Born on May 19, 1971 in Kharkiv. In 1987, he graduated from M. Gorky Secondary School in Vovchansk. After graduating from school in 1987, he and his family moved to Chuguiv. In 1990, he graduated from secondary vocational school No. 16 in Lyubotyn, which trained qualified personnel for the railway infrastructure with the specialty "assistant locomotive driver". In 1994, he graduated from vocational school No. 23 in Kharkiv, where he received the specialty "assistant electric train driver". He began his career at the Osnova Locomotive Depot named after S.M. Kirov of the Southern Railway in Kharkiv as an assistant locomotive driver, later becoming an assistant electric locomotive driver.
Later, he moved to work at the Kharkiv-Balashovsky station of the Southern Railway as a train assembler, and since 2013 he has worked as a train assembler at the Kharkiv State Enterprise Plant "Electrovazhmash".
In 1990-1992 he served in military service. At first he studied in the 389th Guards Training Heavy Tank Regiment, twice Red Banner of the Orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky. After graduation, he continued his military service in the 292nd Guards Novgorod Tank Regiment in the village of Goncharivske as a tank gunner, and then as a tank commander. His military service, already on a contract basis, continued from July 2016. This year he signed a contract with the command of the 203rd Training Aviation Brigade for the position of detachment commander, and graduated
military service in a brigade as a senior mechanic.
From September 2016 to April 2017, he was on a business trip to the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Mazepa and took direct part in the ATO in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In 2018-2020, he served in a separate security and support unit with a deployment location in the city of Chuhuiv.
In October 2021, he was discharged after the end of his contract. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the family evacuated to the Kremenchuk district of the Poltava region. On December 29, 2022, he was called up for mobilization by the Kremenchuk district territorial center for recruitment and social support and subsequently served in military service as a driver of the rifle section of the rifle platoon of the rifle company of the 145th separate territorial defense battalion of the 116th separate territorial defense brigade, which was part of the Regional Directorate "North" of the Territorial Defense Forces.
Some units of the brigade were involved in the operation in the Kursk region. The brigade's fighters demonstrated their ability not only to hold the defense, but also to act decisively and professionally in offensive operations.
Circumstances of death:
On January 29, 2025, ten combat clashes took place in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched 24 air strikes using 34 anti-aircraft missiles, and carried out more than three hundred artillery shells, including three from multiple launch rocket systems. On that day, the unit, which included Vyacheslav Penkin, was executing a combat order at the «Pavuk» firing position in the area of the northern outskirts of the settlement of Staraya Sorochyna, Sudzhansky district, Kursk region, in the area of responsibility of the 22nd separate mechanized brigade.
As a result of artillery shelling, Vyacheslav and his comrades suffered mine-explosive injuries incompatible with life. Search efforts using aerial reconnaissance yielded no results, and it was not possible to restore the lost positions. Since then, Vyacheslav Penkin has been considered missing. Notification No. 4 about his disappearance was received by his relatives on 01/30/2025. For many months, Vyacheslav's family lived in hope that their relative would return. He was declared wanted.
In 2025, his son Oleg repeatedly turned to Facebook, through the group «Missing Persons of Ukraine», to get at least some information about his father: «Help find dad, Penkin Vyacheslav Viktorovych, born on May 19, 1971, went missing on January 29, 2025 in the Kursk region, Sudzhansky district, village of Staraya Sorochyna. Please help, the unknown kills.».
Almost 17 months later, the relatives were able to bury Vyacheslav's body. On August 27, 2025, in accordance with the Procedure for the Transfer and Repatriation of Bodies (Remains) to Ukraine, the corpses (remains) of the defenders of Ukraine were delivered to the city of Rivne, in accordance with the Procedure for the Transfer and Repatriation of Bodies (Remains) to Ukraine. After repeated checks against the electronic register of human genomic information, the State Institution "Rivne Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, it was established that one of the returned bodies belongs to Vyacheslav Penkin.
Only on May 12, 2026, the Rivne District Police Department finally issued a Resolution on the identification of the corpse, where Vyacheslav Penkin was declared dead. On May 22, 2026, the relatives received Notification No. 483 about the death of Vyacheslav Viktorovych on January 29, 2025.
Soldier PENKIN Vyacheslav Viktorovych returned "on the shield" to the city where he lived for almost 40 years and was buried on May 28, 2026 on the Alley of Memory in the city of Chuguiv. He is survived by his father, mother, wife and three sons. During his military service, Vyacheslav Viktorovych was repeatedly awarded: he had the Medal of the President of Ukraine "For participation in the anti-terrorist operation", the Medal of the Chief of the General Staff, the Breastplate "Participant in the ATO", was repeatedly awarded the Certificates of the Brigade Commander, and had the Breastplate "Honorary Medal of the Commander of the 145th Anti-Terrorist Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine".
