In death, his friend saved his life on a Ukrainian battlefield. Now he’s honoring him with sport.

KYIV, Ukraine — Sharing cigarettes, jokes and the same first name, Volodymyr Dziubynskyi and Volodymyr Androshchuk bonded over the battlefield fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, as well as their shared love of sport during downtime away from the front lines.

“We knew everything about each other and helped each other in everything,” Dziubynskyi, 28, told NBC News in September. It was one of several interviews he gave over the course of months until June.

Dziubynskyi, a former rower, said he immediately hit it off with Androshchuk, a champion decathlete, as they went through military training together and the pair grew closer as they saw close combat.