In 1990, he enrolled in the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots and upon completion, he was assigned to serve in Ozerne.

From early morning, while most Ukrainians were still peacefully asleep and unaware that a large-scale war had begun, Dmytro engaged in aerial combat in the airspace of Ukraine over Khmelnytskyi.

Heroically, he drew the enemy's fire towards himself while carrying out his mission in an L-39 aircraft, thus saving his comrades.

While allowing the rest of the combat group to pass, his plane was shot down by enemy forces near the village of Kryntsiliv, Khmelnytskyi Oblast.

The title of Hero of Ukraine with the award of the Order of the Golden Star (February 28, 2022, posthumously) was bestowed upon him for personal courage and heroism demonstrated in the defense of Ukraine's state sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as for his loyalty to the military oath.