidan with members of the Sambir branch of the Svoboda party. From the memories of his father: - "Yura was surprised that the barricades on Hrushevskyi were located between Berkutnaya and VVshniks, who were in the Ukrainian House and no one paid attention to it. Together with the boys, they organized an assault on the Ukrainian House. Yura wrapped the basement door with reinforcement, later this reinforcement was forced cut, because no one could spin it. With a smile, he wondered to himself how he managed it."

Yuriy came to the fan stand of the city's main team in 2010, almost immediately after the founding of the Sambor fan movement. His teammates recall that, unlike most of his peers, the young man took this step not only in order to vent his aggression on football, but approached the issue in a balanced manner. While still a schoolboy, I asked one of the leaders of the movement whether the boys were purely "into football" or whether they were also interested in street politics. "He wanted to get into an environment of like-minded people in order to make the world a better place. The way he saw it, the way we all saw it then," one of Yuri's teammates remembers his friend.

Once he got to the sector, he immediately started gushing with ideas: training, lectures, marches, actions, development of club symbols and paraphernalia. Wanted to do everything here and now, he really hurried to live. It often happened that it was his initiative that was the driver for the activity of the movement. The idea was only recently expressed, and he was already working on its implementation. The rest of the guys had to pull themselves up, because the process had already started. This was the case with the 2011 torchlight procession in Sambor. This was the case with the site for the city's patriotic community. The idea was just announced at the meeting, and the next day, Yuriy is already throwing away the keys to the administration office. And it was the same with the cleaning of places dangerous for swimming in the Dniester. The discussion has just begun, and he is already negotiating for special equipment.

He was just as zealous in supporting his native club. "He didn't break his voice, so he wasn't at the match," Yura liked to repeat. There was not a single activity of the fan movement in which he did not join. When there was a choice between studies and football, I chose the latter without hesitation. In the spring of 2013, representatives of the fan movement were invited to the Sambor city council to talk about the new season, communication between the club, the authorities and the fan environment. Yuriy was one of those who represented the interests of the fan movement at this meeting. At that time, his teammates were worried that he would be too proactive and drag everyone into a new adventure.

Another aspect of team support was meetings with fans of other clubs outside the stadium. Friends say that even when Yura was not supposed to take part in the planned events, he was always ready to go to support his friends, and if necessary, to replace one of his comrades. It would seem that he always had a prepared phrase for this: - "Okay, I'll take medicine, water, and in general, suddenly someone won't be able to go", - he said, calming down the people around him rather than himself. To support his team, he went to Bucha for a game with a local team. Together with the fans of the "Sambir" football club, he took part in the celebration of the opening of the new reconstructed stadium named after Lev Brovarsky.

With the beginning of full-scale Russian aggression, Yuriy Kopchak, with the call sign "Cupcake", stood up to protect Ukraine from the enemy's onslaught. Formed voluntary cooperation with the SSO, but not waiting for the call, in March he went with the boys to Kyiv, where he became a volunteer in the "Brotherhood". In May, the "SKALA" battalion of military unit A0891 joined the ranks of the Armed Forces, participating in battles in the Kharkiv direction. He was engaged in aerial reconnaissance, used drones to detect enemy positions, and adjusted artillery. Also developed programs for drones. Yuriy Kopchak died on June 18, 2022 while performing a combat mission, during shelling from an enemy tank near the city of Izyum (Kharkiv region). We said goodbye to the Warrior in his hometown.

After the war, Sambor fans will gather in the home sector and remember their friend: proactive, courageous, responsible, reliable and often incomprehensible. Maybe Yura knew deep down that he would leave prematurely, that's why he was in such a hurry to live...