On 6 November, it became known that the National Guard soldier and author of the book Good Night, Maksym Petrenko, had died. For some time, he was considered missing or taken prisoner by Russia. However, neither of these things proved to be true.

"We hoped and believed that the fact that he was missing meant that he was captured. A miracle did not happen... The only thing I know so far is the confirmation from the unit where Max served. DNA testing confirmed that it was Max, and the unit went to Dnipro to pick him up. The burial is planned for the end of the week," book reviewer Anna Skorina wrote on Facebook.

Before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Maksym Petrenko was far from a military man. He worked as a programmer and taught at the University of Ukraine; he participated in international robotics competitions and trained students for such competitions.

However, in 2014, he voluntarily went to war. The book Good Night is about those experiences.

"Flashbacks made me start writing. They threw me into a whirlpool of emotions. Over and over again, I saw a shell explode and felt the impact that knocked me down. I felt that my subconscious was demanding that I analyse this experience.

Later, a lot of things were superimposed on it. The desire to perpetuate the memory of my fallen comrades. Finally, the desire to stay in this world. At some point in the battle, I believed that I would not survive. The memories of that moment made me think about whether something I brought to this world would exist if I suddenly disappeared," the writer said in 2020.

After 24 February, Maksym took up arms for the second time. However, he never returned home...

The university has already commented on the tragic news.

"He was an incredibly talented teacher and head of the Cyber Physical Systems Laboratory. In 2022, he defended his PhD thesis and headed the Department of Computer Engineering. Exactly 2 weeks later, a full-scale war came to us, and Maksym, who had been a volunteer since 2014, immediately decided to defend his homeland. In the spring of 2022, Maksym went missing... and the entire staff and students of the University hoped and believed that he was in captivity..." the statement reads.