ColonelMatiyev has served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2014. He took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in eastern Ukraine, rising from platoon commander through company commander to battalion commander in the 80th Air Assault Brigade of the Air Assault Forces.
From the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, he carried out special combat missions in the northern Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, helping repel enemy forces in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone until these territories were liberated.
From mid-2022 to the end of 2023, he served as deputy commander of the 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade, personally leading assault operations in some of the hottest sectors of the front in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
Since early December 2023, he has commanded the 5th Separate Assault Brigade.
